Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Big Island schools might want to think twice about scheduling a game against Kapolei.
The Hurricanes have never given up a point in three games against the BIIF, with their biggest blowout coming Saturday afternoon in a 70-0 drubbing of Kealakehe on the Hurricanes’ home turf.
Sophomore Tama Amisone accounted for all eight Kapolei touchdowns in the first half and didn’t miss on a pass, finishing 16-for-16 for 234 yards and seven touchdowns. He also rushed for a 26-yard TD.
The 70-point win was the biggest margin of victory in Kapolei’s 20-year football history. Kapolei and Kealakehe are the two newest active high school football programs in the state.
The Hurricanes had scheduled a game at Kealakehe to open the 2014 season, but that was eventually canceled due to the threat of Hurricane Iselle.
“We’ve been trying to get this game scheduled for a long time,” Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. “We wanted to take a look at both of our quarterbacks. Things got out of hand quickly in the first half, so we didn’t really have a chance to do much in the second half. We were real basic.”
Amisone, who is a sophomore, was the starting quarterback on the junior varsity team as a freshman.
Junior Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa, who started much of last season for the varsity, came in for the second half and scored on two touchdown runs.
He attempted only three passes.
“We’ve got two guys that can play and we’re excited about that,” Hernandez said. “They are going to compete every week.”
Amisone’s seven touchdown passes went to six different receivers. His “favorite” of the bunch was the one he called a duck. Senior Esaiah Gideon made a great adjustment on a ball underthrown down the middle of the field and snagged it over the defensive back’s hands for a 56-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
“That throw 50 yards down the field was a duck, but he made a great play,” Amisone said. “I wouldn’t say that stood out, but yeah, we’ve got a lot of guys that are good.”
Kapolei split up its eight touchdowns in the first half evenly in the first two quarters.
Returning All-State first-team defensive lineman Iosefa Tapeni had a fumble return for a touchdown taken off the board due to a block-in-the-back penalty as he was rumbling into the end zone.
“For me, I still count it as a touchdown,” Tapeni joked. “We’ve just been grinding all summer and training and getting ready for this.”
Tapeni, who is 6 feet 3 and 275 pounds, played both ways for Kapolei last season but will begin this year focused on defense.
The Division I Waveriders struggled on offense and finished with minus-48 total yards for the game.
Kapolei’s other two games against BIIF teams were 43-0 and 47-0 wins over Kamehameha-Hawaii in 2008 and ’09.
—
KAPOLEI 70, KEALAKEHE 0
At Kapolei
Kealakehe (0-1) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Kapolei (1-0) 28 28 7 7 — 70
Kapo—Diesel Kamoku 25 pass from Tama Amisone (Hurley Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Amisone 26 run (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Riley Camarillo 9 pass from Amisone (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Caleb Dela Pena-Pihana 5 pass from Amisone (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Hala’i Kamohali’i 29 pass from Amisone (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Esaiah Gideon 56 pass from Amisone (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Camarillo 8 pass from Amisone (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Malachi Tapaoan 10 pass from Amisone (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa 16 run (Kennedy kick)
Kapo—Tagovailoa-Amosa 8 run (Kennedy kick)
RUSHING—Kealakehe: Azalius Lopez 7-2, Zane Yanazaki 1-0, Hercules Nahale 7-(minus 11), team 1-(minus 26), Coby Jones 5-(minus 33). Kapolei: Amisone 1-26, Dela Pena-Pihana 5-20, Tagovailoa-Amosa 7-79, Kamoku 1-4, Shyson Cachuela 6-18.
PASSING—Kealakehe: Jones 4-12-0-22, Lopez 0-4-0-0. Kapolei: Amisone 16-16– 0-234, Tagovailoa-Amosa 2-3-0-16.
RECEIVING—Kealakehe: Sean Ichisita 1-14, Alika Rigaud 2-7, Nahale 1-1. Kapolei: Tapaoan 8-65, Gideon 1-56, Camarillo 4-54, Kamohali’i 1-29, Kamoku 1-25,
80
