Immense and unyielding physical and mental will kept Lahainaluna and Konawaena inside the combat zone for four quarters and seven overtimes Saturday night. It lasted until the Lunas made the last two lethal plays in a 75-69 victory for their second straight Division II title in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football Championships at Aloha Stadium.
In the state-record seventh overtime, Lahainaluna defensive end Elijah Oliveira-Kalalau dazed the Wildcats by recovering a fumble in the end zone on a second-and-goal play from the 1. The overtime scoring had been so consistent that it was an oddity to see the ball sitting there in the end zone. Oliveira-Kalalau pounced, leaving the score tied at 69 and giving the Lunas’ offense a chance to sew it up.
After one first down, seventh-ranked Lahainaluna (11-1) gave it to the rock-steady Joshua Tihada, who followed a wall of blockers up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown and the devastating knockout punch.
“Once we recovered that fumble, we already knew we’ve got this; our offense is going to score this for us,” Oliveira-Kalalau said. “It’s an honor to us. Lahainaluna, we’re taking this home. Repeat.
“In the first half, we kept fighting, the second half we were strong and we just kept on grinding. We kept pushing Konawaena to their mistakes and we came out with it.”
Regulation ended 31-31 before the teams traded TDs and extra points through the first five OTs and then exchanged field goals in the sixth. Tihada’s winning run was his fifth TD of the night, and the 144 total points scored is a state mark.
“It hurts to lose a championship game,” said Konawaena running back Chauncey Mariani-Louis, who rushed for 191 yards and scored four touchdowns. “It really hurts. I’ll just keep my head high. Congratulations to Lahainaluna. They did it very well. Very proud of what I did in this game and very proud of what my team did. We stood strong. We played a helluva good game.”
Both teams had earlier chances to seal it — or lose it — in the overtimes. After the Wildcats went up 38-31 in the first OT, Tihada made an over-the-shoulder catch on a third-and-28 to get a first down and he tied it up with a fourth-down, 1-yard TD run. In the sixth OT, Konawaena (9-3) succeeded on fourth-and-2 from the 12 when Austin Ewing’s floated pass to Tyler Libarios picked up 4 yards, leading to Harry Hill’s 32-yard field goal for a 69-all deadlock. In the first half of the sixth OT, the Lunas had nudged ahead 69-66 on Pablo Rico’s 27-yard line-drive field goal that went less than a foot over the bar.
“Not too many people have been involved in anything like this,” Lahainaluna coach Garret Tihada said. “It was a little nerve-wracking, but our kids seem to relax a little more when it’s overtime. It’s our third overtime game of the season. This means a lot to the community, which puts a lot of pride into these kids. We got everything we expected from Konawaena. It was an awesome show for the state.”
After two Nainoa Irish to William Kai Bookland over-the-top TD passes gave the Lunas a 21-6 halftime lead, it looked like they were going to run away with it. The Wildcats had other plans.
When Rico booted a 42-yard field goal with 3:34 remaining in regulation to give Lahainaluna a 31-23 lead, Konawaena didn’t fold. Ewing, who finished with 266 yards passing and three TDs through the air to go along with two TDs via the ground, skillfully led the two-minute drill. With only 45 seconds showing on the clock, Mariani-Louis scored from 2 yards out, and then Ewing completed the 2-point pass to Hunter Wehrsig to send the game to overtime and into the record books.
“They were resilient tonight,” Wildcats coach Brad Uemoto said about his boys. “They did not quit. For two weeks and again at halftime, we told them it didn’t matter what the score read. We already won in our community and what we said was that we were going to win by how we played. Don’t give up and the scoreboard will reflect that. We lost to a great team and a great program.
“We got to play in front of the Damien crowd and for Kahuku and Saint Louis fans piling in for the later games. They got a taste of neighbor island football. I’m sure they got a show out of it. It was good for everybody.”
More than four hours after the opening kickoff, Lahainaluna somehow survived.
“I reached for the goal line and hoped for the best,” Tihada said about his winning TD. “This means everything to the whole community of Lahaina. We’d like to thank the people who came before us, the whole team, the fans, the coaching staff and family. It definitely wouldn’t have happened without them.”
Konawaena (9-3) 0 6 7 18 7 7 7 7 7 3 0 — 69
Lahainaluna (11-1) 7 14 7 3 7 7 7 7 7 3 6 — 75
First Quarter
Lah—William Kai Bookland 66 pass from Nainoa Irish (Pablo Rico kick)
Second Quarter
Lah—Bookland 31 pass from Irish (Rico kick)
Kona—Austin Ewing 8 run (kick blocked)
Lah—Koa Evalu-Robinson 7 fumble return (Rico kick)
Third Quarter
Kona—Chauncey Mariani-Louis 5 pass from Ewing (Harry Hill kick)
Lah—Joshua Tihada 7 run (Rico kick)
Fourth Quarter
Kona—Mariani-Louis 1 run (Hill kick)
Kona—FG Hill 25
Lah—FG Rico 42
Kona—Mariani-Louis 3 run (Hunter Wehrsig pass from Ewing)
Overtime
Kona—Wehrsig 12 pass from Ewing (Hill kick)
Lah—Tihada 1 run (Rico kick)
Second Overtime
Lah—Tihada 1 run (Rico kick)
Kona—Mariani-Louis 6 run (Hill kick)
Third Overtime
Kona—Tyler Libarios 10 pass from Ewing (Hill kick)
Lah—Tihada 7 run (Rico kick)
Fourth Overtime
Lah—Elijah Ragudo 2 run (Rico kick)
Kona—Ewing 7 run (Hill kick)
Fifth Overtime
Kona—Mariani-Louis 2 run (Hill kick)
Lah—Bookland 20 pass from Irish (Rico kick)
Sixth Overtime
Lah—FG Rico 27
Kona—FG Hill 32
Seventh Overtime
Lah—Tihada 4 run
KONA | LAH
- First downs: 36, 20
- Rushes-yards: 68-258, 72-209
- Passing: 266, 231
- Comp-Att-Int: 33-55-0, 8-11-0
- Punts-Avg.: 3-21.7, 3-36.0
- Fumbles-Lost: 4-4, 2-2
- Penalties-Yards: 14-90, 13-111
- Time of Possession: 20:51, 27:14
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING— Konawaena: Mariani-Louis 42-191; Ewing 25-68; Team 1-minus 1. Lahainaluna: Tihada 24-91; Ragudo 18-73; Irish 13-25; Dean Miyamoto 2-13; Taai Galoia 6-10; Kahiau Yap 1-6; Laakea Shim 1-3; Siale Hafoka, 1-3; Aliksa Pihda 4-0; Kamahao Acpal 1-minus 3; TEAM 1-minus 12.
PASSING— Konawaena: Ewing 33-55-0-266. Lahainaluna: Irish 6-7-0-188; Acpal 0-1-0-0; Kahulali Casco 1-1-0-15; Etuati Storer 0-1-0-0; Galoia 1-1-0-28.
RECEIVING— Konawaena: Mariani-Louis 11-58; 21 Libarios 9-94; Marc Basa 7-42; Jeriah Cacal 3-43; Wehrsig 2-25; Herman Kihe 1-4. Lahainaluna: Bookland 3-117; Tihada 3-75; Ragudo 2-39.
