KAILUA-KONA — No pass game proved no problem for Lahainaluna against Konawaena on Saturday night at Julian Yates Field. Behind 295 yards on the ground, the Lunas (8-4) rumbled to a 28-14 victory over the Wildcats and into the HHSAA Division II state title game.
Lahainaluna capitalized on its opportunities, tallying two momentum swinging scores off Wildcat turnovers. With just under four minutes remaining, Joshua Tihada sealed the victory for the Lunas with a 43-yard run down the middle of the defense.
Tihada led Lahainaluna with 103 yards on nine carries for a whopping 12.1-yard average. In the busy Luna backfield, Donovan Defang added 56 and two touchdowns, and Etuati Storer added 49. The Lunas did not complete a pass in the game, going 0 for 5 with three interceptions.
For the second year in a row, Konawaena’s state title aspirations were dashed in the semis. Wildcat quarterback Austin Ewing completed 23 of 42 passes for 276 yards and a score, but accounted for three interceptions. Micah Laban found some room on the ground, leading the Wildcats (8-2) with 63 yards.
“That’s just the way the ball rolls sometimes,” Konawaena head coach Brad Uemoto said. “They are a well-coached team and you just can’t make mistakes or they will capitalize.”
KIF champion Kapaa will be Lahainaluna’s opponent in the championship tilt at Aloha Stadium on Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. The Warriors of Kauai knocked off ILH champion Damien 21-14 earlier on Saturday. It will be a rematch of a preseason game between the outer-island squads, which Kapaa took convincingly 21-0.
It’s the Lunas fourth state title appearance in 10 seasons, and that title contender pedigree was on display against the Wildcats.
On the other side of the ball, it’s clear that Konawaena is no longer happy with just being in the semifinal game. And while the program has built a healthy reputation in the state as a championship contender over the last few years, Uemoto sees the strides that need to be made to be considered a perennial power.
“We have to learn how to build this program and how we can add to it from here,” Uemoto said. “Lahainaluna is here every year and we could tell. The game never got too big for them. They just make plays and wait for the other teams to mess up.”
Early on, both teams generated offensive opportunities on defense with turnovers.
After a quick moving opening drive from Konawaena, Lahainaluna linebacker Donovan Defang stepped in front of a Ewing pass and returned it inside the Konawaena 10-yard line. The only thing that stopped Defang from turning the pick into six points was an all-out sprint and tackle from Ewing, who looked to atone for his mistake.
That he did.
Lahainaluna went backwards on the drive — fumbling and then being flagged for holding— eventually missing on a 37-yard attempt and keeping the game scoreless.
In patented Konawaena fashion, the Wildcats quickly went back to work. Ewing found Jeremiah Casuga-Llanes on a 48-yard bomb down the sideline, which had a 15-yard facemask penalty tacked on to the end. Ewing — just like he has so many times this season — found Ching in the corner of the end zone and the big wide receiver tapped his toes for the first score of the night. It was the 13th touchdown connection of the season for the duo.
The Wildcats were in position to go up two scores after defensive back Jerriah Cacal picked off a Etuati Storer pass and returned it to the Lahainaluna 20-yard line.
Laban found daylight after the turnover, but had the ball punched out inside the 5-yard line and Lahainaluna recoveredit in the end zone for a touchback.
“I think it was just missed opportunities and mistakes at inopportune times. They turned the ball over as well, but it didn’t hurt them as much as it hurt us,” Uemoto said. “To go up 14-0, that would have really shifted the game around.”
The Lunas chipped away with the ground game, methodically picking up yardage until Kamalei Watson busted a big run to the Konawaena 5-yard line. After two pileups at the goal line, Radon Sinenci found the corner and punched in the score for the Lunas. After the kick, the game was knotted up a 7-7, a score that would hold — just barely — until half.
Lahainaluna appeared to score the go-ahead touchdown just before the break, but it was negated by a holding penalty. Konawaena senior DB Jordan Kikugawa — the hero of the BIIF championship game — picked off Storer in the end zone to close out the second quarter.
The first half was a story of missed opportunity. The teams combined for five turnovers, including a hat trick of interceptions by the Luna quarterbacks.
Both teams managed a shade over 140 yards in the first half, but in very different ways. All of the Lunas 147 yards came on the ground. Ewing completed 10 of his 17 attempts for 107 yards in the first half to five different receivers to lead the ‘Cats.
After a 3-and-out from Konawaena, Lahainaluna got the ball with a short field due to a short punt to open the second half. Defang took the snap with a host of blockers in front of him, bouncing it to the outside and sprinting into the left corner of the end zone to make it 13-7. The Lunas went for two, but the run failed.
Lahainaluna caught another break on the kickoff when the Konawaena return man could not pick up the ball at the 1-yard line. The Lunas’ kickoff team converged and recovered the ball just a yard from the end zone. Defang punched it in from a yard out for his second touchdown in a 39 second span. A two-point conversion made up for the earlier miss, and Lahainaluna took a 21-7 lead.
After some stagnant offense, the Wildcats were in desperate need of a big play. Enter, Austin Aukai.
Ewing dropped back and found Aukai on a short slant. The standout receiver did the rest, scampering 67 yards to the Lunas 3-yard line. The Wildcats were stuffed, but broke out a wrinkle from deep in the playbook. In their goal line set, Ewing motioned out left, waving his arms. Laban took the snap and hurled a pass into the arms of a wide-open Ching.
The play likely looked familiar to Wildcat fans. It was the same play Konawaena used in its BIIF opener against Hilo. Both times, the trickery worked to perfection. A PAT from Harry Hill made it a one score game at 21-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
Konawaena generated great field position to open the fourth quarter by turning away a Lahainaluna fake punt attempt. But the stop was to no avail, as Ewing tossed his second interception of the night off his back foot to Luna DB Derek Perez.
Stopping Lahainaluna’s grinding ground attack was no easy task, and it became obvious that it was taking its toll on the Konawaena defense. At the same time, the clock ticked away as the Lunas continued to find holes. Tihada found one of the biggest ones late, scampering for the 43-yard score to put Lahainaluna up 28-14 late.
Konawaena rallied with time waning, but it ended with Ewing’s third interception of the night, effectively sealing the game for the Lunas.