By Wes Nakama
With one clutch strike, Campbell quarterback Brayden Medeiros threw a perfect 17-yard pass to Zayne Pasion for the winning touchdown Friday night to lift the Sabers to a thrilling 26-23 overtime victory over Kamehameha and the school’s first First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Open Division Football State Championship.
A tense and vocal crowd of 10,131 at Clarence T.C. Ching Stadium watched the Sabers withstand a late rally by the Warriors to finish their historic season at 9-3. Kamehameha, which trailed 20-10 with 7:53 remaining in regulation but forced OT with Mana Forges’ 5-yard touchdown pass to Hazyn Botelho and Tyler Fujimoto’s extra point with 14 seconds left, ended up 5-5.
“We just kept playing hard,” Campbell coach Darren Johnson. “From Day One in January, this was our ultimate goal, and we finally got it.”
The Sabers had taken a 20-10 lead with Medeiros’ 55-yard TD pass to Lathaniel Telea’ai and Mitch Lifto’s PAT, which came immediately after an interception by Shaison Kupuka’a. The Warriors responded with a 16-play, 78-yard drive capped by Fujimoto’s 22-yard field goal to cut it to 20-13 with 3:49 remaining.
After the Sabers punted on the next possession, Kamehameha got the ball back with 1:22 on the clock and marched 75 yards in 10 plays, culminating in Forges’ 5-yard touchdown pass to Botelho with just 14 ticks left. Campbell ran out the clock following the ensuing kickoff, and won the coin toss to take defense in overtime.
“The positive (aspect) is the way our kids competed,” Warriors coach Kaeo Drummondo said. “They didn’t fold when we were down 10 with eight minutes left. That’s kind of how they were this whole season — when they faced adversity, they didn’t give up. They responded, played ourselves back into the game and ended up in overtime.”
Fujimoto’s 31-yard field goal put Kamehameha up, 23-20, and the Warriors’ defense forced the Sabers into a third-and-7 situation on the next possession after two runs by Tainoa Lave out of the wildcat formation. Medeiros, the starting quarterback, then came in to take the next snap and threw a perfectly thrown pass to the back right corner of the end zone, where Pasion made a nice catch and kept his feet inbounds.
“Coach always just says stay calm, cool and collected,” said Medeiros, a senior who played behind current University of California quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele last season. “(The winning play) was ‘Bean Top,’ to (Kupuka’a) and Zayne, the best duo receivers in the state. I just throw it up to them and I trust them, I believe in them and they believe in me to get them a good ball.”
Pasion said Campbell was eager to score a touchdown on its first possession of OT, and not settle for a field goal.
“We had to end it now,” Pasion said. “Mitch, our kicker, I love him, and even though I know he’s a great kicker, we knew we had to put the nail in the coffin and end this game. Knowing that we’ve been here before, in these kind of games, we knew to keep our composure, be humble, don’t be too cocky right now … and we knew that something was gonna happen, and it did. I was just looking at Brayden and telling him, ‘Eh, we need a big play.’ “
After a scoreless first quarter, the Sabers struck first with Medeiros’ 22-yard touchdown pass to Brystin Sansano 62 seconds into the second quarter, with Lifto’s extra point making it 7-0. Kamehameha responded with an eight-play, 58-yard drive capped by Nainoa Melchor’s 11-yard run to paydirt and Fujimoto’s PAT with 6:41 remaining, and Fujimoto later kicked a 25-yard field goal to finish a 10-play, 46-yard drive on the final play of the half to give the Warriors a 10-7 lead.
That’s how it remained until the first play of the fourth quarter, when Lave scored on a run from five yards out, with Lifto’s extra point putting Campbell ahead, 13-10.
After the Sabers pushed the lead to 20-10 with 7:53 remaining, Kamehameha responded with 13 straight points.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Medeiros said. “We trust our ‘D,’ they got the field goal (in overtime), so we knew we had to score (a touchdown) to win the game, and that’s what we did.”
Sagapolutele, who has been a freshman starter since the season opener at Cal and has led the Golden Bears to a berth in the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, attended the game and was on the field for the celebration afterward.
Medeiros said the entire Campbell and ‘Ewa Beach community shared in the victory.
“It means a lot to them, just like it means a lot to us,” Medeiros said. “They’ve been supporting Campbell every year, even if we came up short. But this year, we didn’t. This year was different.”