WAIMEA — Held scoreless in two preseason games, the Hilo offense came to life in its BIIF opener, knocking off Hawaii Preparatory 33-16 in Waimea on Saturday.
WAIMEA — Held scoreless in two preseason games, the Hilo offense came to life in its BIIF opener, knocking off Hawaii Preparatory 33-16 in Waimea on Saturday.
In his BIIF debut as Hilo’s starting quarterback, Ka’ale Tiogangco was 12 of 18 passing for 278 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also accounted for 94 yards and a score on the ground. His lone mistake came on a tipped pass in the fourth quarter.
Hilo senior wide receiver Keaho Kaawa caught five passes for 171 yards and two scores. His touchdown receptions came on plays of 81 and 64 yards.
Justin Perry, who is expected to be a key cog in the Hawaii Prep offense but missed the preseason with an injury, was the only Ka Makani player to find the end zone. He played under center for part of the afternoon, but scored on a 3-yard run and 21-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Kekoa LeBlanc in the fourth quarter.
The Viking’s first play from scrimmage was a 40-yard connection from Tiogangco to Lukas Kuipers. But on the next play roving linebacker Anthony Palleschi jarred the ball loose after a screen pass and Hawaii Prep recovered.
Three different players would touch the ball on Ka Makani’s first possession — Alex Brost, Perry and Palleschi — but they would go three and out.
The Vikings chipped away with a series of effective, quick screens. Hawaii Prep started keying on the play, and Tiogangco capitalized when he faked the screen and hit Kaleihalia Tolentino-Perry for a 31-yard score on a deep route to cap the 80-yard drive.
Hawaii Prep got its first pass completion of the season on its next possession, a quick dump off from Brost to Palleschi and the big back carried the pile for 19 yards. However, Ka Makani would punt a few plays later.
On the first play after the punt, Tiogangco found Kaawa down the sideline, and he jogged 80 yards into the end zone for six.
Still trying to find its identity on offense, eight of Hawaii Prep’s first 18 run plays lost yards.
Meanwhile, Tiogangco was orchestrating the Viks offense nearly to perfection early. He put Hilo in the red zone with a 56-yard run late in the first quarter, but a bad snap and Palleschi sack would force the Vikings to settle for a 28-yard Tolentino-Perry field goal.
Hilo had another chance from the red zone after an interception run back to Hawaii Prep’s 10-yard line, but the Viks would be turned away on a fourth down try.
In all, the Vikings had three empty trips to the end zone.
Hawaii Prep saw its first sign of life late in the first half. Perry engineered a 73-yard drive that ended with a 34-yard Brost field goal with no time left. The teams entered the break with Hilo up 17-3.
Ka Makani’s Kevin Durkin built on the momentum from the late scoring drive to start the second half, returning the opening kickoff to the Hilo 34-yard line. B
But the drive stalled, and Tiogangco and Kaawa built on their connection early.
In a similar fashion to his first score, Kaawa got behind the Hawaii Prep defensive back and ran untouched into the end zone on a 64-yard play. A two-point pass from Tolentino-Perry to Pono Landford made it 25-3.
Tiogangco padded Hilo’s lead with a nifty 34-yard scramble and sprint late in the third quarter and a two-point run made it 33-3.
Outside of a few plays that moved the sticks, Hawaii Prep’s option run attack couldn’t find its footing. Big backs Palleschi and Kanai Gaughen delivered some hard-nosed runs, but first down were few and far between.
Palleschi finished the afternoon with 12 tackles, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He also contributed on offense with 66 hard-earned yards.
Down big, Hawaii Prep cracked open its passing playbook — just a little — but lurking defensive lineman Tracen Calicdan picked off Perry. As a team, Hawaii Prep threw the ball 12 times for 53 yards.
Hilo 14 3 16 0 — 33
Hawaii Prep 0 3 0 13 — 16
Scoring plays
First quarter
Hilo — Ka’ale Tiogangco 31 pass to Kalei Tolentino-Perry (kick good), 7:11
Hilo — Tiogangco 81 pass to Keaho Kaawa (kick good), 2:44
Second quarter
Hilo — Tolentino-Perry 28 field goal, 11:15
HPA — Alex Brost 34 field goal, :00
Third quarter
Hilo — Tiogangco 64 pass to Kaawa (2-point pass good) 9:01
Hilo — Tiogangco 34 run (2-point run good) 2:45
Fourth quarter
HPA — Justin Perry 3 run (Brost kick blocked)
HPA — Kekoa LeBlanc 21 pass to Perry (Brost kick good)