Dylan Naehu had two of his team’s four sacks as Kapolei overpowered Aiea 41-0 on Friday night in the opening round of the OIA Division I playoffs at the Hurricanes’ field.
Kapolei (5-4 overall) started slowly, hurting its momentum with dropped passes and penalties, but the defense kept a wrap on Aiea’s quarterback, shifty Ty Matsunami.
“He was quick. We had to contain him up the middle, put a spy there in the middle,” Naehu said.
Kapolei didn’t change a whole lot defensively and limited Aiea to 88 yards of total offense.
“We let our line work like they have the whole year. When our defensive line is on, it makes our DBs and linebackers that much better,” coach Darren Hernandez said. “Everybody got to play. It was our last home game, and really it was our first victory here because the first one against Castle was a forfeit. For us to win at our home field was really nice.”
Quarterback Lonenoa Faoa finished with 240 passing yards (24-for-35) with two TDs and no interceptions. Josh Kansana and Dylan Toilolo, who also played defense, sparked the ground attack for Kapolei. Kansana, getting stronger since returning from his second ACL injury, finished with 41 yards and two TDs, while Toilolo had 65 yards on six carries out of a power-I formation.
Kapolei will play defending league champion Kahuku next weekend in the quarterfinal round.
“It’s going to be a good one. We knew this would come,” Naehu said.
The Hurricanes scored on their second series, getting a 2-yard TD pass from Faoa to Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, who finished with 10 receptions for 126 yards. That TD came with 11:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Kapolei’s offense was in sync for the rest of the first half. Kansana’s first TD was a 15-yard jaunt between the tackles as he broke through a defender. Faoa’s 3-yard TD strike to Ransen Pasion gave Kapolei a 21-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the half.
Kansana and backup quarterback Kaniala Kalaola added short TD runs in the second half. Freshman Sonny Semeatu capped the scoring with a 43-yard sweep down the sideline with 5:57 left. Kapolei took a knee at the 2-yard line in the final minute.
