The birds on both sides couldn’t fly this time, but the Golden Hawks got a little higher.
In a complete reversal of style, Nanakuli outslugged Kalani 20-14 in the OIA Division II semifinals on Saturday night in Nanakuli Valley.
The Golden Hawks (9-0) qualified for states with the win and move on to face Pearl City in the league final.
In the first encounter between the two teams two weeks ago, the Golden Hawks and Falcons (4-5) put on an offensive show, with Nanakuli holding on 48-35.
This time, it was all defense, and Nanakuli took advantage of two Kalani fumbles to fight back from a 14-6 deficit.
"Usually our defense relies on our offense to put points on the board," Golden Hawks coach Keala Watson said. "It was nice to see the defense return the favor. I enjoyed this game. We put our best out there. I knew Kalani would be ready to play us tougher this time. They almost got up on us last time."
Brandon Sevellino’s fumble recovery led to quarterback Kale Kanehailua’s 20-yard TD pass to Makaila Haina-Horswill, cutting the Golden Hawks’ deficit to 14-12 with 11 seconds to go in the third quarter.
Brayden Ramaila did the trick the next time, recovering a Falcons fumble to usher in Nanakuli’s go-ahead score — Isain Wong’s post-pattern 29-yard TD catch with 11:07 left from Kanehailua, who added the 2-point conversion to make it 20-14 by connecting with Keanu Momoa.
From there, Nanakuli’s defense kept the Falcons without a first down on their final three possessions.
Haina-Horswill, who ran for more than 200 yards in the last encounter against Kalani, was held to 61 this time.
Falcons running back Ace Faumui, who nearly broke the 300-yard rushing barrier in the game two weeks ago, carried 13 times for 41 yards before going down with an ankle injury just before halftime. He returned on Kalani’s last drive and carried once for 2 yards.
"We played hard, but our offense didn’t take care of the ball," Falcons coach Greg Taguchi said. "Our game plan was to control the ball, and losing Ace was a big loss because he is the majority of our offense."
Nanakuli was without star defensive tackle Lyle Tuiloma, who Watson called "ineligible." He is expected to return for the OIA D-II final.
Kalani grabbed a 7-6 lead midway through the second quarter on Tyler Ching’s 1-yard quarterback sneak to cap a 48-yard drive, and the Falcons made it 14-6 early in the third on Ching’s 2-yard TD keeper.
The Golden Hawks failed to take advantage of first-half fumble recoveries by Lawrence Tokioka and Jayden McCoy.
Kalani is done for the year.
"It hurts a lot," Kalani linebacker Payton Awaya said. We had a helluva season. "We should have had this one."
At Nanakuli
| KALANI (4-5) |
0 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
— |
14 |
| NANAKULI (9-0) |
6 |
0 |
6 |
8 |
— |
20 |
Nan—Kale Kanehailua 3 run (kick failed)
Kaln—Tyler Ching 1 run (Marc Teshima kick)
Kaln—Ching 2 run (Teshima kick)
Nan—Makaila Haina-Horswill 20 pass from Kanehailua (run failed)
Nan—Isain Wong 29 pass from Kanehailua (Keanu Momoa pass from Kanehailua)
RUSHING—Kalani: Ace Faumui 14-43, Blaise Manabe 9-31, Brandon Nahina 10-23, Kai Reed 1-0, Ching 3-(minus 1). Nanakuli: Haina-Horswill 12-61, Kanehailua 7-7, Luke Luna-Luuloa 1-3, Wong 1-(minus 2), Team 3-(minus 7).
PASSING—Kalani: Ching 2-8-0-18. Nanakuli: Kanehailua 13-26-0-184.
RECEIVING—Kalani: Faumui 1-13, Juwan Bohannon 1-5. Nanakuli: Momoa 4-76, Clifford Cunningham 3-18, Wong 2-62, Louis Hulama 2-5, Haina-Horswill 1-20, Luna-Luuloa 1-3.
Junior varsity—Nanakuli 52, Kalaheo 13
