Kailua closes out mainland foe

The streak is still alive for No. 9 Kailua. After Friday’s 28-27 victory over Arizona’s Buckeye Union, the Surfriders are 5-0 against mainland competition.

With a chance to either tie the game or take the lead with 1:02 left, the Hawks went for a 2-point conversion, but quarterback Joseph Perez’s pass fell incomplete.

“Our whole premise of what we do and believe is to play free and fierce, so we go for it,” Buckeye head coach Kelley Moore said. “Especially on the road, we came here to play against a great football team and hopefully be ourselves, so that’s what we do.”

The Surfriders improved to 2-0 despite suiting up just 29 players this week. To head coach Joe Wong, the team went with quality over quantity, with many players going both ways.

“We told them to keep fighting and play for one another, because in the end, as long as they stay together and keep their heads in the game, we can play with anybody,” Wong said.

The Surfriders set the tone offensively when quarterback Aaron Mejia and Tanner Wright connected on a 60-yard pass on their second play from scrimmage. Samson Rasay finished off the drive with a 9-yard scamper into the end zone.

The Hawks responded in the second quarter with a pair of touchdowns. Perez kept on a read option for a 17-yard score with 11:11 to go in the half. With 12 seconds to go in the quarter, Anthony Smart and Perez connected on a jump ball that stunned the Kailua crowd and gave the Hawks a 14-7 lead at halftime.

Kailua tied things up with 7:36 left in the third when Kaniala Williams hauled in a 13-yard pass from Mejia on a play-action pass. The Surfriders recaptured the at 21-14 when Mejia scrambled and tip-toed his way into the left corner of the end zone on fourth-and-goal with 1:57 to go in the quarter.

“That was intense. Our defense helped us out. Our offense had to push a little harder, it was tough,” Mejia said. “We just had to execute our plays and hold on.”

A wild sequence allowed the Hawks to tie up the game when Perez was picked off by Wright, who fumbled the return to the Kailua 2. The Hawks took full advantage when Perez scored on a quarterback sneak from 2 yards out. Mejia and Williams connected again on a 40-yard pass that set up a 1-yard rush for Kealoha “Kolo” Hanawahine-Wong that gave the Surfriders the lead back at 28-21.

Perez and Smart linked up for their second touchdown of the day before the decision to go for 2 came.

“We had momentum. We had the ball at the end of the game, so we’re like ‘Let’s go, we’re gonna go for it.’ No question,” Moore said. “We would do it again any time we can be in the situation.”

“Right here, right now, this is for the win. Let’s end it,” Wong recalls telling his team in the timeout before that.