Moanalua rallies for historic victory

Moanalua’s first Open Division victory was a tale of two completely different halves.

The Na Menehune offense came to life in the second half, scoring 21 unanswered points after leading 6-0 at halftime to take down the visiting Leilehua Mules 27-7 on Friday night.

“Feels good,” Moanalua head coach Vince Nihipali said of the win. “In the first half, I think we shot ourselves in the foot a bunch of times. We should have had twenty points. I told the kids at halftime if we could just cut out our mistakes, we’ll be fine. I actually told them the second half score to a T, what it ended up. The boys played hard, and stepped up when they needed to.”

Tayden-Evans Kaawa continued to impress in the starting quarterback spot. Kaawa completed 23 of 35 passes for 306 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

“He grew a lot tonight,” Nihipali said of Kaawa. “He struggled last week, our whole offense struggled last week. We simplified the game plan, we narrowed it down to maybe four or five plays. He did it well. He was taking some shots, he was taking off when they were going three-high. But he’s got to learn to not take the hits a little bit. He’s a tough kid. He’s a special talent that doesn’t come around too often, so you just have to wrangle him in a little bit. But his growth today was just absolutely awesome.”

Kaawa’s favorite target was Eric Stephens, who hauled in eight catches for 142 yards. Gabe Wells was second with 57 yards on five catches. Cameron Johnson made the most of his two catches, gaining 46 yards. Jayce Bareng returned after a preseason injury, looking in form in catching five passes for 35 yards.

Johnson led Na Menehune’s rushing attack. He carried the ball eight times, rumbling for 65 yards while also scoring a pair of second-half touchdowns.

The first half was quiet. Each team opened the game with a turnover on downs. In fact, Moanalua turned the ball over on downs on each of their first two drives.

Na Menehune eventually broke the deadlock in the second quarter. Johnson kept the eight-play scoring drive alive with a 19-yard run on fourth-and-12, and Kaawa followed up with some big plays through the air. He led Moanalua into the red zone with a 47-yard completion to Stephens, and following a holding call on Moanalua, found Wells for a 20-yard touchdown strike.

The score turned out to be an anomaly, however, as the defensive battle continued. Leilehua was forced to punt on its next drive, and Moanalua turned the ball over on downs for the third time in four drives.

Whatever Coach Nihipali said at halftime must have worked, as the Moanalua team that appeared in the second half was night and day from one that took the field in the first.

Na Menehune’s offensive starters flipped the script by scoring three touchdowns on four drives. Johnson scored his first touchdown after a seven-play drive, during which Kaawa completed four of five passes for 71 yards. Johnson capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.

On its next drive, Moanalua again leaned on the combination of Kaawa and Johnson. The eight-play drive ended with Johnson’s scoring run from the goal line. The next Na Menehune drive ended prematurely after a well-placed pass from Kaawa bounced off the hands of his intended receiver and into the waiting hands of Leilehua’s Xavier Reed.

But Moanalua responded well to their first interception, scoring on a four-play drive on which Kaawa completed all four of his passes, including the 10-yard score to Bareng.

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MOANALUA 27, LEILEHUA 7

At Moanalua

Leilehua (0-4-1, 0-3) 0 0 0 7 — 7

Moanalua (2-2-1, 1-1) 0 6 14 7 — 27

MOA—Gabe Wells 20 pass from TaydenEvan Kaawa (kick missed)

MOA—Cameron Johnson 3 run (Skylor Hayes kick)

MOA—Johnson 1 run (Hayes kick)

MOA—Jayce Bareng 10 pass from Kaawa (Hayes kick)

LEI—Zayden Gayagas 7 run (Julian Vargas kick)

RUSHING—Leilehua: Cole Northington 10-55, Gayagas 9-49, Pono Arindain 5-3, Dustin Chow 2-(minus 6) TEAM 1-(minus 7). Moanalua: Johnson 8-65, Kaawa 11-17, Reshod Scott 5-7, Thor Gante 2-4, Cade Rodriguez 1-(minus 14).

PASSING—Leilehua: Arindain 4-14-0-30, Chow 3-5-0-27. Moanalua: Kaawa 23-35-1-306, Rodriguez 1-3-1-10.

RECEIVING—Leilehua: Darien Hoeppner-Corales 5-39, Northington 1-18, Camren Flemister 1-0. Moanalua: Eric Stephens 8-142, Wells 5-57, Bareng 5-35, Keenan Ulu 3-26, Johnson 2-46, Lucas Filisi 1-10.

Junior Varsity—Leilehua 31, Moanalua 24