Kapolei holds back Aiea with strong finish for win

On an otherwise festive evening, Kapolei muddled through a slow start to homecoming night on Friday.

But defense and special teams kept the Hurricanes within striking distance until a late surge powered them to a 16-6 win over Aiea in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Aiea kept the Hurricanes out of the end zone and held a 6-2 lead until Kapolei quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa connected with Ty-Noah Williams on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 3:44 left in the game to give Kapolei its first lead of the night. Ezra Savea then sealed the Hurricanes’ fourth straight victory with a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown.

"We made plays when we had to make it," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. "It wasn’t a thing of beauty by any means, but credit Aiea. They’re a tough team and they’ve been in every game this season. … We made a couple plays, but they played well enough to win."

After an 0-3 start to the OIA Blue season, Kapolei (5-3, 4-3) closed the regular season with a four-game winning streak and will open the OIA Division I playoffs at home next week. They can finish as high as third in the division if Farrington loses to Campbell today. A Farrington victory gives Kapolei the OIA Blue’s fourth seed.

Aiea needed a win and a Campbell loss to qualify for the postseason, but ended its season at 1-7 overall and 1-6 in the division.

"We always have a chance, we just keep beating ourselves. We’ve done that all year," Aiea coach Wendell Say said.

Neither team could muster much offense in a speedy first half and Aiea took a 3-0 lead into halftme on Cody Lau’s 32-yard field goal.

Kapolei’s special teams broke the shutout on the first play of the fourth quarter when Lorenzen Panapa blocked an Aiea punt out of the end zone for a safety.

"My assignment was to stay outside," Panapa said. "(It was a) rugby kick on my side, I went through the block and laid out my hands.

"It was big momentum for us, getting our offense on tempo, getting our crowd into the game. That was a wake-up call that we’re still in this game."

Lau’s 37-yard field goal gave Aiea a 6-2 lead with 7:26 left and the Na Alii defense held Kapolei without a first down on the Hurricanes’ first five possessions of the second half.

Kapolei got the ball back with 4:32 left and ignited the decisive drive when Tagovailoa completed a 36-yard pass to Xhavier Mason. Four plays later, Tagovailoa found Williams on a post for the go-ahead score.

"Our pastor, Coach Jay Amina, he always tells us it doesn’t matter how you start, it’s always how you finish," Williams said. "That was our motto going into the second half, just finish strong.

"First I’d like to give thanks to the (offensive) line because without them Taulia wouldn’t have delivered that beautiful pass."

Kapolei will now wait for today’s results to find out its first-round opponent next week, then everything starts over again.

"The playoffs offer us another opportunity," Hernandez said. "It’s a new season."