Kapolei stuns Mililani, 25-7, to earn No. 1 seed

HS Football

Oct 18

By Wes Nakama

KAPOLEI -- The Kapolei High School football team showed on Saturday night that it is more than a dangerous dark horse in the OIA championship race, stunning previously undefeated Mililani, 25-7.

A near-capacity crowd of about 2,500 at Alvin Nagasako Sports Complex watched the Hurricanes score 25 unanswered points and dominate the second half to improve to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the OIA Open Division, securing the No. 1 seed in the upcoming playoffs. The Trojans, who had been considered the early favorite in the OIA championship race, fell to 8-1, 4-1.

"Kapolei is not really about the hype, we just work," said Hurricanes senior cornerback Hayden Hose, who made a key end zone interception in the fourth quarter. "We just grind."

That is a good way to describe Saturday's victory, which did not look probable until maybe late in the third quarter.

Mililani struck first on Hunter Fujikawa's 6-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper with 3:25 remaining in the first quarter, and the Trojans kept that 7-0 lead until deep into the second.

That is when Kapolei tied it at 7-7 with Jonez Nunuha's 27-yard TD pass to Zeph Salis, followed by Beckham Collman's extra point with 2:23 showing on the clock.

Then with 1 second left before halftime, Collman made a 27-yard field goal to give the Hurricanes a lead they would not relinquish.

Kapolei took that momentum into the second half and did not let up. Mililani also suffered a bad break when standout linebacker Toa Satele left the game with an injured lower back with 8:48 remaining in the third quarter and did not return.

Less than two minutes later, Chazz-Michael Kapahu scored on a 3-yard run and Salis ran in the two-point conversion to extend the lead to 18-7. After the Trojans went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, the Hurricanes covered 72 yards in just seven plays, culminating in Kapahu's 12-yard scamper to paydirt. Salis again ran in the two-point conversion to make it 25-7 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

"Our plan -- which didn't go quite well in the first half -- was to run the ball and keep (Mililan's offense) off the field," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. "So we put Ava Cook, our 275-pound fullback, into the game and that made a big difference, we were able to run the ball. In the second half, we were pretty much unstoppable running the ball. It worked out pretty good for us."

Kapahu, a 5-foot-8, 180-pound senior, finished with 107 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.

In the meantime, the Trojans went three-and-out on their first two series of the second half and Mililani advanced to the Hurricanes' 36-yard line early in the fourth quarter, Hose made his interception in the end zone to kill the drive and get the ball back to Kapolei.

"They had trips left, and I was on the backside one-on-one," Hose said. "I was reading Hunter's eyes and knew he was going deep to Ashton (Grace), so I just went for it (the pick)."

Fujikawa finished 25 of 42 for 236 yards, but was held without a TD pass for the first time this season.

"We knew going in that they have an explosive offense, that their quarterback is not easy to rattle, not easy to sack -- he gets rid of the ball quickly," Hernandez said. "So our goal was to stuff their run, and make them one-dimensional. We tried to take away the vertical (pass), and we gave up the flats. We thought we'd rather give up the ball in the flat and rally and make a tackle, rather than give up the big play down in the seam.

"We kind of gave them that short route, and flew to the ball, and our linebackers and DB's did great."

Hernandez said the Hurricanes have responded well after a tough 17-14 home loss to Campbell on Sept. 11, winning four straight games including crucial back-to-back victories against Kahuku and Mililani.

"We have the No. 1 seed and a two-week bye," Hernandez said. "We're happy."

Photos: Lori McKeown