Kahuku was without starting quarterback Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa. Its all-around playmaker, Kaimana Carvalho, was ejected with the game yet to be decided.
The Red Raiders were in good hands anyway as senior running back Va’aimalae Fotoni scored a first-half hat trick of touchdowns operating from the wildcat formation and national No. 8 Kahuku rumbled to a 38-7 win over Campbell, one of its chief competitors in the Oahu Interscholastic Association, on Saturday night. The teams were ranked 1-2 in local media polls coming into the week.
Fonoti, who carried the ball 24 times for 189 yards, an average of 7.9 per carry, helped stake his team to a 19-0 lead on senior night, and nearly took it in for a fourth time in the second half but took a tough tackle to the knees short of the goal line. Coach Sterling Carvalho pulled him from there.
Afterward, Fonoti said he’d be all right. Kahuku totaled 291 yards on the ground to Campbell’s 22.
Tagovailoa-Amosa, who helped the Red Raiders beat defending national champion St. John Bosco on Sept. 16, got injured coming into the game.
“It wasn’t really me just having to get me prepared, it was having to get the team prepared,” Fonoti told Spectrum OC16’s Jimmy Bender. “I knew it was going to be a lot of the load on me, but I know as a team if we all executed we’d all come out on top.”
Kahuku was 4-for-4 in red zone scoring opportunities.
Kaimana Carvalho, the nephew of the coach, scored a 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter but was ejected for kicking after the ensuing 2-point conversion attempt, though nothing malicious showed up on video replay.
Kahuku punched in insurance touchdowns by Sheadon Kanoa from 39 yards and by Aiden Manutai on a 23-yard pass from Sitani Suguturuga in the fourth quarter.
“The main thing I wanted to do is get everybody to play, all the seniors, and even all the underclassmen,” Fonoti said.
It turned out it was the last regular-season game for the Red Raiders (9-1, 6-0). Kahuku’s Oct. 14 game against Leilehua has already been called a forfeit, per ScoringLive.com, the second Division I opponent on the schedule to do so this season along with Aiea.
Kahuku will be the top seed coming out of its three-team Open Division pod and should get a first-round bye for the OIA playoffs, meaning it wouldn’t play again until the weekend of Oct. 27-28.
Campbell (6-2, 4-1) proved its worth earlier this season with a home victory over Punahou, but the going was much tougher Saturday. The lone touchdown for Campbell came from quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to Rusten Abang-Perez from 12 yards with 17 seconds left in the first half.
Sagapolutele was 14-for-28 for 166 yards. He was sacked three times and intercepted once.
When Kahuku elected to pass, it was good hands in backup quarterback Suguturuga, who was 6-for-6 for 55 yards.
Correction: A previous version of the story listed an incorrect family tie between Sterling and Kaimana Carvalho.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.