KEALAKEKUA — The Wildcats have their groove back.
Behind six total touchdowns from junior quarterback Austin Ewing, Konawaena trounced Hawaii Prep 62-6 on Friday night at Julian R. Yates Field.
In just over a half of work, Ewing amassed 191 yards on 12 of 22 passing with five touchdowns through the air and one on the ground. Senior running back Micah Laban added 91 yards rushing and a score and Jeremiah Causga-Llanes Kuahuia-Pabre found the end zone for a hat trick of touchdowns.
The win was a nice rebound for the Wildcats (1-1, 2-1), who dropped their opener 23-21 on a last minute field goal from Hilo on Aug. 27.
“We had some time off to think about the things we did wrong in that game. It felt really long and we couldn’t wait to get back on the field,” Konawaena head coach Brad Uemoto said. “We wanted to get our offense back in rhythm. We saw a lot of things on film with our spacing and route running we could fix.”
Step-for-step, the entire Konawaena offense looked in perfect rhythm as the team reeled of its most points since 2012. Ewing connected with four different receivers for scores, two to Causga-Llanes Kuahuia-Pabre.
Thanks to an unprecedented run at a state title game berth last year, expectations were building for Konawaena heading into this season before the first whistle had even blown. But after the early loss, the spotlight suddenly didn’t feel as bright and the focus became more on the journey of becoming a team that can contend for a BIIF and, if all goes right, a DII state title.
“This is a process,” Uemoto said. “I think we have been trying to be the team we were at the end of last season, but it’s a progression to get to that level. We are going to have our bumps and bruises along the way.”
There weren’t a whole lot of roadblocks on Friday night. Ka Makani played the Wildcats tough in the first half, but when they made a mistake, Konawaena capitalized.
Two of Ewing’s first half touchdown strikes were into the waiting arms of wide-open receivers — the first, a 40-yard strike to Austin Aukai, and then a 39-yarder to Javen Blackhat.
Six Wildcat receivers caught balls in the first half, but Causga-Llanes Kuahuia-Pabre was Ewing’s favorite target. He hauled in three catches for 36 yards and two touchdowns. He added a long touchdown run in the second half.
Ewing’s first half stat line — which wasn’t helped by a few drops — was 11 of 19 for 185 yards and four touchdowns. He added 47 yards on the ground.
Laban made his presence known with 75 yards in the first half, including a 19-yard rumble for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Hawaii Prep made Konawaena sweat a bit early in the second quarter. Kekoa Ilagan-Leblanc led a drive down the field, culminating in a 15-yard swing pass to Zack Chaikin to cut the lead to 14-6. However, Konawaena reeled off the next 21 points before the half to pull ahead 34-6.
Konawaena kept up the torrid pace out of the break, scoring on a 6-yard connection from Ewing to Kamakana Ching in the corner of the end zone.
Wild snaps kept Konawaena in control. On back-to-back possessions, Hawaii Prep gift wrapped good field position for the Wildcats on lost fumbles, which was turned into two scores that activated a running clock.
With most of the starters on the bench, Konawaena went with a ground and pound attack late. Freshman quarterback Jameison Medeiros punched in the final touchdown of the game from 5 yards out.
Hawaii Prep (0-2, 0-3) quarterback Ilagan-LeBlanc spent a lot of his night corralling wild snaps, but connected on 6 of 12 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Ka Makani had a few highlight plays, but a lot of the yardage was negated by big losses. Hawaii Prep finished 118 yards of total offense.
Konawaena moves on to host Waiakea on Sept. 17. Hawaii Prep sees Hilo the same night.