Kahuku left what happened in Las Vegas behind and returned to OIA play in resounding fashion on Saturday.
A week after having an 18-game winning streak snapped with a loss to Bishop Gorman, the nation’s top-ranked team, Kahuku rushed for 431 yards and pounded out a 42-0 win over Moanalua.
With the much-hyped trip to Las Vegas in the rear-view mirror, Kahuku coach Vavae Tata succinctly summed up the Red Raiders’ focus entering Saturday’s game.
“It’s business as usual,” Tata said. “We’re looking to be 1-0 at the end of the week. Congratulations to our kids and hats off to Moanalua. … We’ll look at the tape, then we’ll prepare for Kaiser.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Red Raiders broke away to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter and rushed for 330 yards and three touchdowns before halftime.
“Started off slow, not the start that we wanted. But it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and the kids finished well,” Tata said.
Elvis Vakapuna led the Kahuku rushing attack with 177 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Harmon Brown picked up all 150 of his yards in the first half.
“Coach Tata always tells us just shut out the outside noise. It’s just us on the team and the coaches. It’s our little circle and we just kept it tight,” Vakapuna said.
“It was pretty intense (in practice last week). The coaches were just trying to get us focused on what we do best, just playing as a team.”
The Red Raiders defense contributed to the scoring with a 30-yard interception return by Kekaula Kaniho in the second quarter and extended its run of scoreless quarters in OIA play to 18.
Kahuku (6-1, 6-0) closes the regular season on Friday at Kaiser and will have a bye in the first round of the OIA Division I playoffs.
The Red Raiders arrived at Moanalua as the OIA Blue champion, having clinched the division’s top seed with Campbell’s upset of Waianae on Friday night. The outcome also took care of the formality of a state tournament berth for the reigning Division I champions.
Moanalua (3-4, 2-4) faces Aiea on Friday in a game to determine the division’s fourth and fifth seeds before heading into the postseason.
Moanalua held off the Red Raiders on their first two possessions. A 27-yard loss on a high snap sidetracked Kahuku’s first drive and the second ended with Kea Rodrigues recovering a Red Raiders fumble near midfield and returning it to the Kahuku 12.
Two pass interference penalties moved the ball to the 5, but the Kahuku defense stuffed Na Menehune on third down and a fourth-down pass sailed out of the end zone.
The Red Raiders offense found its groove with Brown and Vakapuna covering 30 yards each on consecutive carries and Steven Lombard capped the eight-play drive with a 1-yard plunge.
On Moanalua’s next play, Kaniho picked off Yuen’s throw and returned it for a score to give Kahuku its second touchdown in 12 seconds.
Kahuku stretched the lead with another eight-play drive, with Jean Paul Kefu scoring on a 2-yard run. Kesi Ah-Hoy, who started at safety, took a turn at quarterback and picked up 75 yards on three carries and scored on a 5-yard run.
“I was waiting for Coach Tata to call it, that elephant,” Moanalua coach Savai’i Eselu said of the Red Raiders’ power formation. “If you don’t have the right studs to play it constantly over and over and over, it’s going to be a real big uphill battle.”
Stokes Nihipali-Botelho brought the running clock into effect by returning the opening kickoff of the second half 98 yards for a touchdown. Vakapuna picked up 70 yards on four carries on Kahuku’s next possession, scoring the game’s final touchdown on a 5-yard run.
