Leave it to a pair of opposing basketball players to steal the show at a football playoff game.
Leave it to a pair of opposing basketball players to steal the show at a football playoff game.
Bayley Manliguis scored three touchdowns to spark Kamehameha over Hawaii Prep 57-22 in the BIIF Division II semifinals Saturday at Paiea Stadium.
The Warriors (6-2 BIIF, 9-2 overall) earn the opportunity to defend their title against Konawaena (7-1, 9-1) on Friday at Julian Yates Field.
The season is over for HPA (2-6, 2-7), which loses 17 seniors, including standout linebackers Anthony Palleschi and Alex Brost.
Manliguis, a 5-foot-7 senior, comes from a famous BIIF basketball family. He’s related to Hilo coaching legends Al and Larry Manliguis.
Manliguis transferred his quickness from the basketball court to the gridiron to reel in six catches for 132 yards, including touchdowns of 7 and 84 yards.
Both sandwiched an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that capped a pair of one-play scores in an entertaining second quarter.
Right before Manliguis’ TD, Ka Makani senior receiver Jonas Skupeika beat his defender for a one-on-one jump ball and raced into the end zone for a 78-yard score. It was his only reception.
“We did our best to make a lot of mistakes,” Kamehameha coach Dan Lyons said about his team’s first-half woes. “Sometimes, you have to learn how to overcome adversity. We never got down attitude-wise. We were very business-like at halftime. We just had to get out of our way.
“But Bayley really carried us in the first half. He was huge for us. After they scored that long touchdown (Skupeika’s score), with Bayley, he knew he had to make a play.”
The 6-1 Skupeika is from Lithuania and is better known, like Manliguis, as a sharp shooter on his school’s basketball team.
While his jump ball TD was impressive, Skupeika earned higher accolades for his shutdown defense against Kamehameha’s fastest receiver, Tre Evans-Dumaran, who didn’t have a reception.
Lyons probably didn’t know that Skupeika is a rookie when he gave him a nice shout-out.
“No. 22 (Skupeika) was a monster out there with his effort,” Lyons said.
HPA played a Chicago Bears 46 defense — man press with everyone on the line to plug gaps, and no safety in center field.
It’s Skupeika’s first year playing football, which is not exactly a household sport in his home country, where basketball and football (called soccer in the U.S.) are more popular.
On offense, coach Jordan Hayslip threw changeups and curveballs to find something that would work for his Ka Makani, who snapped Kamehameha’s streak of allowing a TD to a Division II foe.
HPA still couldn’t run the ball (23 carries for negative 37 yards), and relied on the toughness and right arm of sophomore quarterback Kekoa LeBlanc, who went 11 of 32 for 124 yards with two touchdowns and three picks.
“We wanted to mix things up and see what could work for us,” Hayslip said. “At practice, we talked about throwing everything and the kitchen sink. We blitzed more and made big tackles, but also got hurt.”
The Warriors compiled a half-dozen sacks, including three from junior right end Wayne Dacalio, who tenderized LeBlanc all day.
On one play in the second quarter, Dacalio drilled LeBlanc, who tossed an incompletion. Two plays later, Dacalio just missed another sack, but Nainoa Rosehill was there to clean up.
Rosehill weighs 278 pounds and LeBlanc, at 155 pounds, took a good pounding on those two plays. He missed one play due to an injury timeout, but came right back in.
For those who remember Chicago’s 1985 Super Bowl team and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan’s 46 defense, it’s a hit-and-miss scheme: pressure across the board, but the vulnerability of giving up a big pla
y.
On the opening series, Manliguis ran a jet sweep for 13 yards. Kaeo Batacan rushed for 27, 4 and 24 yards. Then he waltzed in for a 3-yard score.
It looked like HPA was going to be in big-time trouble, but momentum is a funny thing.
On the next series, the Warriors went three-and-out, thanks to fired-up play and good pressure from HPA’s defense, and had to punt, which was muffed.
That set up shop at the Kamehameha 15, and Brost eventually kicked a 35-yard field goal, breaking the ice on that shutout streak.
Off a short punt, HPA had another red-zone opportunity at the Warrior 20, and came out in Georgia Tech’s flexbone (tailback and two halfbacks on the side of the QB).
Georgia Tech’s coach is Paul Johnson, who was the offensive coordinator, directing the spread offense, during the Hawaii football glory days under Bob Wagner.
Palleschi was at one halfback spot, and he blocked and sneaked out for a 12-yard catch on the first play. LeBlanc completed the drive with a 3-yard TD strike to Noah Wise.
The first quarter concluded and HPA led 9-6. Those in the red Ka Makani T-shirts had high hopes. Those in the blue Warrior attire wondered what was going on.
Then the second quarter rolled around and things got crazy.
Manliguis caught his first TD, then Skupeika snagged his 78-yard jump ball score, and Manliguis followed with his long kickoff return.
Duarte scored on a 1-yard QB keeper to push Kamehameha’s lead to 28-15.
Shortly after, the risk of the 46 was exposed when Duarte fired a short pitch to Manliguis, who had an 84 yards-after-the-catch TD.
With 39 seconds before halftime, the Warriors were grooving down the field, and looking to pad their 35-15 cushion.
But on a third-and-10 with 13 seconds on the clock, Palleschi sneaked into a passing lane and returned a pick-six for 57 yards.
HPA went into the break trailing 35-22 and feeling like an upset special could be in the realm of possibilities.
At the start of the third quarter, it started to rain really hard. The visiting Ka Makani safely took the kickoff, went to the spread, and fumbled on the first play. (They had five turnovers; the Warriors had three.)
Batacan scored two plays later, and scored again on the next series, and two possessions later Duarte threw a 21-yard TD pass to Makana Manoa for a 57-22 advantage.
Despite giving Lyons a headache with sometimes spotty execution (muffed punt, three turnovers, a dozen penalties), the Warriors stuck to their blueprint: they ran the ball, Duarte grew again at QB, and the defense was pretty much nails.
Duarte went 11 of 19 for 204 yards with four TDs and one pick. Batacan, the 5-6 workhorse, was his usual productive self with 193 yards on 25 attempts, and three touchdowns. Manoa had two catches for 42 yards.
Hawaii Prep 9 13 0 0 — 22
Kamehameha 6 29 22 0 — 57
First quarter
KS-Hawaii — Kaeo Batacan 3 run (kick no good), 10:35
HPA — FG 35 Alex Brost, 4:01
HPA — Noah Wise 3 pass from Kekoa LeBlanc (kick no good), :56
Second quarter
KS-Hawaii — Bayley Manliguis 7 pass from DallasJ Duarte (Jai Cabatbat kick), 10:44
HPA — Jonas Skupeika 78 pass from Kekoa LeBlanc (kick no good), 10:25
KS-Hawaii — Manliguis 87 kickoff return (Batacan run), 10:11
KS-Hawaii — Duarte 1 run (Cabatbat kick), 6:51
KS-Hawaii — Manliguis 84 pass from Duarte (Cabatbat kick), 1:56
HPA — Anthony Palleschi 57 interception return (Brost kick), :02
Third quarter
KS-Hawaii — Batacan 14 run (Cabatbat kick), 11:25
KS-Hawaii — Batacan 15 run (Batacan run), 8:40
KS-Hawaii — Makana Manoa 21 pass from Duarte (Cabatbat kick), 4:29