Holmgren’s dream game propels Pac-Five

Keanu Holmgren won’t have any problem remembering this game for the rest of his life.

Holmgren, a junior defensive end, recovered two fumbles to help Pac-Five to its first football victory of the season, a 37-0 romp over St. Francis on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.

Holmgren’s first recovery came on the Saints’ first possession of the game on a play that started at the St. Francis 6. A botched handoff resulted in a loose ball in the end zone and Holmgren jumped on it to give the Wolfpack a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

"I had the perfect opportunity," Holmgren said. "Luckily the quarterback dropped the ball and all I had to do was fall on it in the end zone."

Midway through the second quarter, with Pac-Five up 17-0, Holmgren was at it again. This time, St. Francis had the ball at the Wolfpack 1, but a high snap went over the head of quarterback Ranan Mamiya and Holmgren pounced on it at the Pac-Five 8.

"I’ve been in a lot of games, making plays," Holmgren said. "But nothing as big as this and in this atmosphere in Hawaii."

Pac-Five (1-5, 1-3 ILH) immediately went on a 92-yard scoring drive, with quarterback Anthony Canencia completing five passes, including a 29-yard touchdown strike to Tsubasa Brennan in the back of the end zone that made it 24-0.

"Those are our top guys," Wolfpack coach Kip Botelho said, referring to his QB and stable of receivers that also includes Roycen Routt. "We knew St. Francis (a first-year team) didn’t have a lot of numbers, so we wanted to go up-tempo and spread it out. We’ve got to win these division games. I sure hope so (that the win will ignite a fire in the players)."

Canencia didn’t let up before the half, completing three passes on the next drive, including a 23-yard TD connection with Sean Kinel to make it 30-0 with 28 seconds left.

Canencia finished 14-for-21 for 227 yards. Brennan had a monster game with seven catches for 137 yards.

Offensively, the Saints (1-5, 0-4) were effective much of the night, led by Mamiya (46 rushing yards, 139 passing yards). He drove St. Francis deep into Wolfpack territory three times in the first half and once early in the third quarter, but the drives fizzled.

"We got it down there, but couldn’t punch it in," St. Francis coach Mike Ulufale said. "No excuses. We’ve just gotta get better."

Aside from the march to the Pac-Five 1, the Saints also got as far as the Wolfpack 18, 29 and 16. Tyler Matsukawa’s interception for Pac-Five thwarted one of the drives, and another pick by Kasen Kunishima-Takushi ended the Saints’ last possession before the Wolfpack ran out the clock.

Mamiya, who converted to QB from running back a few weeks ago, completed eight of his first 10 passes before a cold spell resulted in a poor fourth-quarter output.

Three Crusaders quarterbacks combined to throw for 218 yards and five touchdowns in a rout of the Monarchs on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.

Starter Ryder Kuhns connected with Drew Kobayashi for scores of 35, 20 and 11 yards — all in the first quarter — as Saint Louis built leads of 27-0 and 41-0 at the first two breaks. Kuhns also hit Devan Stubblefield for a 5-yard TD in the first quarter.

The Crusaders’ three quarterbacks, including backups Jimmy Nunuha and Colton Nascimento, only threw five incompletions in a total of 21 attempts. Nunuha fired touchdown strikes of 63 yards to Keanu Souza and 10 to Riccardo Sallas III in the second quarter.

Defensive end Peter Sagapolutele led the Saint Louis defensive thrust early, causing havoc in the Damien backfield. He forced a fumble that led to the Crusaders’ second TD.

Damien was without head coach Eddie Klaneski due to personal reasons. Tony Pang-Kee took over the head coaching duties for the Monarchs in Klaneski’s place.

Syles Choy’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Caspillo with 59 seconds left in the game spoiled Saint Louis’ shutout.