No. 10 Moanalua found a way to escape with another one-point win.
Na Menehune squeaked by Kailua 19-18 in a seesaw battle at Alex Kane Stadium on Friday night when defensive back Aukai Grace came down with an interception of Surfriders quarterback Cameron Friel with a minute left.
The Surfriders were on the move and seemed poised to have the last word when Friel lofted one between Kailua receivers.
“I just read the quarterback. I saw him look at the 2 (Raynen Ho-Mook), and I just made a play and broke on the ball,” Grace said.
Last week, Moanalua (2-0, 1-0 OIA Division I) edged ‘Iolani 21-20 — the first-ever win over the Raiders for Na Menehune — courtesy the leg of kicker Griffin Motas.
“I’ll take ’em, whichever way,” Moanalua coach Savaii Eselu said. “If it’s by 0.1, I’ll take that, too. A win’s a win, and moving on to the next one.”
On the penultimate drive for Kailua (0-3, 0-2), Friel advanced the ball into Moanalua territory with a 57-yard scramble. But he lost the ball on another keeper and linebacker Jett Tanigawa — who’d just left the game seemingly injured a couple of plays before — had re-entered and recovered the ball.
“This was another set of grit,” Eselu said.
Motas, last week’s hero, was hurt on an extra-point attempt midway through this one. In fact, Na Menehune finished the game without a kicker, as backup Lawsen Lee was ejected for allegedly swinging on the opening kickoff. Eselu said he’d review film of the play. Jeremiah Tauai was pressed into service as an emergency kicker late in the game.
“Coach (Joe) Wong, hat’s off to him, he’s doing a phenomenal job,” Eselu said. “He and I are sharing the same thing. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot. We gotta clean it up. But when your number’s called, you gotta be ready to go. We gotta make sure our depth is ready to go. Things happen. It’s football.”
Na Menehune quarterback RJ Javar offset his four interceptions with 333 yards passing (26-for-45, two touchdowns) and some brilliant sequences. Moanalua receiver Jansen York had six catches for 110 yards, including a 17-yard fade TD catch in the first half as Moanalua led 13-12 at halftime. He finished with nine grabs for 154 yards.
Moanalua went up for good on Darius Johnson’s 1-yard plunge at the end of the third. Na Menehune had a chance to build on it with Javar in a passing groove. He completed seven of eight to march his team down the field, but an ill-advised deep ball into the hands of Kailua’s Elijah Pittman ended that. Pittman had two picks for Kailua.
Kailua lost at Leilehua 14-0 in its OIA opener last week after getting blasted 40-0 by Punahou at Alex Kane Stadium to start the season.
This time was different, as Friel connected with Kamryn Kahoonei in the first quarter and Raynen Ho-Mook in the second for the Surfriders’ first two scores of the season.
Kailua went up for the last time, 18-13, on Kahoonei’s second TD grab, a 65-yard catch-and-run in the third. Kahoonei finished with three catches for 86 yards.
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No. 10 Moanalua 19, Kailua 18
At Kailua
>> Moanalua (2-0, 1-0) 0 13 6 0 — 19
>> Kailua (0-3, 0-2) 6 6 6 0 — 18
Kailua — Kamryn Kahoonei 14 pass from Cameron Friel (kick failed)
Moanalua — Dacyres Domingo 9 pass from RJ Javar (Griffin Motas kick)
Kailua — Raynen Ho-Mook 20 pass from Friel (run failed)
Moanalua — Jansen York 17 pass from Javar (pass failed)
Kailua — Kahoonei 65 pass from Friel (run failed)
Moanalua — Darius Johnson 1 run (pass failed)
RUSHING — Moanalua: Johnson 10-24, So’onaoso Saole-Teixeira 1-8, TEAM 3-5, Malachi Pelesasa 1-0, Javar 11-(minus 13). Kailua: Friel 9-83, Lahaina Kane 7-20, Brian-Allen Kamanu 6-19, Hastings Yee Hoy 1-5, Samson Rasay 2-0, TEAM 1-(minus 2).
PASSING — Moanalua: Javar 26-45-4–333. Kailua: 10-24-3–135.
RECEIVING – Moanalua: York 9-154, Domingo 8-75, Ayzeiah Callo-Saquiton 5-39, Rudy Kealohi 4-65. Kailua: Ho-Mook 4-38, Kahoonei 3-86, Rasay 2-7, Koalii Kohatsu 1-4.
* Junior varsity — Moanalua 39, Kailua 7
