Kapolei surprises Punahou

It turns out the Open Division didn’t give the ILH much of an edge at all.

Kapolei erased any fears of an all-ILH state final with a 33-21 victory over Punahou in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 367 yards and five touchdowns and Jaymin Sarono caught four of those scores and became the first Hawaii high school player with 100 receptions in a season in the process for Kapolei before a crowd of 5,540.

The Hurricanes (10-2) will take their shot against defending state champion Kahuku in the semifinals of the Open Division on Friday night.

“It feels great,” Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. “I’m a very talkative guy and I’m almost at a loss right now.”

The Hurricanes-Red Raiders matchup was expected to take place in the OIA title game until Farrington rallied to upset Kapolei 33-27 in the semifinals.

Kapolei responded with a win last week over Waianae, which plays Saint Louis in the other semifinal, and then handed the Buffanblu (7-3) their second loss in as many games.

“After that Farrington loss, the team did a lot of soul searching and this team is led by seniors who are just a bunch of great kids,” Hernandez said. “All year we told them you have to rise above adversity, you have to have the guts to come from behind and you never quit.”

Four lead changes in the second half ended with Kapolei shutting out Punahou 13-0 in the final quarter.

Punahou senior quarterback Nick Kapule was knocked out of the game on the opening drive of the second half after taking a hit to the helmet.

Coach Kale Ane said Kapule, who was 9-for-15 for 120 yards with a touchdown and an interception, was taken to the hospital with a concussion.

Backup Stephen Barber replaced him and threw a 28-yard touchdown to Keala Martinson on the next play to give Punahou a 14-13 lead.

Barber added a 17-yard touchdown pass to Martinson, who caught all three Punahou scores, for a 21-20 lead late in the third quarter.

Punahou failed to score again, with a fumble ending the next drive and a turnover on downs with 4:56 remaining sealing the deal.

Barber was 13-for-21 for 169 yards and two touchdowns and Martinson had nine catches for 168 yards.

“Stephen did a nice job,” Ane said. “Tough coming from behind. (Kapolei) didn’t have to blitz, which caused problems.”

Kapolei scored touchdowns on its first three drives in the second half and took the lead for good on a 4-yard TD pass from Tagovailoa to Sarono.

Sarono added a 3-yard TD reception on the next drive for a 33-21 lead and Kapolei’s defense did the rest.

The Hurricanes recovered a fumble by Punahou and forced a turnover on downs with 4:36 remaining when Barber was sacked by four different Kapolei players on fourth down near midfield.

“You know the saying, when you play together bigger things happen, and that’s what we did today,” Tagovailoa said.

Tagovailoa finished with the 10th 300-yard passing game of his career and his 3,659 passing yards this season moved him to third place on the single-season list, behind only Timmy Chang (Saint Louis) and PJ Minaya (Pac-Five).

Sarono had nine catches for 87 yards to give him 101 receptions this season. Wyatt Perez added eight receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ll enjoy this tonight and go back and look at their film, and if you want to be the best you have to go against the best,” Hernandez said. “There’s no avoiding Kahuku. Kahuku is like a mountain, like there’s a big mountain in front of you. They’re unbelievable. … They’re almost like freaks how good they are, it’s amazing.”