KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii >>
Despite already giving up 50 points to Waipahu, the Konawaena defense never lost the trust of its head coach.
Leading by a field goal with less than three minutes remaining and facing fourth-and-2 on its own 43, Wildcats coach Brad Uemoto elected to punt the ball away.
The Konawaena defense, which gave up 675 total yards, allowed Waipahu to drive to the 10-yard line before Tevin Canda recovered a fumble with less than 30 seconds remaining to end the highest-scoring affair in state tournament history — a 53-50 victory on Friday night at Julian Yates Field.
“We did enough to close the game out,” said Uemoto, who is the first coach in BIIF history to take a team to a state final. “We won with defense all year. If we were going to close this game out, we were going to do it with our defense on the field.”
Senior quarterback Austin Ewing threw for 370 yards and four touchdowns and added two rushing scores for Konawaena (9-2), which will face defending champion Lahainaluna in the Division II final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships on Nov. 18 at Aloha Stadium.
“I don’t really know how to explain it,” said Ewing, whose season had ended in the Division II state semifinals each of the past two seasons. “We’ve come up short two years before, so to win it is amazing.”
Konawaena led 53-37 with less than seven minutes remaining when Ewing, who completed 30 of 53 passes, fumbled, one of his few mistakes in the game.
Waipahu sophomore running back Alfred Failauga broke off a 65-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-2 and then added his fourth rushing touchdown of the game from 7 yards out with 3:23 remaining.
Konawaena got the ball back but went three-and-out, with Uemoto electing to punt.
Ewing was playing safety on the deciding play when Waipahu quarterback Braden Amorozo tried to throw the ball away under pressure but fumbled it.
“I was back at safety and saw the ball on the ground and Tevin went and got it,” Ewing said. “He was in tears after. We all were.”
Failauga broke the single-game rushing record in the state tournament with 283 yards on 42 carries.
Amorozo finished 22-for-40 for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Ezekiel-Kai Kapanui Reyes added a 69-yard touchdown pass to Zeondre Benjamin on a trick play in the first quarter.
“That’s all you want. A chance to win the game and have the ball to win the game, and they dialed up a blitz that we just didn’t pick up,” Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said. “We have a great young team and that’s a positive, but my heart goes out to our seniors that won’t have another chance.”
The teams combined to run 52 plays in the first quarter alone, with the Wildcats exploding out to a 21-6 lead.
The Wildcats got two touchdown runs from Ewing and a 34-yard fumble return by Orion Smith off a bad snap to go up 21-6.
Harry Hill, who was booting 50-yard field goals in warm-ups with ease, kicked a 35-yard field goal to put Konawaena up 24-19 heading into the half.
Konawaena finished with 481 total yards and Tyler Libarios led the receiving corps with 135 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions.
Matthew Fiesta had seven receptions for 152 yards and two scores to lead the Marauders.
The game was delayed for 26 minutes late in the third quarter when a Waipahu player was taken off the field in an ambulance.
HHSAA DIVISION II SEMIFINALS
NO. 7 LAHAINALUNA 35,
‘IOLANI 27
At War Memorial Stadium
‘Iolani (4-6) 3 7 9 8 — 27
Lahainaluna (10-1) 7 28 0 0 — 35
IOL—FG Mika Makekau 28
LAH—Joshua Tihada 1 run (Pablo Rico kick)
LAH—Tihada 42 run (Rico kick)
LAH—Laakea Shim 39 run (Rico kick)
IOL—Tai-John Mizutani 8 run (Makekau kick)
LAH—Elijah Ragudo 62 run (Rico kick)
LAH—Tihada 5 run (Rico kick)
IOL—Miyazawa 37 pass from Mizutani (Makekau kick)
IOL—Kaua Nishigaya tackles Tihada in end zone
IOL—Mizutani 6 run (Jake Yokogawa pass from Mizutani)
RUSHING—’Iolani: Mizutani 19-130, Nishigaya 5-15. Lahainaluna: Tihada 29-167, Ragudo 18-139, Shim 3-44, Jesse Dudoit 2-14, Aliksa Pihda 4-11, Nainoa Irish 3-8, Lennox Kahahane-Lived 1-3, Taai Galoia 1-2, TEAM 3-(minus-11).
PASSING—’Iolani: Mizutani 26-47-2-290. Lahainaluna: Galoia 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—’Iolani: Miyazawa 13-193, Carter Kamana 6-46, Yokogawa 4-40, Drake Shigemura 1-12, Nishigaya 1-2, Rayden Kaneshiro 1-(minus-3).
KONAWAENA 53,
NO. 9 WAIPAHU 50
At Julian Yates Field
Waipahu (10-1) 6 13 18 13 — 50
Konawaena (9-2) 21 3 29 0 — 53
Kona—Austin Ewing 6 run (Harry Hill kick)
Waip—Zeondre Benjamin 69 pass from Ezikiel-Kai Kapanui Reyes (kick failed)
Kona—Orion Smith 34 fumble return (Hill kick)
Kona—Ewing 1 run (Hill kick)
Waip—Alfred Failauga 3 run (run failed)
Waip—Matthew Fiesta 34 pass from Braden Amorozo (Brycen Amorozo kick)
Kona—FG Hill 35
Kona—Tyler Libarios 54 pass from Ewing (Hill kick)
Waip—Failauga 22 run (pass failed)
Kona—Chancey Mariani-Louis 36 pass from Ewing (Ewing run)
Waip—Fiesta 80 pass from Amorozo (run failed)
Kona—Jeriah Cacal 41 pass from Ewing (Hill kick)
Waip—Alika Ahsing 25 pass from Amorozo (run failed)
Kona—Cacal 1 pass from Ewing (Hill kick)
Waip—Failauga 65 run (run failed)
Waip—Failauga 7 run (Bry. Amorozo kick)
RUSHING—Waipahu: Failauga 42-283, Kapanui Reyes 1-11, Fiva Tulafale 1-0, TEAM 1-(minus 11), Amorozo 5-(minus 13). Konawaena: Chancey Mariani-Louis 23-66, Libarios 1-13, Ewing 8-35, Marc Basa 1-(minus 1), TEAM 2-(minus 2).
PASSING—Waipahu: Amorozo 22-40-2-336, Kapanui Reyes 1-1-0-69, Ahsing 0-2-0-0. Konawaena: Ewing 30-53–0-370.
RECEIVING—Waipahu: Fiesta 7-152, Ahsing 5-65, Kapanui Reyes 4-29, Branson Jay Reyes 3-21, Benjamin 2-94, Isaac Yamashita 2-19, Failauga 0-25. Konawaena: Basa 8-36, Libarios 7-135, Mariani-Louis 5-85, Cacal 5-77, Hunter Wehrsig 3-20, Herman Kihe 2-17.
