PAHALA — Buddy Flores stood with his hands on his hips on the sidelines, occasionally pacing as the most inconsequential football player at Pahala Ball Park. ADVERTISING PAHALA — Buddy Flores stood with his hands on his hips on the
PAHALA — Buddy Flores stood with his hands on his hips on the sidelines, occasionally pacing as the most inconsequential football player at Pahala Ball Park.
Though his offense was in capable hands, the Ka‘u senior, after missing one class too many, had to watch impatiently from the sidelines during the first half as the Trojans battled Kohala.
“It made me hungry,” Flores said.
The quarterback wasn’t alone, and he and his teammates didn’t stop grinding Saturday until their appetite for a championship was satisfied.
Flores helped the Trojans run roughshod with two touchdowns, and he even threw for a score, as Ka‘u bulldozed its way to a 36-26 victory, winning its second BIIF eight-man title in three seasons after yielding it to the Cowboys last season.
“We had six seniors,” Ka‘u coach DuWayne Ke said, “and not all of them played. They won this with the underclassmen.”
But what Ka‘u (5-2) lacked in experience it made up for in bulk.
The Trojans simply lined up in the shotgun and ran the quarterback time and again to the tune of 330 yards rushing behind blockers Jamal Buyuan, Manu Kalau-Keliikoa, Isaiah Naboa, Nainoa Ke, Josiah Barrios and Kanoa Kailiawa
“Why pass when the run works?” Ke said.
When the Trojans did try to pass it came to varying degrees of success. With Ka‘u trying to extend its lead late in the third quarter, Kohala’s Hezedyn Ayin Uegenio intercepted an underthrown ball by Zachary Kai and raced 80 yards for a touchdown to give the Cowboys (4-3) a 26-22 lead.
“After that, I didn’t want us to pass anymore,” Flores said. “I just wanted to ground and pound.”
That was the fourth quarter in a nutshell.
Flores was the workhorse on two touchdown drives. On second and long, he ran 18 yards to the Kohala 13 and capped a 61-yard drive two plays later. After the Trojans’ defense held, Flores scored on a 22-yard run.
“I knew if I followed my blockers, they couldn’t stop me,” said Flores, who ran for 158 yards.
On the Trojans’ opening drive of the second half, Flores came into the game and took charge, ripping off two nice runs before finding John Kalahiki for a 34-yard touchdown pass. That score answered the third touchdown pass from Kohala quarterback Maui Hook, this one to Kama Emeliano-Solomon.
“This game is always fun because we’re so evenly matched,” Cowboys co-offensive coordinator Jay Blanco said. “They just made a few more plays than us.”
The Cowboys had two extra points blocked, while Ka‘u converted three of its five two-point conversions.
In the first half, it was Brandon Ecalas who ran the ball on the Trojans’ first 19 plays from scrimmage. The junior had been seldomly used before Saturday, but he ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns.
“Coach told me to bang it out,” Ecalas said. “I have to give it up to my blocking backs, Jamal and Mana.”
The Cowboys spread the ball out to combat the Trojans’ beef up front, and Hook threw touchdown passes to three difference receivers, including a 20-yarder in the second quarter in which Peyton Oda laid out to make a sparkling catch.
Hook threw for 141 yards and Stylez Alvarez ran for 55 of Kohala’s 139 yards rushing. But the Cowboys were overmatched defensively, even when it was all too aware of what play was coming.
“We tried to get them in the right spots and we tried to stay low,” Blanco said. “You can’t teach size.”
Coach Ke estimated that his six blockers on offense have a combined weight that far exceeds 1,500 pounds. It was those six who were hungry after the game and looking to get fed.
“We have Korean chicken and roast pork,” Ke said. ‘They have been begging for it the whole week.
“They earned it really bad.”
