Kapaa pours on points, downs KS Maui 61-7 for state crown | News, Sports, Jobs

Kamehameha Schools Maui’s Kale Spencer tries to bring down a Kapaa player during the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II state championship game Thursday night at Farrington. The Warriors from Maui lost to the Warriors from Kauai, 61-7. ANDREW LEE photos

HONOLULU — A week after the biggest win in program history, the script was flipped on the Kamehameha Schools Maui football team Thursday night.

The Warriors proved to be overmatched by top-seeded Kapaa and were overwhelmed by a score of 61-7 in the championship game of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II tournament on a rainy evening at Farrington’s Skippa Diaz Stadium.

Kamehameha, which was coming off of a 48-24 win over previously undefeated Kaiser in last week’s semifinal round, was playing in its first state championship game. It saw its four-game winning streak end and finished the season with a 5-3 record.

“They basically kicked our butts tonight,” fifth-year Warriors coach Ulima Afoa said. “But nothing can take away the good that we did this year and it’s something that we can build on.”

Things went awry early on for the Warriors, who mishandled the return of the opening kickoff. The drive eventually ended with a punt of 44 yards off the foot of Po’okela Aiu that was downed at the Kapaa 2-yard line, but on the very next play — Kapaa’s first snap from scrimmage — Solomone Malafu broke free from a crowd and down the left sideline for a 98-yard touchdown run.

Kamehameha Maui running back McKay Pali is tackled by a group of Kapaa defenders Thursday

The extra point was no good to give the Warriors from Kauai a 6-0 lead a little more than three minutes into the game.

Kamehameha went three-and-out on its next drive and Kapaa answered with a seven-play, 70-yard drive that featured only rushes and was capped by quarterback Kapono Na-O’s 6-yard keeper up the middle. Malafu ran in the ensuing two-point conversion to make it a 14-0 lead with four minutes, 10 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Kapaa was forced to punt for the first time on the first play of the second quarter, but the return was muffed by the Kamehameha returner and it was recovered by Kapaa. Two plays later, Malafu cashed in with a 10-yard run off the right edge before he punched in the two-point try.

Makana Kamaka-Brayce was intercepted by Malafu three plays into Kamehameha’s next possession. Kapaa turned the pick into an 11-yard touchdown run by Kaikea Tandal to cap a seven-play, 70-yard drive.

Kapaa did not attempt a pass until there was about three minutes left in the second quarter. After a fourth-down conversion on a fake punt, Na-O completed back-to-back passes of 19 and 40 yards to Poki Tafea and Jericho Castro, respectively, before Malafu scored on a 1-yard run with 2:16 until halftime.

Kamehameha Maui captains Kamalei Cua (from left), Mayson Logotala and Kale Spencer meet with Kapaa players at midfield for the coin toss Thursday.

Na-O threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Nakoa Kimi and Malafu ran in the two-point conversion early in the third quarter to extend the Kapaa lead to 46-0.

After Kamaka-Brayce was sidelined due to an apparent injury, Aiu filled in at quarterback and connected with Keegan Gantala for a 20-yard touchdown on his first pass attempt — despite facing a fourth-and-8 — to get his team on the board with 3:18 left in the third quarter. The scoring play capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive that took 5:12 off the clock.

Kapaa added to their lead with a 16-yard Tafea TD run late in the third quarter to make it 54-7 and closed out the scoring with Malafu’s 43-yard TD run in the final minutes of the contest.

Kapaa finished with 555 yards of total offense, including a state tournament-record 479 rushing. The Kauai Interscholastic Federation champs averaged 9.8 yards per carry behind a behemoth offensive line that average out to nearly 6 feet, 3 inches and more than 300 pounds per player.

“I think that was always the thing that we said that we had to contend with, was their size,” Afoa said.

Warriors receiver Kahoa Abreu runs with the ball.

He refused to point to the inclement weather as a reason for the lopsided result.

“You know, that’s all good except you can’t make mistakes, you know what I’m saying? There are no excuses. They did a better job than we did tonight,” Afoa said.

