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If it is going to take more than one horse to replace Aofaga Wily, Kahuku showed it has a full stable of them.
Soli Afalava ran for 120 yards, Polikapo Liua added 115 and Kahuku opened its OIA season with a 40-14 win over visiting Kaimuki. In all, 11 players had carries and the Red Raiders gained 346 yards on the ground.
"The running game, that’s our offense right now," Kahuku coach Reggie Torres said. "We have good running backs and good run blockers; it’s the pass blocking we have to work on."
The past two years, the Red Raiders gave Wily a full workload and rode him to state titles. It is not going to work that way this year. Kahuku had more than one rusher go over 100 yards in the same game for the first time since Junior Mataafa and St. John Lessary did it in 2007.
As good as the numbers look for the running game, there were genuine concerns in the first half.
Kaimuki’s defense held Afalava to 65 of Kahuku’s 122 yards in the first half before the Red Raiders broke off runs of 54, 30, 25 and 23 yards in the third quarter.
"In the beginning it didn’t really work out as we planned," Liua said. "We went in for the second half and we rearranged some stuff and we came out better. We just weren’t executing."
Kahuku outscored Kaimuki 12-0 in the third quarter and put its second and third teams in when the game was under control in the fourth. Despite the new faces, the game plan didn’t change, as Kahuku called 49 running plays to only 10 passing plays. Quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi was efficient in those rare instances, hitting on six of his 10 passes for 100 yards and no interceptions.
"They ran hard," Torres said. "The good thing is they didn’t turn over the ball. They have been doing it in practice and it showed up in the game. We wanted to pass more, but we just couldn’t give him enough time. That is one of the many things we have to work on."
Things went completely according to form in the first quarter, as Kahuku’s defense forced Kaimuki to a three and out on its first possession and didn’t let the Bulldogs touch the ball again until 51 seconds were left in the quarter.
The Red Raiders took 18 plays to cover 81 yards and get the ball to Kaimuki’s 1-yard line. After the Bulldogs stopped Salanoa-Alo Wily and Liua for no gain on successive runs, Afalava plunged in and crossed the plane. Dante Falemalu’s attempt at an extra point hit the crossbar.
Kahuku doubled its lead when Herkley Latu intercepted a pass on the 5-yard line and took it back to the house. Wily-Matagi rolled into the end zone with the 2-point conversion to make it 14-0.
But Kahuku didn’t roll over the underdogs who hadn’t beaten them since 1988, as Kaimuki responded with a touchdown from Tevita Lino to Sean Noda.
Kaimuki’s Kuali’i then sacked Wily-Matagi on a fourth and long and Lino wasted no time hitting Fano Tuisila on a slant from 30 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 14.
Kahuku responded to the score with a no-huddle offense and covered 75 yards in five plays, scoring the go-ahead touchdown when Wily-Matagi hit Kuuliko Carvalho from 15 yards out.
At Kahuku
| Kaimuki (1-2, 0-1) |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
— |
14 |
| Kahuku (1-1, 1-0) |
6 |
22 |
12 |
0 |
— |
40 |
Kah–Soli Afalava 1 run (kick failed)
Kah–Herkley Latu 95 interception return (Tuli Wily-Matagi rush)
Kaim–Sean Noda 11 pass from Tevita Lino (Ryan Swinehart kick)
Kaim–Fano Tuisila 30 pass from Lino (Swinehart kick)
Kah–Kuuliko Carvalho 15 pass from Wily-Matagi (Dante Falemalu kick)
Kah–Wilton Cravens 10 pass from Wily-Matagi (Falemalu kick)
Kah–Wily-Matagi 19 rush (run failed)
Kah–Polikapu Liua 54 rush (pass failed)
RUSHING–Kaimuki: Randon Tuitama 11-51, Jorge Rios 4-27, Jonah Lapitan 2-0, Tevita Lino 6-(minus 29). Kahuku: Soli Afalava 18-120, Polikapo Liua 11-115, Wily-Matagi 5-43, Salanoa-Alo Wily 1-0, Marcus Muti 3-16, Josiah Likio Vea 2-15, Pupi Siilata 4-14, Spencer Elmore 1-3, Lia Uelese 2-17, Lance Manumaleuna 1-5, Lisiate Tovo 1-(minus 2).
