McKinley didn’t get the win it was searching for on Saturday night, but the Tigers might have found their quarterback.
Oh, and it just happens to be a girl.
Alexandria Buchanan, summoned from the JV team, made her first varsity appearance and was 7-for-16 with 135 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. However, the Tigers fell 27-26 to Kalaheo at Skippa Diaz Stadium and are still looking for their first win since 2013.
“I just joined the varsity team this Tuesday. They moved me up after some consideration,” Buchanan said after the game. “It means a lot. This is my team; they’re like my second family, so it feels great to be able to play with them.”
The McKinley-partisan crowd was rocking on Saturday night in Kalihi, and the Tigers roster seemed to double that of Kalaheo, which had forfeited its matchup against Waipahu the previous week. Mustangs coach Darrell Poole was inspired by the iron man performance of his team. Almost every Mustang played on both sides of the ball.
“I think we have a lot of heart. Hopefully we’ll get some of the guys back and I think that we’ll be ready to go,” he said. “They just played with heart and soul and it’s all about family. They’re gonna lead us to where we gotta go throughout the season. I’m pleased with the way we played. It was a total team effort and it was a battle to the end.”
In addition to the team’s size, he knew facing Buchanan would be a challenge after previously watching her play on the JV team.
“She’s the real deal. You give her more time and she can throw with the best of them,” Poole said. “To me, it was awesome. I told my boys she’s gonna complete some passes against us. Hat’s off to her.”
Kalaheo came out of the gates hot when the Mustangs scored on their first two offensive possessions, both of which were passing touchdowns from quarterback Justus Neufeldt.
The Tigers came storming back in the second quarter with their own pair of touchdowns, capped by Buchanan’s 16-yard toss to Ace Asis, making her the first girl in Hawaii to throw a touchdown pass in a high school game.
“Watch for the Tigers, I hope we win a game this season.” Buchanan said afterward. “We will, we will.”
McKinley took its only lead of the game when Laulii Iosefa ran for a 9-yard score with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. The Mustangs responded almost immediately when Jaden Amasiu returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards and finished what he started in the beginning of the fourth quarter for a 1-yard run into the end zone.
The Mustangs took the lead for good when Byron Rellin caught a 34-yard prayer from Neufeldt with 7:43 to go. McKinley then engineered a drive that went more than six minutes, punctuated by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Siolei Lopes-Liutolo to Kaiwi Ahina at the back of the end zone with 1:39 left in the game. The Tigers seemed to have taken the lead on a 2-point conversion, but the play was negated on a holding call.
Neufeldt racked up 196 yards of total offense, a game high.
“It was a great win,” he said. “Could’ve done better, but as long as we got the ‘W’ it’s all right.”
As for the team’s opposing quarterback?
“I’m really proud of her because she’s playing this sport that not many girls would play and she did pretty good,” Neufeldt said. “They’re a good team, so I hope we see them in the playoffs.”
