An intense, explosive fourth quarter led to Hilo High School’s football team notching a 29-22 comeback victory over Kea‘au High on Friday night at Wong Stadium.
The Vikings scored two touchdowns — one a pick-six — during the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to turn a 16-14 deficit into a 26-16 lead. Then, during the final seconds of the game, Hilo stopped the Cougars on fourth and goal at the two-yard line to prevent a potentially game-winning score.
This was the Vikings’ second outing of the season, and has put them in the win column after their blowout loss to Konawaena last week.
“My team has a lot of fight in them,” Hilo Head Coach John Flores III said. “We didn’t have a good outing like last week. I go back to last week, that was our first game — we didn’t have a preseason, last week was kind of a tune-up for us. In last week’s game, they also kept fighting. Konawaena kept their starters in the whole time.
“There’s a lot of things we need to get cleaned up. But, I think as the season go on, we’re gonna get more in tune and more in sync.”
The lead bounced back and forth throughout the game, but the Cougars drew first blood.
Kea‘au ate up a good portion of the quarter during its opening drive, and capped it off with a short touchdown pass from quarterback Diego Pettypool to Josiah Nihoa. Dane Bannister carried the ball across the goal line for two extra points.
After stopping Hilo, Kea‘au scored again when Pettypool completed a short carry for a touchdown — giving Kea‘au a 14-0 lead.
The Vikings got on the board three minutes into the second quarter when Austin Augiar connected a nine-yard pass to Tazein Sykes, followed by a successful PAT kick by Exodus Francisco.
Hilo stopped Kea‘au during its subsequent drive, but Hilo’s punt returner fumbled and Kea‘au’s Katin Kaluhiwa-Yamaguchi recovered it around the 16-yard line. However, the Vikings stopped the Cougars for their first of five redzone stops on the outing.
“We just never executed,” Kea‘au Head Coach David Murray said. “We just had way too many times deep in their territory where we should have scored, and we didn’t. We took our feet off the pedal. We should have continuously tried to execute it. That’s where we messed up.”
The momentum began to build on Hilo’s side. The Vikings made their second redzone stop during Kea‘au’s next possession — and with less than 15 seconds left in the half, Augiar connected a five-yard pass to Kaiwalya Kaneta. Kolomana Kahanu made the kick to tie the score going into halftime.
The Cougars retook the lead early in the third quarter. Hilo’s kickoff returner touched the ball, but failed to catch it, ran back to grab it and was brought down at the three-yard line. Hayden Trimble and Kaluhiwa-Yamaguchi shared a tackle for a safety.
The Vikings’ defense kept up the pressure, and made their third redzone stop when Kea‘au tried to capitalize upon the safety.
Things quickly turned wild during the fourth quarter. Hilo entered the quarter with possession — and seconds later, Augiar connected a 40-yard touchdown pass to Kadek Kaneta. The two-point attempt failed, but Hilo had taken the lead 20-16.
Only a couple of plays into Kea‘au’s subsequent offensive effort, Ikena Leao intercepted a pass and ran it back 38 yards for a touchdown.
Facing a fourth-quarter reversal blowout, the Cougars shifted gears. After Sean Randall made a long kick return, Kea‘au moved swiftly up the field and Charleston Salazar rushed 13 yards into the endzone. The two point was no good, leaving the Cougars less than one score behind at 26-22.
Hilo reached the redzone during its next drive, but was pushed back by Kea‘au’s defense — namely Bannister, who made two straight tackles for losses, one a sack. The Vikings opted to go for the field goal, which Kahanu completed.
The Cougars came back fiery on offense again. Pettypool and Nihoa connected for first downs twice in a row, then Pettypool made two straight rushes for first downs.
However, Kea‘au failed again to push through the redzone — and Hilo made the fourth-down stop with 20 seconds left, taking a knee after the turnover to end the game.
“We tried to keep pressure,” Flores said. “(Kea‘au’s) quarterback is good, he’s pretty slick. We tried to have pressure and have the ends contain, take him off his mark.
“Kea‘au is a good team, they’re a tough team, and they’re gonna come back even tougher the next time we play them. We gotta work even harder.”
Pettypool completed 13 of 35 pass attempts for 150 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also led the Cougars in rushing, grossing 103 yards in 17 attempts — averaging roughly six yards per carry.
Augiar completed 25 of 42 pass attempts for 249 yards and three touchdowns.
At 5 p.m. Friday, Hilo (1-1 ovr./BIIF DI) will host Kealakehe HS at Wong Stadium.
Kea‘au (2-2 ovr. 2-1 BIIF DI) will hit the road Saturday, facing off against Konawaena HS at 5 p.m.
