Campbell rallies past Kapolei, 49-43, to reach OIA title game

By Wes Nakama

MILILANI — After being down, 33-7, midway through the second quarter, Campbell rallied for a wild 49-43 victory over crosstown rival Kapolei Friday night to reach its first OIA football championship game since 1997.

A stunned but vocal crowd of about 2,000 at John Kauinana Stadium watched Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele complete 32 of 47 passes for 473 yards and six touchdowns to help the Sabers improve to 9-0 overall and 6-0 in league play. They will try to win their first OIA title on Friday against Kahuku (7-4, 4-2) at Farrington’s Skippa Diaz Stadium.

Sophomore Leysen Rodrigues connected on 19 of 33 attempts for 321 yards and three TDs for the Hurricanes, who fell to 5-4, 2-4 and will play Mililani (8-2, 4-2) for third place and the league’s final Open Division state tournament berth.

Sagapolutele’s final touchdown pass was a 13-yarder to Shaison Kupuka’a with 2:08 remaining, and he then tacked on a toss to Tainoa Lave for the two-point conversion to put Campbell up, 49-43.

Kapolei went backwards on its final possession, which ended with an incomplete pass on fourth-and-11 from its own 19. With the Hurricanes having used all its timeouts, the Sabers were able to take their final snaps out of victory formation to let the clock expire.

“Our defense stepped up when they had to, our offense had to make plays, and they did that,” Campbell coach Darren Johnson said. “So now we can go home and enjoy a win for 24 hours.”

The Sabers definitely earned the rest, having withstood Kapolei’s early barrage that gave the Hurricanes leads of 19-0 and 33-7 in the game’s first 19 minutes.

Kapolei needed only 63 seconds to strike first, with Tama Amisone making a spectacular one-handed catch and run for a 59-yard TD, followed by Larry McCarley’s extra point for a quick 7-0 lead. The Hurricanes made it 13-0 after Kaina Kamohali’i’s 7-yard run to paydirt, and then 19-0 on Amisone’s 2-yard touchdown run with 2:20 still to go in the first quarter.

“They played good, solid football,” Johnson said, “and we played uptight football.”

Campbell finally got on the scoreboard on the first play of the second quarter, with Sagapolutele throwing a 44-yard strike to Zayden Alviar-Costa down the right sideline, and Parker’s PAT closed it to 19-7. But Kapolei answered just four plays later, when Rodrigues found Nikko Smith downfield on a “skinny post” route for a 78-yard TD, and McCarley’s PAT made it 26-7.

After forcing a Sabers three-and-out, the Hurricanes then marched 48 yards in just seven plays, capped by Rodrigues’ 9-yard touchdown pass to Amisone. McCarley converted the extra point to make it 33-7 with 5:25 left in the second quarter.

“I tell you what, as you saw tonight, we’re a heckuva team,” Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. “But we just gotta play four quarters, and we gotta finish. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Campbell responded with a seven-play, 76-yard drive culminating in Sagapolutele’s 4-yard pass to Alviar-Costa, and Parker’s PAT cut it to 33-14 with 2:04 remaining before halftime.

Still, the Hurricanes were not done, marching 49 yards to the Sabers’ 21 before settling for McCarley’s 38-yard field goal seven seconds before halftime for a stunning 36-14 lead at the break.

Johnson said the big first-half deficits did have an impact on his original game plan.

“Anytime you go up, you can slow down the clock, but now (trailing by a lot) you can’t,” Johnson said. “So we had to make some changes and play with more urgency.”

Campbell did not waste much time in the second half, taking the opening kickoff and advancing 64 yards in just seven plays, capped by Sagapolutele’s 2-yard keeper on fourth-and-goal. Parker’s extra point closed it to 36-21.

Braysen Cullen’s interception ended Kapolei’s ensuing series, and the Sabers capitalized by marching 68 yards in nine plays, culminating in Sagapolutele’s 1-yard TD pass to Rusten Abang-Perez, with Parker’s PAT cutting it to 36-28 with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter.

After forcing a three-and-out, Campbell then traversed 72 yards in eight plays, ending with Sagapolutele’s seven-yard scoring pass to Alviar-Costa on the first play of the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion pass failed, but the score was now 36-34.

Kapolei finally responded, going 64 yards in 12 plays, capped by Amisone’s 6-yard scamper on fourth-and-goal. McCarley’s extra point pushed the lead to 43-34 with 6:53 showing on the clock.

But the Sabers answered quickly, going 80 yards in just six plays, culminating in Sagapolutele’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Alviar-Costa, and Parker’s PAT closed it to 43-41 with 5:21 left.

After forcing another three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Campbell took advantage of a short punt and needed just four plays for the go-ahead drive, ending in Sagapolutele’s TD pass to Kupuka’a with 2:08 left.

With Amisone out due to a hip injury, the Hurricanes struggled again to move the ball on its final possession.

“(The Sabers) made some adjustments, they went with a ‘two-high’ safety look and tried to take away the deep pass,” Hernandez said of his team’s second-hald struggles on offense. “We didn’t adjust quick enough.”

In the meantime, Hernandez said Sagapolutele — who has verbally committed to Cal-Berkeley — found his groove and showed his prowess.

“The guy is amazing,” Hernandez said. “He is on the level of (Marcus) Mariota, Tua (Tagovailoa), Dillon Gabriel, McKenzie Milton … that kind of quarterback. He makes big plays when it counts.”

Johnson said even with his team down 36-14 at halftime, there was no sense of panic or doubt of a comeback.

“We just needed to have some fun, and that’s what they did in the second half, is have some fun,” Johnson said. “We knew we could put up 40 on people, we’ve done it before. We’re capable of doing that, so at halftime we didn’t yell or scold, we just tried to let the game come to them.”

Sagapolutele said the team had faith and stuck together throughout the big deficits, setting a foundation for the comeback.

“We can score 40 points in a game, that’s not unusual for us,” Sagapolutele said. “We just tried to trust in the coaching and continue to score, and that’s what we did. Especially keeping the morale up, everyone was a little down but as a quarterback I gotta keep my head up and make sure everyone is up and on the same page. My receivers never looked down, my linemen never looked down … We just kept the flow and stayed strong for the second half, and that’s what carried us through.”