Hilo delivered an offensive knockout blow early, but its defense really stole the show against Hawaii Prep, which once upon a time was well-known for its offensive line prowess.
The Vikings dominated the line of scrimmage and smashed the visiting Ka Makani 35-0 in a BIIF football game Saturday night at Wong Stadium.
Hilo (3-0 BIIF Division I, 3-1) scored 35 points in the first half and stuck in its backups in the second quarter, content to give everyone playing time since there was no junior varsity game.
Freshman quarterback Cyan Miyasato replaced starter Ka’ale Tiogangco after he ran for a touchdown and fired two scoring strikes. Tiogangco went 3 of 6 for 101 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 45 yards on five carries and a score.
Miyasato was 2 of 7 for 10 yards with an interception. He ran for 22 yards on five carries, mostly on quarterback keepers while Kahale Huddleston had 55 yards on eight carries to add to Hilo’s nice stats: 139 yards on 22 attempts, a 6.3 yards per carry average.
Ka Makani (0-3 BIIF Division II, 0-4) struggled in every phase of the game (offense, defense and special teams). Their ground game only went backward. The small private school in Waimea finished with negative 74 yards on 31 attempts.
The Vikings recorded five sacks — loss yardage counted against quarterback Kekoa Ilagan-LeBlanc’s rushing total. The Ka Makani junior had negative 77 yards on 21 carries. He had better success through the air: 5 of 13 for 82 yards with one interception.
On toss sweeps, HPA didn’t have the speed or lockdown outside blocking to run around Hilo’s perimeter defense. When Ka Makani ran up the middle, sometimes a hole would open but like an electric grocery store door it quickly closed.
In the fourth quarter, a Hana Hou highlight came when Hilo senior Wylie Julian-Decoito bull-rushed and dropped Ilagan-LeBlanc for back-to-back 10-yard loss sacks. A hat trick was missed when the HPA quarterback wiggled out of trouble for a short gain.
Hilo runs a 3-4 defense and for most of the night linemen Tre Calicdan, Kuresa Toledo, and Austin Younce held the point of attack and pushed the pile around. Linebackers Rylen Kaniaupio, Wela Mamone, Isaac Liu, and Kahiau Walker were all over the place, filling running seams.
It’s a strange feeling for HPA to get knocked around on the O-line because the school is home to New Orleans Saints center Max Unger, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Daniel Teo-Nesheim, and Shane Brostek, who’s at Washington.
Last year, no Ka Makani made the All-BIIF first team for offensive and defensive line. That never happened when Bern Brostek (Shane’s dad) was HPA’s offensive line coach.
Ka Makani offensive linemen Zeke Simon, Dane Francis, Alex Winters, Hunter Ellis, and Sean Donnelly all play full-time on defense. However, back in the day, Unger, Teo-Nesheim, and Brostek did the same thing.
Hilo has much better depth and doesn’t employ two-way Ironmen. In fact, the backups started to enter the lopsided contest in the second quarter.
The Vikings capitalized on generous field position and turnovers to grab a 35-0 halftime lead, which started the mercy-rule running clock in the second half.
In the first quarter, Hilo quickly scored off a 20-yard punt. From HPA’s 30-yard line, a bus with the license plate Vik OL blasted a big hole, and Tiogangco ran for 24 yards. A play later, he scored on a three-yard run.
On HPA’s next possession, Liu sat back in coverage on a third-and-18 and got a pick-six from 20 yards out.
On HPA’s next possession, a bad snap forced the visitors to punt from the three-yard line. The Vikings had golden field position near midfield and scored three players later when Tiogangco threw a screen to Joe Pagan, who raced in for a 24-yard score.
To bat 3 for 3 in scoring on its first-quarter possessions, the Vikings had a longer field to work with, starting at their 23-yard line. But Lukas Kuipers caught a 22-yard pass, and Kalei Tolentino-Perry followed with a 55-yard touchdown when he burned one-on-one coverage.
When the second quarter rolled around, Hilo’s backups where in the ballgame and scored thanks to a blocked punt.
The ball was spotted at HPA’s eight-yard line, and on the first play Nainoa Kane-Yates ran over a Ka Makani who tried to stand him up for the tackle. However, the Hilo freshman had lower leverage and blasted his defender into the end zone.
From there, Hilo kept running the ball and stopping HPA’s ground game — a theme throughout the lopsided night.
HPA 0 0 0 0 — 0
Hilo 28 7 0 0 — 35
First quarter
Hilo — Kaale Tiogangco 3 run (Kalei Tolentino-Perry kick), 9:25
Hilo — Isaac Liu 20 interception return (Tolentino-Perry kick), 8:30
Hilo — Joe Pagan 24 pass from Tiogangco (Tolentino-Perry kick), 5:00
Hilo — Tolentino-Perry 55 pass from Tiogangco (Tolentino-Perry kick), 1:48
Second quarter
Hilo — Nainoa Kane-Yates 8 run (Tolentino-Perry kick), 5:45
