HONOLULU — Campbell had the results, the ranking and the reputation as the best team in the state.
Kahuku had tradition.
The Red Raiders outplayed the previously unbeaten Sabers in the second half at Farrington’s Skippa Diaz Stadium for a 33-15 victory and the 30th Oahu Interscholastic Association championship in the proud football history of the North Shore school.
[Note: See below for more photos of Kahuku-Campbell in the OIA Open championship.]
Waianae has the second-most OIA titles with 18, but none since 1997.
Now Kahuku (8-4), which lagged behind Campbell in some key respects for most of the season, is the presumed top seed in next week’s First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Open football championships.
Sterling Carvalho’s Raiders are the three-time defending state champs but faltered in last year’s OIA final against Mililani. Carvalho, who has led Kahuku to OIA titles in four of the last five years in which Oahu football was contested, held up the league plaque to his players — with the other hand flashing two fingers for the number of games standing between them and state title number 12.
“It’s exciting, but you know, we all know which one we want,” said receiver Aiden Manutai, who had the go-ahead 65-yard catch-and-run touchdown from recent transfer quarterback Matai Fuiava with 12 seconds left in the third quarter. “We want that big koa trophy, bring it back to the North Shore. We’re going to celebrate tonight but once it hits 7:55 tomorrow morning, we’re right back at it.”
One week after throwing for six touchdowns in a wild 49-43 comeback win from 26 points down against Kapolei in the OIA semifinals, senior quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was held to one scoring throw and 239 yards on 19-for-33 passing.
Potent, interchangeable receivers like Rusten Abang-Perez and Zayden Alviar-Costa were kept largely in check by the Red Raider secondary.
“We just had to make them earn ‘em,” Carvalho said. “If you watch all their games, especially last week against Kapolei, they was able to score at will, and at a fast pace. If we can have them march and take time off the clock, shorten the game, limit the possessions that Jaron has in that offense, that’s what we wanted to do coming into this game.”
Campbell (9-1) remained without a title at the highest tier of OIA competition, a painful setback for a magical season that’s included the state career passing yardage record for the polished Sagapolutele. The Sabers own Division II titles in 2004 and 2008.
“Hat’s off to them, they won the game tonight,” Campbell coach Darren Johnson said. “We made critical mistakes that we’ve got to go back and fix for the next game.”
The Ewa Beach power is expected to face ILH champion Saint Louis in the HHSAA Open semifinals next Friday at Mililani.
Campbell’s best weapon on the day was kicker Jadyn Parker, who hit from 40, 33 and 36 yards, the last to give the Sabers a 15-11 lead with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
Kahuku then scored 22 unanswered points, with the highlight the connection between Manutai and Fuiava throwing into the wind blowing down from the Kapalama Heights and over H-1.
Fuiava, who turned heads by importing himself from California powerhouse St. John Bosco last month, enrolling and playing against Campbell a few days later, rolled out to the right and fired on the run over the middle, right on target to Manutai.
“I said a couple weeks ago on TV, Matai, ever since he got here, he brought in the receivers and we started getting to work right away,” Manutai said. “So I think that was a big part of building chemistry, and he just knew I was going to be there. The ball was there and we scored.”
Carvalho frequently acknowledged his defense and special teams would have to carry the load for a young team while the offense caught up. It appears to have done so at the right time, with the notable help of Fuiava and offensive lineman Jacob Maiava, who came in from the continent at about the same time.
Fuiava was 8-for-15 for three touchdowns. Neither he nor Sagapolutele was intercepted, but Sagapolutele was sacked four times and Fuiava just once. Kahuku defensive lineman LeBron Williams had 2.5 tackles for loss.
Fuiava said he was able to delve into the playbook extensively in the three weeks since the teams’ last meeting, a 21-13 Sabers victory on the North Shore on Oct. 19 when he had been in Hawaii for less than a week. However, he gave all credit to the defense for Friday’s outcome.
“They held the best team to 15 points,” he said. “Man, they kept getting us back on the field even though we weren’t doing as good as we should’ve.”
Sagapolutele, facing one of Kalihi’s intermittent torrents of rain, tried to answer the sudden swing in momentum but fired three incomplete passes and the Sabers had to punt. Mana Carvalho returned it 15 yards and Kahuku was in business at the Campbell 43.
Running back Malosi Fiatoa capped a six-play drive with an 18-yard touchdown jaunt in which he refused to go down.
Campbell then made some grievous errors.
On Campbell’s ensuing drive, Sagapolutele was called for intentional grounding on a sack by Maximum Fonoimoana. Two procedural penalties forced Campbell to enter punt formation from its own 3. But senior Aisiah Paogofie instead faked it and tried to throw out of Campbell’s end zone to Kalai Carvalho over the middle. His throw was low and Carvalho couldn’t dig it out.
“It wasn’t called by us,” Johnson said of the play. “It’s going to get corrected in practice.”
Kahuku parlayed the position into a Mana Carvalho 8-yard touchdown grab from Fuiava three plays later.
A high snap in punt formation on Campbell’s final drive resulted in a safety and completed the scoring.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.