After five straight losses to start the season, Moanalua continued its torrid four-game win streak by tipping Kailua 17-14 in the first round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs Friday night at Skippa Diaz Stadium.
Na Mehehune (4-5) got it done without scoring an offensive touchdown. Instead, they relied on touchdown returns of a fumble recovery and a kickoff as well as a field goal.
“Our team showed a lot of heart,” Moanalua linebacker Micah Kim said. “We kept it going after a rough start to the season. We’ve got Mililani (in the quarterfinals next week). They’re a powerhouse, real good. We’ll scout ’em good this week and get ready for them.”
Kim and defensive lineman Tupu Alualu were menaces all night. Kim had three tackles for loss and Alualu delivered numerous punishing tackles, including a sack.
The ultimate hero, however, was place-kicker Griffin Motas, who booted an 18-yard field goal with six seconds left in the third quarter. Nick Au’s 50-yard flare pass to Makana Spencer made that game-winner possible.
Kailua (4-5), however, had four chances with the ball after that, including possessions that started at Na Menehune’s 30 and 41, but couldn’t deliver the needed points.
“Coaches have been telling us every single week, execute, execute, execute,” Surfriders linebacker Alika Teramoto said. “We just came up a little short. Execute a couple more plays and we could have done it.”
The teams traded fumble recovery returns for an early 7-7 deadlock. Ethan Feguis-Tavares put Na Menehune on the board first with an 82-yard scoop and score. Then from 44 yards out, Leighton Russell did the same trick for the Surfriders.
On the ensuing kickoff, Tre’quan Henderson made the most spectacular play of the game, giving Moanalua a 14-7 lead with 3:11 to go in the first quarter. Henderson went left and saw a wall of tacklers before circling back and around to his right, putting on a burst of speed and making it to the outside and back in again for a 96-yard touchdown return. Tanner Wright, one of Kailua’s fastest players, nearly brought Henderson down by the leg at the 20.
“We were supposed to go left, but I saw too many people in the way,” Henderson said. “I turned around and didn’t see anybody on that side, so I just went.”
The Surfriders made it a 14-all game at the half on Cole Weber’s 19-yard TD pass to Shane Kalawaia Jr. — the only offensive TD of the contest.
Weber, however, left in an ambulance at halftime with a leg injury and backup Reynen Ho-Mook played the rest of the way.
“It’s hard to move when you’re down to the next guy,” Kailua coach Joe Wong said. “I don’t know what it is with us and (losing) quarterbacks.”
Weber started the season as a backup to Aaron Mejia, who was hurt in a loss to Leilehua on Sept. 23 and did not return to the lineup. Mejia was supposed to be the starter a year ago before suffering a season-ending injury.
“You miss blocks, you miss passes thrown to you, that’s what happens, you lose,” Wong said. “Our kids battled all the way through, though. No matter what the circumstance, they kept going .”
