Honokaa really needed to end its season on a good note, and for one chief Dragon it felt like a Super Bowl victory.
The Dragons kept climbing uphill and defeated the Warriors 28-27 in double-overtime in a BIIF football game on Saturday at Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium.
Honokaa (3-4 BIIF Division II, 4-4 overall) won in the second OT when linebacker Sheltyn Carvalho led a stampede of tacklers and stuffed Gehrig Octavio’s two-point run attempt.
The Dragons finished with a one-game record jump in league play from a year ago, but, more importantly, they closed their season feeling good about themselves, erasing the memory of a four-game skid.
“It felt like the Super Bowl to me,” Honokaa first-year coach Noeau Lindsey said. “For this game, it didn’t matter what our record is in the standings. The game only mattered to the kids. We had something to prove. When it went into OT, we could see where all our hard work paid off.
“That’s what this game is all about. We had to stay determined, enthused, and that’s what the P.R.I.D.E. represents on the back of our jerseys. This is huge for us. It’s a step in the right direction. It felt like a championship for us.”
Waiakea (3-4 BIIF Division I, 3-7) will play Hilo (7-0, 7-1) for the BIIF championship at 7 p.m. Friday at Wong Stadium.
Both have berths to HHSAA Division I state tournament in the pilot program’s three-tier format: Open, Division I and II.
On a more concerning note, Waiakea junior quarterback/split-back bulldozer Makoa Andres injured his arm and didn’t return in the second half.
Andres went 5 of 10 for 100 yards with two touchdowns and no picks in the first half. He rushed for 45 yards on 14 carries.
Octavio was 1 of 2 for 12 yards in the second half. The slippery speedster ran for 44 yards on nine attempts. He caught two passes for 64 yards, including a 57-yard score in the first quarter.
With Andres’ absence, the air attack vanished, and the Dragons brought everybody and all their cousins into the tackle box.
The Warriors gained 279 yards on 52 attempts, a healthy 5.4 average. But those stats are a bit deceiving because they had just five explosive runs: 40, 32, 24, 22, and 21 yards.
But one of those explosive runs (20 yards or more) was on Michael Scott’s 32-yard jaunt on a fake punt.
In the second half, Wes Amuimuia filled in as the running QB in Waiakea’s fullback and two split-back operation. He ran for 127 yards on 16 carries, including a 40-yard TD.
In the fourth quarter and OT, Warriors and Dragons had a chance to be the shining star. Here’s how it went down after Honokaa tied it 17-17 after Klayson Nobriga’s five-yard run:
After a Waiakea three-and-out, junior quarterback/safety/playmaker Ocean Guerpo-Beamer returned a punt 34 yards to Waiakea’s 11-yard line.
Two plays later, Chazdon Kenui intercepted Guerpo-Beamer, who played running back last year, in the end zone with under five minutes left.
From the 20, Waiakea’s run-heavy offense pushed Honokaa backward to its 33-yard line. It eventually was third-and-11 with 23.2 second left, too far for a 48-yard field goal attempt.
Octavio and Amuimuia alternated at QB, and the former threw to the latter for a 12-yard completion. That put the ball on the 21 with 14.3 seconds remaining, first down.
Apparently, the Warriors didn’t want to gamble with another ground attack to get closer and let the clock run out, so Scott came in for a 37-yard field goal and missed.
In the first OT possession, Honokaa had the ball at the 20. Senior tackle Chayson Stanton dropped Kainalu Lau for a two-yard loss. Then two plays later, Stanton got an interception.
It was Waiakea’s turn to score by either touchdown or field goal to make Stanton the hero on Senior day.
But the Warriors couldn’t get into the end zone and set up Scott for a 30-yard field goal attempt. He pushed it right, and it was on to the second OT.
Honokaa got the ball first, and four plays in Guerpo-Beamer hit Kamuela Spencer-Herring, also a basketball center, on a corner route. The junior receiver used his good hops and hauled in a 14-yard scoring strike.
The unsung Isaac Aguilar booted his fourth PAT kick for a 28-21 lead and applied pressure on Waiakea to get a TD of its own.
At QB, Octavio ran the ball four consecutive times, the last for a three-yard score. Then the Warriors were going to kick for the tie but called timeout and decided to go for two points and the win.
From the three-yard line, the same spot a bit earlier, Octavio took the handoff, Honokaa overloaded its line to the left, where Carvalho, Nobriga and their buddies put up a wall of resistance for the game-winning stop.
Nobriga had his own senior day to remember. He had two sacks and a tackle for loss. Kevin Falk, a senior receiver, had a good time, too, with four catches for 98 yards.
Guerpo-Beamer went 10 of 29 for 17- yards with a touchdown and two picks. However, there were eight drops, including one that was an easy-pickings TD. He ran for 59 yards on nine attempts.
The visitors got stuck in holes of 7-0, 15-7, and 21-7, but they kept fighting back. And Guerpo-Beamer noted when his teammates say “I got your back,” that’s true because P.R.I.D.E. is on their backs for every Dragon.
It’s not an acronym like NBA (National Basketball Association). It’s a concept that the Dragons use as their inspirational fire.
“It’s about determination, hard work, and dedication,” Guerpo-Beamer said. “We had choke pride.”
The Dragons had no explosive runs; their longest was 14 yards by senior Ryon Kunishige-Aikau, who had 48 yards on six attempts. But big running plays are small potatoes when you have choke pride.
How’s this for perfect balance? Honokaa passed 29 times and ran 29 times for 133 yards, a 4.6 average.
Next year, Guerpo-Beamer and a lot of his key weapons are back like receivers Spencer-Herring, Paki Akau and Gene Ansagay, and all his O-line guys Christian Tablit, Makaio Liftee, Jason Yadao, Keenan Pierson, who caught an 11-yard pass of a rebound, and Tucker Giltner.
The defense takes a hit with the loss of six senior starters, including Nobriga. But Carvalho will be back, and a lot of the offensive guys go both ways like Guerpo-Beamer, who’s from Oregon and moved to Hamakua last year.
“What I loved about this game was our drive,” Nobriga said. “It was never-ending, and we had that family part on the field.
“I’m hoping the upcoming seniors next year step up and lead the team. I’m confident they’ll work hard and make the program even better.”
Waiakea won the turnover battle, 2-0. Chance Silva-Borero had the other interception. But when it mattered most, Honokaa made the last big play of the game.
In Honokaa’s mind, defense does win championships, even regular-season finales that feel like a Super Bowl.
Honokaa 0 7 7 7 0 7 — 28
Waiakea 7 8 6 0 0 6 — 27