Saint Francis quarterback Bubba Akana summed up the Saints’ win over Pearl City in five words.
“That was a messy game,” Akana said.
Messy and painful.
Beset by penalties and an injury to their top playmaker, the Saints managed to pull out a 27-13 win over the host Chargers on Friday night to improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in OIA-ILH Division II play.
St. Francis running back Jonan Aina-Chaves averaged 219 rushing yards and scored eight touchdowns in the Saints’ first three games. He appeared to provide a spark in a largely listless first quarter with a 46-yard sprint with 2:26 left in the period. But he stayed on the turf and had to be taken from the field on a cart.
He spent the rest of the game on a table with his right ankle wrapped and coach Kip Akana said he’ll have an X-ray today.
“He’s one of the best running backs in the state,” Kip Akana said. “I’m sure the first thing teams do when they scheme St. Francis is to stop No. 4, and for him to go down that early in the game certainly changed the complexion. But the team rallied around each other and was able to get the job done.”
It helped that the Saints jumped ahead before Aina-Chaves’ injury thanks to two-way standout Shepherd Kekahuna’s 57-yard interception return for a touchdown on Pearl City’s second play from scrimmage.
“I was watching some film, I was reading the two slots and saw that they both go out. I saw the middle slot go out and thought from the film the inside slot would go out too and read the quarterback’s eyes and just pursued on the ball,” said Kekahuna, who also caught three passes for 96 yards and came up with another interception in the fourth quarter.
St. Francis built a 14-0 lead when Bubba Akana connected with Alden Rosa on an 11-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter. But Pearl City answered with a bit of trickery.
On third down from the Saints’ 18, quarterback Makana Canyon threw a lateral to Micah Quillopo-Jamile, who pulled up and fired into the end zone to Jordan Oshiro for a touchdown.
The Saints, however, responded with a six-play scoring drive capped by Kain Lyman’s 5-yard touchdown run.
The Saints gave themselves added cushion early in the fourth quarter when Makana Poole caught a screen pass and bulled through the Pearl City defense for a 30-yard score.
Pearl City capped the scoring with a touchdown pass from Canyon to Thomas King in the final minute.
“The first pick I thought was big because that’s momentum,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. “In high school whoever scores first gets that momentum and we gave them that momentum.”
“Our defense played a heck of a game. They gave us opportunities, but our offense struggled a little bit, and you have to give credit to St. Francis’ defense. They’re fast and strong and they came attacking us.”
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GAME SUMMARY
St. Francis 27, Pearl City 7
At Pearl City
>> St. Francis (4-0, 3-0) 8 13 0 6 — 27
>> Pearl City (2-2, 2-0) 0 7 0 6 — 13
St. Francis — Shepherd Kekahuna 57 interception return (Jonan Aina-Chaves run)
St. Francis — Alden Rosa 11 pass from Bubba Akana (run failed)
Pearl City — Jordan Oshiro 18 pass from Micah Quillopo-Jamile (Kyle Hyun kick)
St. Francis — Kain Lyman 5 run (Makana Poole kick)
St. Francis — Poole 30 pass from Akana (run failed)
Pearl City — Thomas King 9 pass from Makana Canyon (pass failed)
RUSHING — St. Francis: Aina-Chaves 5-66, Lyman 3-52, Jonah Aina-Chaves 5-37, Poole 4-25, Dayton Leong 2-25, JP Tilly 1-(minus-4), B. Akana 7-(minus-17), Team 1-(minus-25). Pearl City: Christian Tielu 4-23, Pookela Moses-Espanto 8-21, Gabriel Parrish 5-6, Tex Kang 3-2, Mikey Ortiz-Ma’ae 1-1, Makana Canyon 3-(minus-23) .
PASSING — St. Francis: Akana 13-31-2-256, Rosa 0-1-0-0. Pearl City: Tielu 0-4-0–30, Canyon 10-21-1-97, Quillopo-Jamile 1-1-0-18.
RECEIVING — St. Francis: Kekahuna 3-96, Poole 3-36, Rosa 2-32, Chase Akana 2-45, Leong 2-32, Aina-Chaves 1-15. Pearl City: Quillopo-Jamile 3-41, Thomas King 2-22, Oshiro 1-18, Stanton Hong 1-12, Herbert Hallers 1-11, Moses-Espanto 1-8, Parrish 1-3, Dallas Ching 1-0.
*JV — Farrington 20, Pearl City 7
