Kahuku’s air attack too much for McKinley

Kahuku’s surprise air show was enough to put down feisty McKinley.

Led by quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi’s three first-half touchdown passes, the No. 5 Red Raiders remained in pole position in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East with a 44-28 win over the Tigers at Roosevelt High School on Friday night.

McKinley wasn’t about to go down quietly on its homecoming night. It put together two fourth-quarter touchdowns to give itself a fighting chance — but came up short at key moments.

Despite losing four fumbles, including two by Wily-Matagi (one from the Tigers 1-yard line that went into the end zone for a touchback) the Red Raiders survived — and it wasn’t thanks to its customary ground game.

Wily-Matagi burned the Tigers for deep passing touchdowns three times in the first half — scores on 33-, 30-, and 49-yard pickups — for 195 yards in the air before halftime. He finished with one more completion, a 43-yarder to Lamone Williams to set up the quarterback’s 5-yard keeper insurance score in the game’s final seconds.

"Credit to my O-line, they did a good job and gave me a lot of time," Wily-Matagi said. "A lot of credit to the defense, too. … We just didn’t put the game away when we were supposed to. The fumble down here at the goal line was costly. Once again our team didn’t give up, so just a bunch of props to them."

Kahuku (4-2, 4-0), the two-time defending state champion, was without top running back Soli Afalava, who has a shoulder injury. Coach Reggie Torres’ team turned to junior Hiapo McCandless as its leading back. McCandless responded with 87 yards and a score on 21 carries.

McKinley (3-4, 2-3) made a late charge, scoring consecutive touchdowns to get within 37-28 with 2:50 to play. But the Tigers came up inches short on Kona Bagood-Makanui’s 2-point conversion carry to get the deficit to within a score after Gerime Bradley caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from new starting quarterback Chevas Pacheco.

Kahuku kept up its streak of winning by at least two touchdowns over Red East opposition this season.

"We got a lot of work (to do)," Torres said. "It was a tale of two halves. First half we did a great job, second half we couldn’t finish strong. McKinley did a great job in the second half. We gotta go back and fix it and be a fourth-quarter team like this, too."

Pacheco assumed signal-caller duties for McKinley, while previous starter Denzel Kalahiki-Gasper moved to receiver. Pacheco had 171 yards passing with two touchdowns, including one to his favorite target Tyrell Tuiasosopo (five catches, 121 yards).

"Overall effort yes (we feel good about), individual effort, at times, no," McKinley coach Joseph Cho said. "We made too many big mistakes that cost us touchdowns. You just can’t do that against a team like this. Then again … we fought back, made it interesting at the end. Hated to give up that last (touchdown), but that’s the way it goes."

McKinley was energized early by Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta’s 50-yard fumble return touchdown, giving the Tigers a 7-6 lead.

The Tigers got a spark going into halftime with Pacheco’s 83-yard bomb to Tuiasosopo, with 1:31 to play, cutting Kahuku’s lead to 30-14.