Damien rallies past St. Francis

The two-time defending ILH Division II champions aren’t giving up their title without a fight.

Held to 14 total yards in the first half, Damien responded with four second-half touchdowns to come from behind and stun St. Francis 27-20 on Friday night at Skippa Diaz Stadium.

Senior Akila Arecchi’s 33-yard touchdown reception with 2:11 remaining gave the Monarchs their first lead and sophomore defensive back Kyle Kinney broke up St. Francis quarterback Bubba Akana’s fourth-down pass in the final 20 seconds to seal Damien’s fifth straight win against a Hawaii opponent.

The Monarchs (5-1, 3-0 ILH D-II) finish the first half of regular-season play at the top of the standings, one game ahead of the Saints (4-2, 2-1).

“I think the mind-set we got being able to come out of this game with a victory is going to help us,” Damien coach Eddie Klaneski said. “We’re never going to look past this team. They’re tough as nails and they are going to come back with a vengeance at us.”

The rematch is Oct. 7 in the regular-season finale for both teams.

For now though, the Monarchs get to enjoy a win in one of the best games of 2017.

Damien made adjustments at the break, including moving running back Keoua Kauhi to fullback and using Logan Lauti at running back.

Lauti pounded away for 52 tough rushing yards on seven carries that gave Damien some life on offense.

The Monarchs finished with 265 of their 279 yards in the second half and scored touchdowns on their last three meaningful drives before taking a knee at the end.

“Everybody was hyping each other up at halftime,” said Arecchi, who caught two touchdown passes and threw a 23-yard TD on a trick play early in the second half. “This was part one. Part one is over and we know we’re going to face them again.”

Trailing 20-7 with less than a minute left in the third quarter, Damien turned to its third-year starting quarterback, Marcus Faufata-Pedrina.

The 5-foot-9 senior carved up the Saints with three touchdown passes in the final 13 minutes. He completed six of his last eight pass attempts and hit the go-ahead score with a throw across his body to Arecchi, who went up to snare it with two hands and then stretched over the goal line with the ball to put Damien ahead 27-20.

“I just think all of the little plays, the 10-yard plays, sparked it for us,” Faufata-Pedrina said. “This is football and you’ve got to improvise and my receivers got open and made some great catches.”

Akana finished 11-for-27 for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and running back Jonan Aina-Chaves added 122 rushing yards for the Saints, who dropped to 2-6 all-time against Damien.

“It came down to challenging our players to play a little more harder,” Klaneski said. “We made a few adjustments, but at the end of the day, our kids toughened up and showed heart.”

More photos of the game between Damien and St. Francis.