Kahuku rallies past Campbell, 33-15, to reclaim OIA title

By Wes Nakama

Kahuku rallied for 22 unanswered points in the final 13 minutes Friday night to overtake Campbell, 33-15, and reclaim the OIA Open Division football championship.

An overflow crowd of about 3,500 at Farrington’s Skippa Diaz Stadium watched the Red Raiders improve to 8-4 and earn the league’s top seed in the First Hawaiian Bank State Championships on Friday at Mililani, where they will face the winner of tomorrow’s OIA third-place game between Mililani and Kapolei.

Campbell, which was seeking its first league title and making its first championship game appearance since 1997, suffered its first loss after starting the season 9-0. The Sabers will face ILH champion Saint Louis (7-3) in the other state semifinal on Friday at Mililani.

Campbell had beaten Kahuku, 21-13, just three weeks ago on the Red Raiders’ home turf, and took a 6-0 lead after Jadyn Parker’s first-quarter field goals of 40 and 33 yards. The Red Raiders soon cut the lead in half just 90 seconds into the second quarter on Manoa Kahalepuna’s 28-yard 3-pointer.

The Sabers then stretched the lead to 12-3 on Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Tainoa Lave with 7:21 remaining in the half, but the extra point attempt failed after hitting the crossbar. Kahuku closed it to 12-11 less than two minutes later after Matai Fuiava’s 62-yard TD pass to a wide open freshman Bodhi Kaanga, and Mana Carvalho running in the two-point conversion as the holder on a fake PAT attempt.

Despite trailing by that margin at halftime, Red Raiders coach Sterling Carvalho said he was happy to hold Campbell’s potent offense to just one TD and a pair of field goals.

“If we force them into field goals, our defense is doing their job,” Carvalho said. “With Jaron, you cannot stop him completely, you just try and contain him, and that’s what our defense did. They made some big plays, he was able to move the ball, but we just had to make them earn it. If you watched all their games, especially last week against Kapolei (in a 49-46 victory), they were able to score at will, they had a fast pace. But if we can have them march and take time off the clock, shorten the game and limit the possessions that Jaron has in that offense … That’s what we wanted to do coming into this game.”

Kahuku’s defense was even better in the second half, allowing only one Parker field goal (36 yards) with 3:47 remaining in the third quarter that put the Sabers ahead, 15-11.

The Red Raiders then took the lead for good on Fuiava’s 65-yard scoring pass to Aiden Maiava on a post route, and Kahalepuna’s extra point made it 18-15 with 12 seconds left in the third.

After forcing a three-and-out on the next possession, Kahuku started its next drive on the Sabers’ 43 thanks to Mana Carvalho’s 15-yard punt return. Five plays later, Malosi Fiatoa found paydirt on a darting run from 18 yards out, and Kahalepuna tacked on the PAT to extend the lead to 25-15 three minutes into the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing series, a sack and three penalties pushed Campbell back to its own 3-yard line, and on fourth-and-17 the Sabers attempted a pass downfield on a fake punt. But it was underthrown and fell short of an open receiver, turning the ball over on downs and giving Kahuku first-and-goal. After two no-gain runs and a false start, the Red Raiders punched it in on Fuiava’s 8-yard pass to Carvalho, making it 31-15 with 5:41 to play. The two-point conversion run failed.

“That wasn’t called by (the coaches),” Campbell coach Darren Johnson said of the fake punt. “It’s gonna get corrected in practice … Hat’s off to (the Red Raiders), they won the game. But we made critical mistakes that we gotta go back and fix.”

Kahuku later sealed the victory with a safety with 2:41 showing on the clock.

For the Red Raiders, who won the OIA championship in 2022 but fell short to Mililani last year, the title victory signified steady improvement after losing to the Trojans and Campbell during the regular season.

“This is a young team that was somewhat inexperienced on the offensive side,” Carvalho said. “Our defense was patient with us all year long by staying stalwart, and our offense is now coming into its own. Our special teams is also coming into its own, and now we’re just playing great football as a team.”