PASSING–Kaimuki: Tevita Lino 9-17-2-117, Spencer Kainalu 0-1-0-0. Kahuku: Tuli Wily-Matagi 6-10-0-100.
RECEVING–Kaimuki: Fano Tuisila 5-81, Sean Noda, 2-23, Keka Viela 1-11, Nixon Siona 1-2. Kahuku: Wilton Cravens 2-29, Soli Afalava 1-15, Kuuliko Carvalho 1-15, Liua 1-27, Huleia Naeole 1-14.
ALSO
McKinley 28, Moanalua 21
OIA WHITE
Waialua 41, Roosevelt 6
Taleon Lele threw two touchdown passes and ran for two scores as the Bulldogs dominated the Rough Riders.
At Waialua
| ROOS (0-3, 0-1) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
— |
6 |
| Waialua (1-2, 1-1) |
14 |
7 |
14 |
6 |
— |
41 |
Wail–Mila Lele 32 pass from Taleon Lele (Thomas Pule kick)
Wail–T. Lele 15 run (Pule kick)
Wail–Joseph Roland 1 run (Pule kick)
Wail–T. Lele 1 run (Pule kick)
Wail–Xavier Repollo 15 pass from T. Lele (Pule kick)
Wail–Ryan Ramos 2 run (kick failed)
Roos–Jordan Rozkiewicz 5 pass from Keanu Furtado (kick failed)
RUSHING–Roosevelt: Dre Crim 11-39, Kainalu Pitoy 4-9. Waialua: T. Lele 10-57, Kebi Dellatan 9-48, Micah Lunasco 3-32, Repollo 2-18, Roland 3-10, Jacob Casey 2-1, Ramos 3-2.
PASSING–Roosevelt: Crim 1-7-2-17, Furtado 2-5-0-11. Waialua: T. Lele 5-6-0-88.
RECEIVING–Roosevelt: Richie Tupou 1-17, Duke Hao 1-6, Rozkiewicz 1-5. Waialua: M. Lele 3-55, Caelan Alejandro 1-18, Repollo 1-15.
Junior varsity–Roosevelt 33, Waialua 0
ALSO
Kalani 40, Pearl City 8
Radford 43, Nanakuli 14
NONCONFERENCE
Westlake (Calif.) 59, Waipahu 8
Malik Henry completed 12 of 14 passes for 163 yards to lead the Warriors over the Marauders.
Westlake’s Alex Aguilar ran for 66 yards on eight carries and scored three TDs.
At Waipahu
| Westlake (1-0) |
17 |
28 |
0 |
14 |
— |
59 |
| Waipahu (1-1) |
0 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
— |
8 |
West–Chase Jasmin 48 run (Kevin Robledo kick)
West–Alex Egurbide 12 pass from Malik Henry (Robledo kick)
West–FG 32 Robledo
West–Reno Dubreuil 1 run (Robledo kick)
West–Andre Baccellia 12 punt return (Robledo kick)
West–Lexi Isham 14 pass from Tommy Gonzales (Robledo kick)
Waip–Tofi Seei 5 run (Gavin Marques 3 pass from Christian Paulino)
West–Alex Aguilar 15 run (Robledo kick)
West–Aguilar 8 run (Robledo kick)
West–Aguilar 14 run (Robledo kick)
RUSHING–Westlake: Jasmin 5-69, Aguilar 8-66, Henry 3-28, Gonzales 2-4, Tanner Gee 2-2, Dubreuil 1-1. Waipahu: Seei 13-56, Jacob Anae 6-38, Kai Mercado-Aiona 11-27, Matthew Leilua 7-24, Nehemiah Palimoo 2-(minus 2).
PASSING–Westlake: Henry 12-14-0-165, Gonzales 3-3-0-39. Waipahu: Sword De Asis 0-1-0-0, Mercado-Aiona 3-10-3-21, Marques 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING–Westlake: Egurbide 4-53, Baccellia 3-39, Isham 3-25, Andrew Sherwood 2-34, Jasmin 1-27, Cole Hair 1-14, Gee 1-12. Waipahu: De Asis 2-18, Paulino 1-3.
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KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM