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Sitting below the radar in fourth place, Castle was close to being an afterthought. That is, until Saturday night at Mililani’s John Kauinana Stadium.
The Knights (5-6) advanced to the OIA Division I championship game after their rugged 28-14 semifinal upset victory over No. 7 and previously undefeated Moanalua.
They rode workhorse quarterback Senituli Punivai, who rushed 38 times for 231 yards and three touchdowns.
“This is a big-time (upset),” Castle coach John Hao said. “Nobody expected this. But our Castle kids wanted it. They knew what they were going to accomplish and they did it today.”
The Knights play Waipahu for the OIA D-I crown next week, with a berth in the state tournament on the line.
With 15 seconds to go before halftime, Castle took its first lead. That’s when Cheyden Costa kicked a 39-yard field goal to make it 8-7. Costa booted a 21-yarder earlier and the Knights also got a safety when Moanalua was called for holding in its own end zone.
Defensively, Castle set the tone early by pressuring Moanalua quarterback Nick Au, who was coming off a seven-touchdown passing performance last week in a win over Nanakuli. The Knights, led by the forceful defensive work of David Keanu and Raiden Wong, continued the hassling of Au, who finished with just 162 yards passing and a TD.
“This is like the highest achievement we could get aside from the championship, rallying to beat a team that beat us (40-36) earlier in the season,” said Wong, who, like Keanu, was in on two sacks. “We balled out together as brothers.”
Still, Castle had to work hard at the end to hold off hard-charging Na Menehune. Trailing 21-7, Rudy Kealohi stepped in for a shaken-up Au and scored up the middle on a 16-yard keeper to make it 21-14.
But Punivai got it back finishing off a time-consuming final drive of the night and putting the game in the bag with a 16-yard TD run.
Castle didn’t find the end zone until its second possession of the second half, driving 68 yards with more of the running game and the offensive line blasting forward. Punivai capped the march off with a 4-yard sweep to the left for a 14-7 edge.
Moanalua (9-1) is done for the season. Na Menehune just could not get untracked on offense against the Knights’ hounding defense.
With a little more than 10 minutes left, the Knights’ Justice Ching intercepted an Au pass.
That set up Punivai’s 47-yard TD run in which he found a gaping hole and put on the jets all the way home for the biggest cushion of the night, 21-7.
Na Menehune’s next possession ended on downs, but a lateral to Kealohi and Kealohi’s fourth-down bomb to Ezra Grace went off the tips of Grace’s hands in the end zone.
“It was a snowball effect,” Moanalua coach Savaii Eselu said. “We couldn’t catch, and we couldn’t block first. It was all bad. All good things come to an end.”
GAME SUMMARY
Castle 28, No. 7 Moanalua 14
At Mililani
>> Castle (5-6) 3 5 6 14 — 28
>> No. 7 Moanalua (8-1) 7 0 0 7 — 14
Castle — Cheyden Costa FG 31
Moanalua — Rudy Kealohi 32 pass from Nick Au (Luke Palaylay kick)
Castle — Moanalua called for holding in own end zone.
Castle — Costa FG 39
Castle — Senituli Punivai 4 run (kick failed)
Castle — Punivai 47 run (Costa kick)
Moanalua — Kealohi 16 run (Palaylay kick)
Castle — Punivai 16 run (Makana Kiakona kick)
RUSHING — Castle: Punivai 38-231, Keanu Tilton 15-57, Mana Kahoopii 3-8, Bruce Pakele 3-0. Moanalua: Kealohi 3-15, Makana Spencer 1-2, JavonMonico 1-2, Au 11-(minus-7).
PASSING — Castle: Punivai 2-4-0-35, Mana Kahoopii 2-6-1-26. Moanalua: Au 18-29-1-162, Kealohi 1-3-0-8.
RECEIVING — Castle: Paul Omengebar 2-32, Jonah Figueroa 1-22, Austyn Acosta 1-7. Moanalua: Kealohi 6-67, Ezra Grace 3-35, Javon Monico 3-21,Drayden Von Oelhoffen 3-8, Spencer 2-43, Lawsen Lee 2-(minus-4).
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