Kamehameha rebounds past ‘Iolani

After getting swamped a week earlier, Kamehameha picked up its first Interscholastic League of Honolulu football victory Saturday with a 50-20 stomping of ‘Iolani at Kunuiakea Stadium.

The seventh-ranked Warriors (2-2, 1-1 ILH Division I) did it on the ground and in the air and with a suffocating defense that rallied back from a midgame lapse.

“I’m happy the way we finished,” Kamehameha first-year head coach Abu Ma’afala said. “Contrary to the score, I didn’t like the way we played in the first half. I felt we were outplayed by Coach (Wendell) Look’s team. All week, I kept telling our kids, ‘Coach Look gets everything he can out of his guys.’ And that was evident. (Quarterback Tai-John) Mizutani picked us apart in the first half, mopping our defense up and down the field. There’s so many things we need to get fixed before we are ready to be successful. I’m just trying to keep these guys focused to try and keep moving forward.”

Ma’afala and the Warriors’ fans saw a lot of highly positive things, too. Starting quarterback Boogie Yam threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for two TDs. Jaykob Cabunoc was his main target, catching seven passes for 153 yards, with touchdown grabs of 14 and 38 yards.

Running back Kanoa Shannon (88 yards rushing) scored from 4 yards out and Yam ran a keeper for a 13-yard TD in the first quarter. Adam Stack, orally committed to kick for Oregon, booted a 27-yard field goal for a 17-0 first-quarter lead.

No. 10 ‘Iolani (3-2, 0-2) started slow, but got to within 24-14 with 7:28 left in the first half when its finely tuned offense finally got into gear. Jonah Miyazawa and Justin Genovia hauled in TD passes of 2 and 3 yards from Mizutani to bring the Raiders back.

“We really stepped it up from our last game (a 49-7 loss to No. 2 Saint Louis),” said ‘Iolani running back KJ Pascua, who was held to 20 yards rushing but caught five passes for 73 yards. “We can’t go three-and-out like we did (early). We’ve got to connect. On defense, we’ve got to make those big plays on third and fourth down. We started pretty slow. We just didn’t come out firing. We’ve got to be comfortable from the beginning. Once we got into the game, we started moving the ball and started scoring. I know (in the future) we can do it from the beginning.”

Yam’s 38-yard TD strike to Cabunoc and Trevor Kahunahana’s 4-yard touchdown run allowed the Warriors to pull away before Pascua added a 14-yard TD run with 1:08 to go in the first half, keeping the Raiders in the game at 38-20.

“They were two plays away from getting back in this thing,” Ma’afala said.

Micah Mizo’s 24-yard field goal and Yam’s second 13-yard TD run built the lead to 48-20, and the Warriors finished the scoring with a safety. Nakoa Pauole batted the ball out of backup quarterback Jarin Yokogawa’s hand while he was in a throwing motion in the end zone. The ball was recovered by the Raiders’ Saiaiga Fautanu, but the 2-point damage was done for the final 50-20 count.

“This win was something we can remember instead of that feeling of loss (56-14 against No. 3 Punahou last week),” Kamehameha’s Cabunoc said. “We can remember the win and hopefully do it again next week (against Saint Louis). Last week, we didn’t pass as well as we wanted to, so this week for ‘Iolani we stayed after practice and got the chemistry down and hopefully we can keep doing that.”

At Kamehameha

‘Iolani (3-2, 0-2) 7 13 0 0—20

KS (2-2, 1-1) 17 21 12 0 —50

KS—Kanoa Shannon 4 run (Adam Stack kick)

KS—FG Stack 27

KS—Boogie Yam 13 run (Stack kick)

Iol—Jonah Miyazawa 2 pass from Tai-John Mizutani (Evan Minami kick)

KS—Jaykob Cabunoc 14 pass from Yam (Micah Mizo kick)

Iol–Justin Genovia 3 pass from Mizutani (Minami kick)

KS—Cabunoc 38 pass from Yam (Mizo kick)

KS—Trever Kahunahana 4 run (Stack kick)

Iol—KJ Pascua 14 run (pass failed)

KS—FD Mizo 24

KS—Yam 13 run (Mizo kick)

KS—Safety, Nakoa Pauole knocked the ball out of ‘Iolani quarterback Jarin Yokogawa’s hands in the end zone; ‘Iolani’s Saiaiga Fautanu recovered the ball in a pile of players.

RUSHING—‘Iolani: Mizutani 7-33, Troy Hanaoka 6-30, Pascua 9-20, Genovia 1-(minus 1), Jarin Yokogawa 1-(minus 8).

Kamehameha: Shannon 19-88, Breden Akima 7-42, Sundance Solatorio 2-35, Kahunahana 5-31, Yam 3-30, Kaikiohua Piena 2-13, Kamekona Vainerere 1-2, TEAM 1-(minus 5), Justice Young 2-(minus 11).

PASSING—‘Iolani: Mizutani 18-38-1-192, Yokogawa 6-15-0-71.

Kamehameha: Yam 12-19-0-227, Young 3-5-1-57, Stack 1-1-0-29.

RECEIVING—‘Iolani: Miyazawa 7-59, Genovia 6-77, Pascua 5-73, Caleb Yamanaka 2-17, Rayden Kaneshiro 2-6, Isaac

Anderson 1-23, Brent Nagami 1-8.

Kamehameha: Cabunoc 7-153, Shannon 2-33, Christopher Ah Mook Sang 2-47, Pinao

Awai 2-44, Young 1-29, Solatorio 1-4, Akima 1-3.