Leilehua proved what Hawaii high school fans already know: There isn’t much of a difference in the quality of football played at the lower end of the Open Division and the upper part of Division I.
The D-I Mules opened the season Friday night with a 35-0 nonleague victory over Farrington at the Governors’ Skippa Diaz Stadium. It goes in the books as a major victory for the Central Oahu squad against the town team that plays its regular season in the higher division.
A highly efficient offense and a pressure defense fueled Leilehua. Quarterback Kalei Akagi had the offense in rhythm, finishing with 203 yards passing, including a 64-yard bomb to Jonathan Vasquez.
The Govs couldn’t stop junior Kiaka Pio, who is a hybrid defensive end/linebacker. He had a sack and a forced fumble to go along with other money stops.
“Teamwork,” Pio said afterward. “There’s no ‘I’ in team, so overall it’s just everybody working together. Without the rest of the defensive line, it would be a lot tougher for me and my teammates to make plays. The D-line, that’s the heart of the defense. I don’t know where we would be without them.”
Farrington — led by the passing and running of Darius Chaffin — picked up chunks of yardage all night, but couldn’t punch it in. The Govs, however, were missing 19 players and only suited up 33. Coach Daniel Sanchez said the lack of personnel was mostly due to academic probation.
“We gotta keep pushing and working as a team,” two-way Farrington player TJ Paleafei said. “We need to execute every play and work hard and that’s it. Leilehua was good. I guess they worked harder than us in practice.”
Cousins Kalei Akagi and Cody Akagi scored the first two Leilehua rushing touchdowns in the first half. Then, Vasquez beat two would-be tacklers on that 64-yard bomb for a 21-0 count at halftime. In the second half, the Mules got touchdowns from Damarion Smith on a 4-yard pitch to the right and an 8-yard pass from backup QB Kekoa Turnagan to Jayzon Ramos.
The Mules won the turnover battle 3-0.
“I like that we improved from our scrimmages until now,” Leilehua coach Mark Kurisu said. “Farrington was down close to 20 guys. You have to put it in perspective, but I like the direction we went. We executed and that was a goal.”
Paleafei rushed for 54 yards and also had two long punt returns.
The Govs were missing four offensive linemen and four defensive starters, according to Sanchez.
“We moved the ball and there were a lot of positives for the guys who played tonight,” Sanchez said. “We just didn’t execute on both sides of the ball. We knew we had to play ironman football with lots of guys going both ways.”
Dangerous Govs running back Raymond Millare hurt his wrist early in the second half and was carted from the field, but will be back next week, the coach said.
One big part of the Farrington offense, St. Francis transfer Faaope Laloulu, was out. He’s a 6-foot-5, 390-pound tackle. Quarterback Jonah Aina-Chaves, another Saints transfer, played sparingly.
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Leilehua 35, Farrington 0
At Farrington High
>> Leilehua (1-0) 7 14 7 7 – 35
>> Farrington (0-0) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Leilehua – Kalei Akagi 22 run (Joseph Edwards kick)
Leilehua – Cody Akagi 5 run (Edwards kick)
Leilehua – Jonathan Vasquez 64 pass from C. Akagi (Edwards kick)
Leilehua – Damarion Smith 4 run (Edwards kick)
Leilehua – Jayzon Ramos 8 pass from Kekoa Turnagan (Edwards kick)
RUSHING – Leilehua: C. Akagi 7-26, K. Akagi 7-25, Smith 5-24, Kawela Kaluhiokalani 3-21, Jayzon Ramos 1-15, Konapiliahi Ramond 4-13, Turnagan 1-(minus-12). Farrington: TJ Paleafei 4-54, Darius Chaffin 13-34, Raymond Millare 2-8, AJ Fernandez 1-3, Keane Foster 1-2, Floyd Faleao 3-(minus-4).
PASSING – Leilehua: K. Akagi 13-28- 0-203, Turnagan 1-3-0-8. Farrington: Chaffin 14-28-0-148.
RECEIVING – Leilehua: Ramos 5-50, Vasquez 3-99, C. Akagi 3-16, Benjamin Lockman 2-24, Rayden Rulloda-Kim 1-22. Farrington: Fernandez 4-18, Kainoa Mane 3-72, Zion Paro-Amina 3-17, Isaiah Rios 2-27, Millare 1-7, Foster 1-7.
* Junior varsity: Farrington 20, Leilehua 14
