Damien ends Pac-Five’s unbeaten streak, 48-23

By Wes Nakama

A hot Pac-Five football team ran into an even hotter Damien squad Friday night, as the Monarchs rolled past the Wolfpack, 48-23, in ILH action at Radford’s John Velasco Stadium.

AJ Tuifua completed 15 of 26 passes for 189 yards and four touchdowns, and Sylas Alaimalo rushed for 170 yards and two TDs on 19 carries to help the Monarchs improve to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the ILH, securing a return trip to the Division I state tournament. The Wolfpack, which was off to its best start since the 1982 Prep Bowl championship season, fell to 5-1, 3-1.

Damien wasted no time getting untracked Friday night, taking a 7-0 lead just three minutes into the game on its first possession after Alaimalo broke off runs of 30 and 5 yards to set up Tuifua’s 10-yard scoring pass to Dayton Savea. Pac-Five responded quickly, covering 79 yards in just four plays capped by Braden Sarahina’s 53-yard play-action pass to a wide open Rome Lilio. Evan Derauf’s extra point tied it at 7-7 with 7:24 still remaining in the first quarter.

The Monarchs then marched 72 yards in nine plays, culminating in Tuifua’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Champ Buffet. Sam Kawakami’s PAT extended the lead to 14-7 with three minutes left in the first quarter. Damien stretched it to 21-7 midway through the second quarter after Tuifua connected with Wyatt Ho-Williams on an 11-yard pass play to paydirt, and Jay-Sean Aquino’s fumble recovery at the Wolfpack 40 two plays after the ensuing kickoff set up Alaimalo’s 13-yard scoring run with 4:36 remaining to help the Monarchs take a 28-7 lead into halftime.

“Credit to the O-line,” Tuifua said. “Pac-Five has big boys and the O-line had to put in extra work this week just to get ready for them.”

Damien also started the second half quickly, marching 73 yards in just six plays capped by Alaimalo’s 1-yard scoring run to push the lead to 34-7. Tuifua then seemingly sealed the victory midway through the third quarter with a 33-yard TD scamper to make it 41-7, but backup quarterback Colten Amai-Nakagawa led the Wolfpack on two touchdown drives to close the gap to 41-21 after his 4-yard scoring pass to Avari Zion-Branch midway through the fourth.

Tuifua and Alaimalo then shut the door for good by connecting on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 1:42 remaining.

Defensively, the Monarchs held running back Seth Miller to 65 yards rushing and one TD on 16 carries. Miller had burned ‘Iolani for 258 yards and three scores in a 26-14 victory just seven days prior.

“The game plan this week was really to just stop Seth Miller,” said Alaimalo, who also plays linebacker. “We know that you can’t tackle him one-on-one, we’ve been saying that all week. Our defense was really just trying to emphasize tackling and swarming, that was a big point of emphasis. As for offense, we were trying to execute, that was a big thing — trying to execute on every drive. We weren’t perfect tonight, but we did our best, and I think the outcome showed that.”

Damien coach Bones Tuitele said his defense was able to keep its focus despite the big-play score by Pac-Five early in the game.

“Stop the run, get off the field after third downs,” Tuitele said, when asked about the key. “I knew they were going to run the ball … that was our focus.”

The Monarchs will close out the regular season at ‘Iolani (3-5, 2-2) on Friday.

Photos: Gavin Yasunari