Fooling defenses is what June Jones does, and sophomore quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa got things done the way Jones drew it up Friday.
As a result, the sixth-ranked Hurricanes rolled to a 38-0 home victory over Campbell in the football season opener for both teams. With the win also comes a huge wooden sledgehammer that will perpetually go to the victorious team in this westside rivalry.
Tagovailoa threw for 263 yards and five touchdowns, including three to Wyatt Perez.
“We wanted to get a few things done and get some confidence.” said Jones, the former UH head football coach who is now the Hurricanes’ offensive coordinator. “With success comes confidence, so I’m proud of the kids and happy for them. Taulia can make all the throws. We’ve just got to keep him healthy and protect him. If we do that, we’ve got a chance to be a decent football team.”
Keeping him healthy almost didn’t work. On his first play from scrimmage, Tagovailoa was sacked by Campbell’s Kishaun Ki and hurt his knee. He missed the rest of that opening series and came back on the next.
“He’s a real smart quarterback,” Sabers linebacker Iosua Sevao said after spending the night figuring out how to stop the sophomore phenom. “He makes the right plays at the right time because he reads defenses pretty good. It wasn’t the best result for us, but we can learn from it.”
It was a defensive slugfest for most of the first half. Beau Meyers put Kapolei on the board 3-0 with a 33-yard field goal with 8:44 left in the first half.
“We didn’t play particularly well and had a lack of focus sometimes,” Hurricanes head coach Darren Hernandez said. “We made mistakes that we need to clean up, but you can’t be disappointed. We woke up in the second half and played like we’re capable of. They (Campbell) moved the ball, and I was happy that our defense did the bend but don’t break kind of deal. They clamped down when they had to.”
Tagovailoa finally found his rhythm late in the half, capping off a smooth drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Perez for a 10-0 halftime lead.
Early in the second half, Tagovailoa hooked up with Perez for a 20-yard score and a 17-0 lead. Tagovailoa finished his night with two TD strikes to Jaymin Sarono and one more to Perez.
Elisha Amina’s fumble recovery and interceptions by Leonard Lee, Kalani Segovia and Tyler Vasega kept Campbell off the board.
Sabers quarterback Kawika Ulufale completed 22 of 35 passes and moved his team all night before the breakdowns.
“If they finish off some of those drives and punch it in, it’s a different game,” Kapolei’s Jones said. “Campbell will win a lot of football games this year. They’ll battle.”
For Sabers head coach Amosa Amosa, it was disappointing, but he knows his team will learn from it.
“We had opportunities here and there and didn’t make good on it,” he said. “The offense moved the ball and the defense gave us good field position sometimes. We had some long drives, but didn’t turn it into points. To me, it’s a good gauge of where we’re at. We know what we need to work on and we know the season only gets tougher. Going against Kapolei and someone like Taulia who is so sharp (was tough). We had some chances to get some picks, but we didn’t.”
