Dezhaun Stribling woke up Friday morning with a scholarship offer from San Diego State. On Friday night against Castle, the Kapolei receiver showed he feels he has a lot more to prove.
The Hurricanes opened their season with a 40-24 win over a feisty Knights squad, led by Stribling’s 134 yards on 10 receptions, both game highs.
“It felt very good,” Stribling said. “It was a very fun experience playing with the boys again and be back on the field.”
The senior, who already has a Hawaii offer in hand, doesn’t want to limit his choices to two.
“It motivated me to push for more and keep working and always be humble,” he said.
Both teams showed rust at the start and exchanged punts until the Hurricanes finally broke through with the game’s first score with 23 seconds left in the first quarter, a 1-yard pass from Noa Bailey to Stribling.
After Castle fumbled on the first play of the second quarter, it didn’t take long for the Hurricanes to capitalize. Bailey fired a 37-yard pass to Logan Albinio, then took it in himself on a 1-yard quarterback sneak to extend the Kapolei lead to 13-0 with 11:13 left in the first half.
Castle had trouble finding a rhythm as quarterbacks Kila Kaio and Mana Kahoopii alternated series in the first half. The Knights got on the board with Kaio’s 3-yard pass to Kala Matthews with 5:33 left in the second quarter.
“I needed to see both quarterbacks in all situations,” Castle coach John Hao said. “Against a team like this, especially.
“I’m proud that my guys played all the way through the fourth quarter. I didn’t expect Kapolei to roll over us because we got fighters. We just gotta work together as a team. There’s little mistakes here and there.”
The Hurricanes unleashed two touchdowns mere seconds apart when Chanzyn Dupont caught a 25-yard score from Bailey with 3:09 left in the half. Journey Feliciano then returned a fumble recovery 20 yards to the end zone on the ensuing kickoff.
Keanu Tilton’s 2-yard score cut the Castle deficit to 27-12 at halftime. The Knights produced the first score of the second half on Jonah Figueroa’s miraculous 23-yard touchdown grab on a fourth-and-7 from Kaio with 4:08 left in the third.
Kapolei gained some separation in the fourth when Bailey and Stribling connected for another touchdown, this time for a wide-open 30-yard score. The Knights refused to quit, responding just two offensive plays later on AJ Igafo’s 35-yard reception from Kaio, his third touchdown pass of the day.
“We made a lot of mistakes. I liked a few things, but there was a lot of things we have to clean up,” Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. “It’s preseason, we made a lot of mistakes. Overall, I’m happy with the win obviously but not when there were stretches when we made a lot of mistakes and we killed ourselves.”
Bailey got off to a torrid start, completing 11 of his first 14 passes. The junior came back to earth as the game progressed, completing 20 of his 37 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to a rushing score.
“It felt great, but we have a lot of stuff to work on still,” he said.
Jacob Saole Su’e’s 28-yard pick-6 with 7:45 left for Kapolei was the game’s final score. Stribling appeared to score on a 65-yard jailbreak screen right before that, but it was negated due to a holding call.
“Amazing. Yeah, he’s amazing,” Hernandez said of Stribling. “It’s too bad we keep killing ourselves with the penalties, though.”
With two touchdowns, Stribling almost matched his junior season total of three in one night. No matter which schools come calling this fall, his goals for 2019 remain lofty.
“Get my team to the championship,” he said, “and get the state receiving record.”
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Kapolei 40, Castle 24
At Castle High
>> Kapolei (1-0) 6 21 0 13 – 40
>> Castle (0-1) 0 12 6 6 – 24
Kapolei — Dezhaun Stribling 1 pass from Noa Bailey (kick failed)
Kapolei — Bailey 1 rush (Bula White kick)
Castle — Kala Matthews 3 pass from Kila Kaio (kick failed)
Kapolei — Chanzyn Dupont 25 pass from Bailey (White kick)
Kapolei — Journey Feliciano 20 fumble recovery (White kick)
Castle — Keanu Tilton 2 rush (kick failed)
Castle — Jonah Figueroa 23 pass from Kaio (pass failed)
Kapolei — Stribling 30 pass from Bailey (White kick)
Castle — AJ Igafo 35 pass from Kaio (rush failed)
Kapolei — Jacob Saole Su’e 28 interception return (kick failed)
RUSHING – Kapolei: Jayven Reyes 7-31, Josh Nahulu 3-14, TEAM 1-(minus-14), Bailey 9-(minus-43). Castle: TEAM 2-29, Chazz Tom 7-19, Kahiau Kanoa 5-17, Tilton 6-14, Kaio 11-11, Mana Kahoopii 2-(minus-17).
PASSING – Kapolei: Bailey 20-37-1- 306. Castle: Kaio 12-20-0-169, Kahoopii 5-8-0-28.
RECEIVING – Kapolei: Stribling 10- 134, Dycen Coyaso 4-92, Dupont 2-29, Reyes 2-27, White 2-24. Castle: Jonah Figueroa 4-65, Matthews 4-23, Igafo 3-62, Logan Albinio 2-36, EJ Dydasco 2-5, Kanoa 1-9, Mana Moe 1-(minus-3
