Kahuku takes advantage of Castle miscues for a blowout win

If you want to see football players move the pile in the mud, go to Kahuku for a night home game.

And if the opposing team comes in and demonstrates that it can’t hang on to a slippery ball, it’s game over.

That was the case Friday in No. 5 Kahuku’s homecoming. Castle, which showed it could hang with state power Kamehameha in its season opener, had no chance against the bigger and more mud-ready Red Raiders, who slopped their way to a 48-13 victory.

"We had a lot of miscues," Knights coach Nelson Maeda said. "It led to our demise. Errant snaps, dropped balls. We didn’t come with our ‘A’ game. Credit of course also goes to Kahuku’s stout defense."

Two bad punt snaps led to two Red Raiders touchdowns, and another special-teams miscue with the Knights in punt formation led to another 6-pointer for the Red Raiders, who grabbed a 35-0 halftime lead.

Kahuku (3-2, 3-0 OIA Red East) struck for a 7-0 lead just 4:16 into the game when Manaia Atuaia returned a short Castle punt 31 yards for a touchdown. Bryson Aiwohi barely got the punt off due to a snap he had to catch way over his head, and the kick made it just past the line of scrimmage. The Knights (2-4, 1-3) failed to invade the area where the ball was bounding and allowed Atuaia to alertly pick it up and sprint to the end zone.

Early in the second quarter, with Kahuku up 14-0, the Knights’ second bad punt snap — this time too far over Aiwohi’s head for him to catch — resulted in a 23-yard loss. The Red Raiders took over at the Castle 9, and three plays later, Salanoa Alo-Wily was in the end zone with a 2-yard touchdown for a 21-0 lead.

Late in the first half, Aiwohi was back to punt and he dropped the ball, which resulted in a 16-yard loss. It led to Polikapo Liua Jr.’s third rushing touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run and a huge 35-point lead at the break. Liua was the game’s leading rusher with 48 yards on 11 carries.

"We improved," Kahuku coach Reggie Torres said. "We have a lot of young running backs and we’re trying to give them as many carries as possible. We took big strides with our defense, which was pitching a shutout until near the end."

Without the services of the team’s leading ground gainer, Soli Afalava, the Red Raiders used 12 players to carry the ball and they churned out 204 yards. Afalava has torn ligaments in his shoulder, suffered in last week’s win over Moanalua. Torres said he might not be back until November.

Castle came back with two touchdowns in the second half to prevent a shutout. Stephen Lee, the backup quarterback, led the way with TD strikes of 20 yards to Keanu Furtado and 27 yards to Ikaika Kanekoa.

"Lee came in and did a good job," Maeda said. "And the team didn’t quit. The second half was a lot better than the first."