HONOKAA – Just two years removed from a winless season, the Honokaa Dragons are starting to play with swagger.
Consider this: Backed up at their 10 and facing fourth-and-1 in the first quarter, the Dragons went for it and converted, with Nainoa Falk running the ball 9 yards up the middle.
Honokaa is pretty confident when the senior quarterback is slinging the ball, too.
Falk passed for 277 yards and two touchdowns, Ocean Guerpo-Beamer ran for a score and caught a TD pass Friday night and the Dragons held off Waiakea 33-31 in a BIIF football game.
Coming off a 442-yard passing performance against Kealakehe, Falk picked up where he left of on Honokaa’s first possession, hitting Micah Lorenzo for a 69-yard passing play to set up an 8-yard run touchdown by Falk.
The Dragons (2-1 BIIF Division II, 2-3) matched their win total from last season, scoring on three of their first four possessions and adding two key touchdowns in the fourth quarter after Waiakea rallied to get within a point.
Cody Cuba caught three touchdown passes – two from Makoa Andres — for the Warriors (0-3 BIIF Division I, 0-6), finishing with five catches for 134 yards.
Falk finished 12 of 23 with two interceptions.
None of his completions was bigger than a 25-yard pass to Trent Tavares on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter. Keaka Swift finished the drive by rumbling into the end zone, and Falk’s two-point run gave Honokaa a two-score lead.
Makoa Andres missed on his first seven passes for Waiakea before hitting Cuba for a 29-yard touchdown on a slant in the second quarter.
Waiakea recovered the ensuing onside kick and embarked on an unconventional drive to draw closer. The Warriors were stuffed and forced the punt, but the Dragons roughed the punter to give Waiakea the ball back.
Andres was sacked for a huge loss, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty put Waiakea back in business again, and Andres and Cuba hooked up for another slant to cut the lead to 19-14.
A field goal by Waiakea’s Gehrig Octavio provided the only points of the third quarter, but there were four touchdowns in the final 12 minutes.
Falk started the second half slowly before lobbing a pretty pass that Jonathan Charbonneau ran under for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Ethan McBraun-Keiki’s 63-yard reception set up Kelii Perez-Poai’s touchdown run with 9:20 remaining, but Waiakea elected not to go for the two-point conversion to tie the game.
In the final minute, Octavio threw a scoring pass to Cuba, but Honokaa recovered the onside kick.
Kanamu Evangelista had an interception and a sack for Waiakea.
Trueston Andrade had two of Honokaa’s six sacks.
Waiakea 0 14 3 14 —31
Honokaa 13 6 0 14 –33
First quarter
Honokaa – Nainoa Falk 8 run (Zechariah Ugalde kick), 10:07
Honokaa – Ocean Guerpo-Beamer 3 run (run failed), 7:44
Second quarter
Honokaa – Guerpo-Beamer 27 pass from Falk (kick failed), 9:09
Waiakea – Cody Cuba 29 pass from Makoa Andres (Gehrig Octavio kick), 5:55
Waiakea – Cuba 39 pass from Andres (Octavio kick), 2:56
Third quarter
Waiakea – FG 22 Octavio, 6:51
Fourth quarter
Honokaa – Jonathan Charbonneau 42 pass from Falk (kick blocked), 11:18
Waiakea – Kelii Perez-Poai 3 run (Octavio kick), 9:30
Honokaa – Keaka Swift 7 run (Falk run), 6:23
Waiakea – Cuba 38 pass from Octavio (Octavio kick), 43.7
