KEAAU – Perfect was a concept in the eyes of the beholder Saturday night at Paiea Stadium when Kamehameha remained undefeated in nonleague play with a surprising 14-13 victory over Kauai High School in the first of a home-and-home series with the Red Raiders this year and next.
The Warriors managed to extract the win with a late fourth-quarter touchdown set up by a bobbled snap out of punt formation by Kauai. It was only the second time Kamehameha, with 105 yards of offense on 52 plays and no third down conversions (0-11), had been in Red Raiders territory, the first coming on a recovered fumble that was converted into a touchdown.
Head coach Dan Lyons was still in Hong Kong, coaching in the Asian Pacific Water Polo Tournament, so his staff of assistants have been running the squad in his absence and they all got to experience a stretch of distress that ultimately turned in their favor.
“I feel good about that,” said assistant coach Shaun Perry, pointing at the scoreboard while assuming the postgame media duties, “but that was more a struggle than we wanted it to be.
“For a long while there, we had more adversity than we could handle,” he said. “We made a lot of mistakes, from start to finish, so really, we were lucky and I hope (his players), know that.”
Kamehameha (2-0) opens its BIIF season Friday at home against Waiakea (0-3).
The Warriors (2-0), kept breaking down offensively in the first half from one play to the next, with a missed block here, a dropped pass there. They had four turnovers in the game, three of them fumbles, but took advantage of three Kauai turnovers — two of them interceptions — and managed to win despite gaining just 29 yards rushing while allowing 179 on the ground.
The Red Raiders missed what proved to be critical field goal attempt — one of two they missed — when they gained possession on a recovered fumble at the Kamehameha 34-yard line, advanced to the 20 but a quarterback sack left them with a 44-yard attempt that went wide left.
A few minutes later, Kauai (0-2), got another break when a Warriors’ possession ended at their own 5 after an incomplete pass, two snaps that bounced off the ground and a penalty. Kauai started from the Kamehameha 45 and used five plays to score, with Jakob Nakaahiki-Young running it in from the 19 on a misdirection play. The kick put the Red Raiders up 7-0 with 2:08 left in the half.
Brendan Figueroa gave the Warriors a spark when he recovered a third-quarter fumble at the Kauai 11 just as the Red Raiders started a drive and Makana Manoa caught Kaimialoha Like’s pass against single coverage for a 20-yard score on fourth and 19. Justin Kenoi’s extra point tied the game at 7.
“I think this was good for us,” said Like, “not that we want to make mistakes, but we had so many breakdowns, little things here and there, I think we can learn from this, use it to get better.”
Like’s interception early in the fourth quarter set Kauai up at the Kamehameha 15 and on the second play, Bryceson Abignia burst into the end zone from the 13, but the extra point attempt failed.
The Warriors got their opportunity when a bad snap out of punt formation was recovered at the Kauai 37, with 6:44 remaining.
A personal foul penalty helped them move to the 14 and Ayston Motta collected a short pass and ran it in with 4:51 left, the extra point by Kenoi providing the winning margin.
“It was very frustrating most of the game,” Perry said, “we just weren’t converting offensively, and it seemed like it was something different each time, a penalty, a missed block, whatever; we have a lot we can work on.
“Our defense was on the field a lot,” he said, “I mean, a whole lot, so we had a short conversation about conditioning for those kinds of situations, but I give them credit, they didn’t quit at the end, they hung in.”