By Wes Nakama
The third time certainly was not the easiest, but it definitely was a charm.
Kahuku completed its “three-peat” of First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Open Division State Championships Friday night by holding off Mililani, 21-19, despite losing its best all-around player to injury early in the game.
A spirited and vocal crowd of 7,322 at the University of Hawai’i’s T.C. Ching Stadium watched Diezel Kamoku score the go-ahead touchdown on an 86-yard punt return, and then seal the victory with an 18-yard catch on fourth-and-5 with under a minute to play as the Red Raiders finished their season at 12-2. Mililani, which had taken a 19-15 lead with 9:41 remaining on Kini McMillan’s 89-yard TD pass play to Davyn Joseph, ends up at 11-2.
Kahuku won despite having their best playmaker, defensive back/slotback/punt returner Mana Carvalho, knocked out of the game after taking a flagrant helmet-to-helmet shot late in the first quarter.
“When you lose someone like that, you lose a playmaker on offense, defense and special teams, so you take a hit in all three phases of the game,” said Red Raiders coach Sterling Carvalho, who is Mana’s uncle. “But I always said it: Kahuku is not about one player, we are a team. And what you saw tonight is we finished as a team, and that’s why I’m so grateful for my players and my coaches: all the coaches coached until the very end, and all the players played to the very end.”
While much of the talk leading up to the game focused on offense and defense, it was ultimately decided on special teams.
Kahuku set the tone immediately, with Zaden Mariteragi recovering his own onside pooch kickoff at the Trojans’ 27 yard line after the ball squirted free and skipped across the field loose. The Red Raiders cashed in four plays later, when quarterback Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Kache Kaio. Mana Carvalho gathered in a bad snap on the extra point attempt and ran it in for a two-point conversion to put Kahuku ahead, 8-0, with 9:24 left in the first quarter.
Mililani answered with McMillan’s 6-yard run to paydirt on a quarterback keeper five minutes later, but his two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.
The Red Raiders pushed the lead to 15-6 in the second quarter, on Tagovailoa-Amosa’s 1-yard keeper and Mariteragi’s PAT with 1:33 before halftime. The Trojans closed it to 15-12 on Nakoa Kahana-Travis’ 1-yard TD run with 2:28 remaining in the third quarter, but the extra point attempt was blocked by Aiden Manutai.
Then early in the fourth quarter, McMillan found Joseph about 20 yards down the left sideline, where he shook a defender and then galloped all the way to the end zone. Lyric Sarae kicked the PAT to push Mililani ahead, 19-15 with 9:41 showing on the clock.
And after forcing a Kahuku punt on the ensuing possession, things looked bright for the Trojans, who ended up punting deep into Red Raiders territory. But that’s when Kamoku scooped up the loose ball, started slowly and then darted right and dashed down the sideline all the way to the end zone.
“I was just kind of, looking for a blocker,” said Kamoku, who is the backup returner to Carvalho. “After I passed the last blocker, I juked out the punter (Joseph) … that’s a hard thing to do, because that guy is an athlete, big props to him.”
On the ensuing kickoff, Mariteragi again pooched it to the right side, where Kingsley Ah You leaped in front of a Mililani player and snatched the ball away to give Kahuku possession at the Mililani 25. The Trojans had no timeouts, so the Red Raiders ran the clock down to 38 seconds before calling timeout on fourth-and-5 from the 20.
Tagovailoa-Amosa then lofted a downfield pass to Kamoku, who caught it near the right sideline and was tackled at the 2.
“Diezel played great up to that point, so you know what — take the shot,” Sterling Carvalho said. “Trust him, put the ball in our playmaker’s hand.”
Carvalho said another reason to go for the first down was to keep Mililani’s dual threat quarterback McMillan off the field. McMillan completed 16 of 27 passes for 264 yards and one touchdown, and also rushed for 75 yards and one TD on 13 carries.
“That’s a lot of time (30-plus seconds) for him,” Carvalho said.
Overall, Kahuku had 30 minutes and three seconds in time of possession, compared to 17:57 for the Trojans.
Red Raiders running back Va’amalae Fonoti helped move the chains with 116 yards rushing on 28 carries. He had was held to 31 yards on 11 carries in Mililani’s 28-21 upset for the OIA championship three weeks ago.
Trojans coach Rod York said having two of his top defenders ejected in the first quarter for flagrant targeting penalties made a difference Friday night.
“We lost our two All-State caliber linebackers, and then right before the game, the backup broke his toe,” York said. “But that’s no excuse. We were there, we only lost by two, we were up by four with four minutes left. It was the other breakdowns, the special teams definitely, that killed us. And we didn’t play well in the first half as well.
“Considering all that, I’m proud of my kids. But you know, credit Kahuku, they made the plays when they needed to. That’s the thing about Kahuku, man, those kids come in year after year with their heart because they play with a purpose more than just a championship. They play for their fans and their community, and that’s always a difference-maker when it comes down to it.”
Photos: Lori McKeown
Photos: Grant Shishido
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