Kapolei didn’t move the ball well on Friday night, but when the Hurricanes had to, they came through.

Kapolei went 3-for-3 on fourth down in the first half and its defense did the rest of the work in a 20-7 win over McKinley at Kapolei.

"We had to make those plays," Kapolei quarterback Aizon Kahana said. "It was tough moving the ball in the first half — we needed to start banging."

The Hurricanes converted from 7, 1 and 3 yards on fourth downs, one of them for a touchdown and the other two to set up scores.

Kapolei scored first in the second quarter when a

3-yard punt by Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta gave the Hurricanes the ball 21 yards from paydirt. Kapolei needed five plays to get to the 1-yard line and running back Triston Pebria was stuffed there twice in a row. The Tigers called a timeout when Kapolei showed it was going to go for it on fourth down, but whatever they drew up couldn’t stop Micah Paris from bulling in for a touchdown. Arielle Stoyanow split the uprights to give Kapolei the 7-0 advantage.

"That puts a big strain on a defense, obviously," McKinley coach Joe Cho said. "If they get it, it is even worse. It puts a damper on the kids and they have to pick up their spirits and it is tough to do."

The defenses kept the advantage after that, but Kapolei’s Malik Smith intercepted a Marcus Aikau pass to give the offense the ball on McKinley’s 29. The Hurricanes moved the ball this time, getting down to the 6 on a 16-yard pass from Kahana to Mana Reis on fourth and 3, Kapolei’s third fourth-down conversion of the half.

"We just tried to make sure we could make something happen," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. "McKinley is a tough team and super physical, we weren’t getting it done on the first three downs."

Pebria didn’t let McKinley stop him this time, getting a stout second effort to score from 5 yards out. Stoyanow’s extra-point attempt was blocked.

Kapolei had only 54 total yards in the first half, but McKinley was held to 32. Pebria, who rushed for 188 yards and three touchdowns the previous week against Pearl City, was stuffed for 36 yards on 16 carries.

McKinley had a golden chance to go into halftime with momentum, but when Tuitele-Iafeta picked off Kahana’s pass and had a clear lane to the end zone with no time remaining, Kahana ran him down and pushed him out of bounds at the 7-yard line.

McKinley switched to Denzel Kalahiki-Gasper at quarterback after halftime and it paid immediate dividends. He showed off his athleticism and walked the line between a big gain and a big loss on every play, driving McKinley 88 yards for its only score of the game. Kalahiki-Gasper didn’t throw an interception in his stint; Aikau threw two.

"It brought us a spark," Cho said. "(Aikau) is still young, he’s only a junior and we’ll see what happens this week at practice. We wanted (Kalahiki-Gasper) out wide, but that didn’t work."

Kalahiki-Gasper put McKinley in position with an underhand pass to Malik Kuhia to get the ball down to the 1-yard line and Tuitele-Iafeta pounded the ball in from the 1-yard line. Kapolei got its last score on an 8-yard pass from Kahana to Reis.

McKinley’s best wideout, Tyrell Tuiasasopo, is out, Cho expects him to miss two more games and be back in time to play Castle on Sept. 6. He suffered a fracture in his foot. It is healed, but Cho and the Tigers want to take their time with it. His absence caused the quarterback shuffling.