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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARADVERTISER.COM
Kahuku's Shawn Pahulu drove for yardage in the fourth quarter of last night's win over Waianae.
Based on its performance, it’s hard to imagine this was Kahuku’s season-opening football game.
The Red Raiders mixed big plays on offense with a lock-down defense that held Waianae to 122 total yards in a 27-7 win last night in an interleague game at Carleton Weimer Field.
Punga Vea had four catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns and quarterbacks Evan Moe and Viliami Livai combined for 261 passing yards as Kahuku showed it’ll be just as tough throwing the ball as it always is running it.
"(Our quarterbacks) have really come along and are good at putting (the ball) in the right spots," Vea said.
SATURDAY NIGHT SCOREBOARDKapaa 54, Kalani 0 Pac-Five 7, Kaiser 3 Baldwin 19, Kailua 10 Kamehameha 35, Anuenue 8 Kahuku 27, Waianae 7 ‘Iolani 37, Waialua 7
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Kahuku was its normal self on the ground, piling up 194 yards with a multitude of running backs who showed flashes of brilliance at times.
Aofaga Wily, who got the bulk of the starting reps, led the way with 69 yards on 11 carries. Tyrone Brown needed just five touches to rack up 67 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown run in the first quarter for Kahuku’s first touchdown of the season.
"We’ve been working on things all summer and I’m happy where we were from our last scrimmage to now," Kahuku coach Reggie Torres said. "A lot of it has to do with the fact we had great scrimmages and those scrimmages prepared us for this."
Moe, who finished 6-for-10 for 178 yards, burned the Waianae defense in the second quarter twice for long touchdowns. Vea’s first scoring catch came on a 67-yard post pattern. Then, with a minute left, Moe hooked up with 6-foot-5 receiver Shairone Thompson on a 40-yard score to give Kahuku a 20-0 lead.
Kahuku’s only mistakes on defense came in the last second of the first.
Waianae’s multi-dimensional quarterback Puletua Wilson, held to only 19 yards running and 42 yards passing, found Hookena Kamaka for a 38-yard pass to get the ball inside the Kahuku 20 for the only time all night.
Kahuku almost got to Wilson for a sack to end the half, but he scrambled out of bounds to give Waianae, which had no timeouts, another look. The Seariders made it count as Wilson went play-action and hit Bryson Panui out of the backfield for an 11-yard score to make it 20-7 at the half.
"We needed something positive," Waianae coach Daniel Matsumoto said. "Kahuku came at us quick. Give credit to Kahuku, they did solid both on the ground and in the air. (They’re) a real balanced team."
Moe put the game out of reach with his third touchdown pass, hitting Vea on the same post route for a 33-yard score.
Up 27-7, Kahuku turned to Livai, a 6-foot sophomore making his varsity debut. After a shaky first throw, Livai hit two straight passes, including a perfectly thrown ball to Vea for 56 yards.
Kahuku’s 455 total yards nearly tripled Waianae’s total.
KAHUKU 27, WAIANAE 7
At Carleton Weimer Field
| Waianae (0-1) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 |
| Kahuku (1-0) | 7 | 13 | 7 | 0 | — | 27 |
Kah–Tyrone Brown 47 run (Josh Sorensen kick)
Kah–Punga Vea 67 pass from Evan Moe (kick failed)
Kah–Shairone Thompson 40 pass from Moe (Sorensen kick)
Wain–Bryson Panui 11 pass from Puletua Wilson (Herman Canonio kick)
Kah–Vea 33 pass from Moe (Sorensen kick)
RUSHING–Wain: B. Panui 6-22, Wilson 11-19, Jaylen Mitchell 2-39, Kanekapila Hussey 6-6, Jason Towne 1-1, Leighton Panui 2-0, Devon Seabrooks 2-(-10), Austin Reese 2-(-20). Kahu: Aofaga Wily 11-69, Brown 5-67, Fonoivasa Mataafa 5-16, Galeai Malufau 3-15, Shawn Pahulu 4-12, S. Moe 2-9, Daylen Kalulu-Sugai 3-5, E. Moe 1-1, Viliami Livai 2-0, team 4-(-2), Kaimana Kaina 1-(-8).
PASSING–Wain: Wilson 3-8-0-42, Seabrooks 2-6-0-23, Reese 0-1-0-0. Kahu: Moe 6-10-0-178, Livai 2-3-0-63.
RECEIVING–Wain: Wailana Cambra 2-23, Hookena Kamaka 1-38, Panui 1-11, Mitchell 1-(-7). Kahu: Vea 4-166, Thompson 2-56, Galeai Malufau 1-12, Keoni Tafuna 1-7.
