With workload increased, Kaahanui does job

What was meant to be a quarter of work taking snaps turned into a full-time job for Aiea’s Mana Kaahanui.

The senior linebacker and backup signal-caller exceeded 100 yards on the ground and 100 in the air, and was one of five players to intercept Pac-Five quarterback Anthony Canencia, leading Na Alii to a 33-8 defeat of Pac-Five on Friday night in Aiea.

Kaahanui was meant to give way to regular starter Jordan Liilii after the first frame — a decision made by coach Wendell Say for team reasons — and that part worked according to plan. But Liilii lasted just a single series and left with an injured right foot. He roamed the sideline on crutches in the second half.

While Kaahanui went incomplete on his first seven attempts and finished just 8-for-30, he stuck with it after being reinserted in the second quarter and netted 93 yards on three straight completions, capped by a 41-yard scoring strike to Shaenan Hernandez-Fonoti, who was in double coverage, to make it 17-8.

"I’ve been playing quarterback for a while, so it wasn’t nothing new. Just get out there and play my game," Kaahanui said.

Aiea opened the season 2-0 for the second straight year heading into OIA Red West play, while Pac-Five dropped to 0-2 entering ILH play.

Aiea picked off Canencia four times in the first half and scored 26 unanswered points after Pac-Five briefly took the lead in the first quarter.

Say counted on several players to do a little of everything in this one; he entered with 31 active.

Senior running back Fika Tuli had 105 yards on the ground, a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown, and took direct snaps late in the game when Kaahanui went down briefly.

"We didn’t expect injuries to hit us like it did," Say said. "Hopefully it’s not serious (for Liilii). Monday we should be a lot better because all our academic (ineligible) kids come back."

Kaahanui popped back into the game after a short absence. He finished with 157 yards passing and 102 yards rushing on 10 carries.

"I just never like leave my boys out there alone. I was a backup, so I had to step up," Kaahanui said.

Hernandez-Fonoti had three grabs for 107 yards, including another sensational scoring snare that got the crowd on its feet. In the third quarter, the 6-foot-2 Hernandez-Fonoti took advantage of a much shorter defensive back, snagging a ball thrown by third-stringer Lincoln Tappe while standing behind the defender. He held the ball aloft over his man’s helmet while keeping his balance, and completed the 31-yard jaunt for the game’s final score.

Canencia, a 5-foot-7 senior, threw 63 times in a loss to Radford last week but was held to 22-for-48 passing for 175 yards in this one.

"We had some guys playing offensive line that never played there before," Pac-Five coach Kip Botelho said. "We had some injuries on O-line. We had some straight run-throughs and they got pressure (on Canencia) and it turned into scrambles. … After that, it was just all scrambles, broken plays."

Canencia did an admirable job eluding the constant pressure, getting sacked only twice, but couldn’t get in a groove in the Wolfpack’s four-wide offense.