Pearl City’s offense started fast and finished with a burst in a 33-0 OIA Division II victory over McKinley on Thursday night.
In between, the Chargers defense turned away three threats deep in Pearl City territory to preserve the program’s fourth straight shutout against the Tigers.
Pearl City senior Makana Canyon completed 14 of 23 passes for 219 yards, and his two touchdowns in the second half helped the Chargers (1-2, 1-1 OIA D-II) pull away from McKinley (0-3, 0-2) and bounce back from a 33-7 loss to Kaiser last week.
“The first two games were hard losses. We played Kealakehe pretty tough and Kaiser just outplayed us last week,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said after the home win. “So this week we wanted to see if these kids could come back after a hard loss and they came back. They had a good week of practice and they showed today that they can play.”
Canyon connected with Joshua Gleason on a 34-yard strike on his second throw of the game to spark an opening drive that ended with Ali‘i Gaspar’s 5-yard touchdown run. The Chargers’ next drive produced the first of two field goals by Landon Chang to give Pearl City a 10-0 lead it would take into halftime.
Canyon extended the lead in the second half with touchdown passes to Isaiah Cruz-Amerperosa for 25 yards and Preston Hong, who turned a short slant into a 57-yard score.
“I’m very comfortable with the offense, I trusted everyone,” Canyon said. “We had a good week of practice on the offensive and defensive side and we put it on the field tonight.”
McKinley, which generated 28 yards in total offense in the first half, opened the third quarter with a 65-yard completion from Keanu Pimental to Aaron Velasco to move to the Pearl City 10. But the a third-down sack by Nu’usegi Afoa pushed the Tigers back and Pearl City forced an incompletion on fourth down.
McKinley also reached the Pearl City 6 in the first half, aided by a muffed punt, and drove to the 6 again in the third quarter, only to come up empty each time.
“We have a young team, that’s the thing,” McKinley coach Pat Silva said. “With youth, it just takes time and we’re going to have growing pains. It’s part of the learning process.”
PEARL CITY 33, MCKINLEY 0
At Pearl City
McKinley (0-3, 0-2) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Pearl City (1-2, 1-1) 7 3 10 13 — 33
PC—Ali’i Gaspar 5 run (Landon Chang kick)
PC—FG Chang 27
PC—FG Chang 29
PC—Isaiah Cruz-Amerperosa 25 pass from Makana Canyon (Chang kick)
PC—Preston Hong 57 pass from Canyon (Chang kick)
PC—Victor Atkins 4 run (kick blocked)
RUSHING—McKinley: Khert Vincent-Saing 5-28, Kaena Leopoldo 3-22, Franklin Pham 6-2, Tyler Sheindlin 4-(-6), Zion Williams 3-(-1), Beneiah Togafau 1-2, Keanu Pimental 2-(-18). Pearl City: Gaspar 15-89, Canyon 4-38, Rastin Tobosa 3-18, Raiden Pabo 7-16, Atkins 3-10, Team 2-(-5).
PASSING—McKinley: Pimental 2-12-0-70, Leopoldo 6-16–0-50. Pearl City: Canyon 14-23-0-219.
RECEIVING—McKinley: Aaron Velasco 1-65, Quincy Owens-Barnes 3-21, Sheindlin 1-16, Joab Cruz 1-15, Pham 1-4, Williams 1(-1). Pearl City: P. Hong 3-66, Joshua Gleason 2-74, Cruz-Amerperosa 5-83, Stanton Hong 1-5, Gaspar 2-(-4), Cody Oshiro 1-(-5).
