Pac-Five defense paves the way

Pac-Five’s offense fed off of what the Wolfpack defense provided on Friday night.

The defense, meanwhile, hasn’t given its opponents much of anything through three games.

Those factors added up to a 20-0 win over Kapolei in an interleague matchup at the Hurricanes’ field.

The Wolfpack forced six Kapolei turnovers in recording their third straight shutout to open the season and will take a 3-0 mark into Interscholastic League of Honolulu play in two weeks.

“Our strength is our defense and we’ve been playing to them,” Pac-Five head coach Kip Botelho said. “We’re real conservative on offense right now and defense will carry us.

“That’s outstanding,” Botelho said of the scoreless streak. “Any time you can shut out any team, I don’t care who it is, you’re doing something right.”

Pac-Five converted two takeaways into first-half touchdowns and played keep-away for much of the second half.

“That’s just playing team defense, everybody rallying to the ball,” Botelho said of the turnovers. “What (the Hurricanes) do is tough and more so we had to play assignment defense and we executed our assignments.”

Pac-Five’s seal on the end zone was threatened early in the game when Kapolei drove to the Wolfpack 23. But Wolfpack linebacker Drew Wilson recovered a fumble to end the drive.

“That was a big momentum shift because we felt like if we could score on our first possession that would kind of set the tone for us,” Kapolei head coach Darren Hernandez said.

Quarterback Jack Foster led the Pac-Five offense by completing 18 of 35 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown, a 15-yard strike to Reece Alvarado on fourth and 10 for the game’s first score.

More importantly, the Wolfpack didn’t give the ball away while running its cumulative score this season to 49-0.

Even the one time Pac-Five did put the ball on the ground, the play ended up as a touchdown for the Wolfpack when left tackle Beau Smith pounced on a fumble that rolled into the end zone to give Pac-Five a 13-0 lead.

Another Kapolei fumble in the second quarter gave Pac-Five possession at the Hurricanes’ 19, and six plays later Alakai Kealoha scored from inches away on fourth and goal.

The Pac-Five defense came away with its third interception and another fumble recovery in the second half to preserve the shutout while holding the Hurricanes to 154 yards in total offense.

“They’re a very physical defense,” Hernandez said. “They’re not a Division II-type defense.

“We saw on the film they had some big dudes, their front seven is physical. We felt they were very strong.”

Pac-Five has a bye week to prepare for its ILH opener against Saint Louis. Kapolei returns to OIA Red West play next week at Aiea.