Kainoa Monkres notched nine total tackles, including seven solo stops to lead the Kamehameha defense. Two-way lineman Kale Spencer posted six tackles and forced a Kapaa fumble near the goal line early in the fourth quarter.

Kamaka-Brayce returned to the game and finished 7-of-26 passing for 96 yards. The Warriors were held to 181 yards of total offense and were just 3 of 13 on third-down conversions.

It was just the second time an opponent has scored more than six points in a game against Kapaa this season.

Kamehameha Maui quarterback Makana Kamaka-Brayce looks to pass.

Kapaa (8-0) outscored its two state tournament opponents 112-7 following last week’s 51-0 semifinal win over Hawaii Prep.

It was the first state championship for Kapaa and the KIF. The Warriors were playing in their fifth D-II state final in six seasons; they lost the last three times (2016, 2018 and 2019) to Lahainaluna.

Kamehameha Maui was seeking a fifth straight D-II state crown for the MIL and sixth overall for the league. The Warriors were looking to join Lahainaluna and King Kekaulike (2006, D-II) as the only MIL schools to win a state football title.

The Lunas completed a run of four consecutive D-II state championships in 2019 before they moved up to Division I this season and finished runner-up to Iolani.

Kamehameha Maui0070–7

Kapaa1424167–61

First Quarter

Kap–Solomone Malafu 98 run (kick failed), 8:48.

Kap–Kapono Na-O 6 run (Malafu run), 4:10.

Second Quarter

Kap–Malafu 10 run (Malafu run), 11:00.

Kap–Kaikea Tandal 11 run (Malafu run), 6:26.

Kap–Malafu 1 run (Malafu run), 2:16.

Third Quarter

Kap–Nakoa Kimi 17 pass from Na-O (Malafu run), 8:40.

KSM–Keegan Gantala 20 pass from Po’okela Aiu (Trenton Kiesel kick), 3:18.

Kap–Poki Tafea 16 run (Malafu run), 2:43.

Fourth Quarter

Kap–Malafu 43 run (Kai Gonsalves kick), 2:25.

KSMKAP

First downs1025

Rushes-yards23-4748-479

Passing yards13476

Total offense181555

Return yards8563

Comp-Att-Int9-28-23-4-0

Fumbles-lost3-11-1

Penalties-yards5-252-20

Punts-avg6-44.01-41.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Kamehameha Maui, McKay Pali 10-24, Makana Kamaka-Brayce 9-21, Xavier Shiffler 2-6, Joshua Kerr 1-(minus 1), Duke Brown 1-(minus 3); Kapaa, Malafu 4-152, Na-O 14-99, Tandal 9-87, Tafea 3-40, Kian Rapozo 9-37, Jericho Castro 4-30, Jaysten Pimental 3-19, Connor Payomo 2-15.

PASSING–Kamehameha Maui, Kamaka-Brayce 7-26-2-96, Pookela Aiu 2-2-0–38; Kapaa, Na-O 3-4-0–76.

RECEIVING–Kamehameha Maui, Kahoa Abreu 4-78, Kainoa Carpenter 2-1, Gantala 1-20, Kainoa Monkres 1-18, Aiu 1-17; Kapaa, Castro 1-40, Tafea 1-19, Kimi 1-17.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today • HHSAA swimming and diving 8:30 a.m.—State championships, dive finals, at Kihei Aquatic Center. 1 ...

BOWLING ALOHA FRIDAY LEAGUE Feb. 2 Results At Wailuku Lanes Standings—Anela’s 61, Jonathan’s 59.5, ...

Lola Donez scored 19 points in her final game with the Lahainaluna High School girls basketball team as the Lunas ...

Top-seeded Iolani School got a golden goal off the post in the 89th minute on Friday night for a 1-0 overtime win ...

Today • HHSAA swimming and diving 10 a.m.—State championships, dive prelims, at Kihei Aquatic ...

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rq3UoqWer6NjsLC5jqynqKqkqHytu8Kao2aroKS%2Ftb%2BOa2draV9mf3C3wKmYmmWgpMKzv4yopWaon567tb%2BMnaawpqNiuLR5zJqsomVmZnp4ecWoqWarpJbBpnnCq6awpl8%3D