HONOLULU — The Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i football team fell from the Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA) Division II football state championship quarterfinals, suffering a 19-14 loss in a defensive battle to home standing Roosevelt High.
The game got off to a rough start for the Warriors, as the Rough Riders’ Nainoa Aguiar returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown.
“We were always wondering about the speed of (off-island) teams compared to our team,” KSH head coach Kealoha Wengler said. “(Aguiar) who caught the ball, that guy was a speedster. He was able to really pick us apart, read his blocks and get right through us.
“We were surprised to get punched in the mouth like that right at the opening. We said ‘whoa, we’ve never been in this situation before.’ We just had to encourage our guys to hit that re-start button.”
The Warriors were unable to score before the end of the first quarter, but their defense kept things from getting out of hand — holding Roosevelt to one more score, a 31-yard field goal by Journey DePeralta.
Neither team was able to score before the end of the game’s first half, and the Rough Riders entered halftime leading 10-0.
Both teams struggled on offense during the first half, which was rife with turnovers.
KSH fumbled the ball twice, also suffering a turnover on downs. Despite maintaining the lead, Roosevelt lost the first half’s turnover battle by a mile — with three fumbles, a TOD and an interception (picked off by KSH linebacker Diesel DeMello).
“Our defense has played tough all year round, and they really showed up,” Wengler said. “They really kept us in the game the whole time as we tried to figure out how they were defending us. It took us half the game to adjust to how they were defending us.
“That Roosevelt team, hats off to them. They were playing tough. How tough they played us, how aggressive and physical — we don’t get a lot of that in our division. They were very physical. We just loved it, that physical part.”
The first half saw a total of eleven punts, seven by KSH and four by RHS.
The Warriors began to create momentum on offense during the second half. They scored on their opening drive, which took nearly five minutes off of the clock and ended with a two-yard touchdown carry by Xander Hoopai, and a successful PAT kick by Lucas Kay-Wong.
Roosevelt scored on the following drive, but it was another field goal — 34 yards by DePeralta to increase RHS’ lead to a still-slim 13-7.
The turnovers kept coming in the second half. During their drive that followed the Rough Riders’ field goal, KSH fumbled again. However, the Warriors redeemed themselves by forcing a turnover on downs to end RHS’ subsequent drive.
“Roosevelt adjusted their defense really nicely,” Wengler said. “They showed one thing, and did another thing. They were really good at disguising their coverages and making us think twice about throwing the ball. That’s what our quarterback was experiencing, he had to hesitate.
“They also came with a really aggressive pass rush and blitzed a lot on us, which we didn’t see a lot of on video.”
Entering the fourth quarter seven points away from victory, it was do-or-die for KSH.
“You have no idea how much of an emotional roller coaster that was,” Wengler said. “We told our defense at the half ‘you did a great job stopping them — offense, all we need is one score.’”
The first half of the quarter saw punts on both sides — then, halfway through the frame, sacks and penalties pushed the Rough Riders back to inside of their own red zone, where they fumbled.
KSH recovered the ball at the four-yard line, and Hoopai scored on a four-yard touchdown carry on the first play of the possession. Kay-Wong made the kick to put KSH up 14-13.
The Warriors were unable to defend their lead, as Roosevelt quickly responded with another touchdown — moving the ball 93 yards in just four plays, including a pass play that yielded roughly 80 yards.
“We pinned them at the five and they needed 95 yards to score, so things were looking pretty good for us,” Wengler said. “What happened on (the 80-yard pass play) was that our corner pushed a receiver out of bounds, so he was passed off to the next defender — but because he was out of bounds, our safety did not see him.
“When that guy got back in bounds, they threw him the ball, and that’s how that missed coverage happened. We don’t blow our coverage often, but that’s what happened. He was still an eligible receiver because we shoved him out, if he had run out on his own, he’s disqualified.”
KSH received the kickoff with three minutes left on the clock, but were stopped on fourth down after progressing 20 yards upfield. Roosevelt knelt to run out the remaining time.
DeMello led the Warriors’ defense with nine tackles, six solo tackles, a half sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception. Amar Payne notched two sacks and 2.5 TFL’s.
The BIIF DII champions end their season 11-2. This season saw the Warriors win their first BIIF title since before the pandemic, the first in Wengler’s now three-season tenure.
“Every year we just keep getting better and better,” Wengler said. “We were very pleased with this season. We’re really happy with the progress of our team, the direction that our program is heading. We would love to see ourselves go to Division I — but if we’re having this much difficulty in the playoffs, we’re right where we’re supposed to be.”
“Right now, we’re a DII team. Next year, we’ll be back there again and we’ll probably see Roosevelt again. I’m just really pleased at the progress of our team, the culture of work — all buying into this one team, one ‘ohana and loving and supporting each other.”
RHS will advance to the semifinals, where it will face the No. 1 seed — Kauai’s Waimea High.