On Saturday, Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy’s football team defeated visiting Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i during the pair’s season finale — closing the door on the Warriors’ perfect season hopes and clawing its way into the Central Pacific Bank/BIIF DII championship, which is slated for 6 p.m. Friday at KSH.
Ka Makani won 19-13 in double overtime — a stark reversal from the pair’s first bout in September, which saw KSH dominate HPA (49-0) and induce a running clock before the fourth quarter.
If KSH had won Saturday’s game, it would have become the de facto BIIF DII champion at 10-0 (11-0 ovr.), but now stands at 9-1 in division play while HPA trails closely at 8-2.
“It felt exciting, we were overhelmed,” first-year HPA head coach Lincoln Kalama said of Saturday’s win. “It was crazy.”
The Warriors’s defense allowed more points than in any other outing this season, and its offense surrendered a season high seven turnovers — including five interceptions.
“There were a bunch of things that went down,” KSH head coach Kealoha Wengler said. “We practiced a certain way in certain people, and we saw something totally different that HPA did. They didn’t really go after our quarterback, and they kinda sat back and really prevented us from doing what we do best — throwing screen passes.
“They really did a good job of stopping us from doing the things that we wanted to do that were big, integral parts of our offense.”
HPA ultimately won the game from the film room, meticulously studying KSH’s offense in order to throw it out of rhythm.
“We just studied a lot of film,” Kalama said. “The time we played them, and every other game they’ve played so far. We just tried to slow it down. We weren’t trying to disable it, more just keep up with them.”
Ka Makani and the Warriors will clash again, for the final time, this Friday at KSH’s field. Wengler hopes that the home field advantage will make a significant difference — as high elevation, strong winds, heavy rain and the uniquely spongey texture of HPA’s grass field all played a part in Saturday’s upset.
“We felt really sluggish over there playing on that soft grass,” he said. “Playing on our turf, we’re much quicker. We’re just much more used to our surface — making the cuts and being able to move much quicker. I think our timing will be back on, our timing was terrible last week on everything we did.”
Despite coming away with the win last weekend, Ka Makani is still going into Friday’s championship with caution.
“They have a lot of great talent on that team,” Kalama said. “(Adam Perry) the quarterback is an amazing talent, (Shiloh Santos), (Xander Hoopai) on defense, (Diesel DeMello) on defense — we just gotta make sure that we can cover what they have, slow them down and try to keep up.
“It was just an amazing game on both sides, both teams played their heart out — unfortunately, one team had to lose.”
HPA is run-heavy — fielding long, sustained drives that lean on star elusive-back Alaka‘i Aipia. Ka Makani’s offensive style, combined with the elements and overtime fatigue, steadily took a toll on KSH’s typically dominant defensive line.
“I think (playing at home) is really gonna help a lot, especially with our defensive line,” Wengler said “They were out there for so long. We feel that this week, they’re gonna be moving way quicker and disrupting things. Our timing will be better on our offensive passing, just being quicker at everything — and that’s gonna help us a lot.”
Aipia showed his prowess on Saturday, carrying in all three of HPA’s touchdowns — the final being the go-ahead score. During HPA’s September loss to KSH, much of Ka Makani’s offensive line was unable to play — and the team barely managed to eke out any rushing yards.
With their starting linedogs back in action, Aipia was able to really spread his wings.
“(Aipia) is a great running back,” Kalama said. “His vision is unbelievable. Our offensive line did a heck of a job, especially our center. When we started pushing our center, he really started to get to the edge and we could get around the edge better.”
After suffering their worst game and toughest test of the season thus far — and now facing a BIIF title and state championship berth on the line — the Warriors have returned to practice with a new level of hunger. Bus schedules have limited KSH’s time window for holding practice, but its players have been heading to the field to start practice early, even before the coaches arrive.
“They’re psyched man,” Wengler said. “These guys are just so supportive of each other right now — and they’re trying to improve, they’re trying to help each other, they’re getting to practice before the coaches get there, they’re conditioning themselves and trying to get in extra work before practice.
“They’ve been teaching each other different strategies and techniques, like how to get past this person. They’ve been throwing the ball around, trying to get more reps in. They’ve asked a few of the coaches to come out and help them with their footwork — just trying to get extra work in right now.”
Just as much is on the line for Ka Makani, who fell out of BIIF championship contention this year and barely squeezed in this year. HPA went 3-2 during the first half of this season, but has ended it with a five-win streak — which included defeating Honoka‘a 16-12 at the end of September to slip into the No. 2 standing.
“(Winning BIIF DII) would mean the world to us,” Kalama said. “Being a first-time head coach and having been in this position as an assistant coach, it would mean everything. I’ve been with the seniors for four years, and I know it would mean the world to them. I’m not trying to get ahead of us, we’ve just gotta know what we’re doing and plan correctly for this next game.”