Campbell's Isaac Hurd, plows his way through Kapolei defenders. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Fri, Oct 4, 2013 @ Campbell [ 7:00 pm ]

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Kapolei

14

Campbell

18

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kapolei (6-4-0)	0	14	0	0	14
Campbell (9-4-0)	0	6	12	0	18

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Isaac Hurd 181 yd

Aizon Kahana 7 yd

Austin May 88 yd

Triston Pebria 126 yd

Kainoa Perry 93 yd

Kazden Reis 7 yd

'EWA BEACH - No matter how hard it tried to give the game away early, Campbell still prevailed against cross-plain rival Kapolei, 18-14, Friday night at the Sabers' field.

With the win, the Sabers earned the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West's second seed and secured a first-round bye for the 12-team Red tournament, which starts next weekend.

West champion Mililani is the top seed. Wai'anae, though, 4-2 with Campbell, falls to the third seed because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. Kapolei (5-3, 3-3) is the fourth seed; Leilehua, also 3-3 in the West, is the fifth seed because of its loss to the Hurricanes. Waipahu is the sixth seed.

"I'm so happy for my team," Campbell coach Amosa Amosa said. "I know we had mistakes, but it's how we finish."

Amosa said he emphasizes to his team about playing a perfect game. But after near-disastrous first half - saved by two goal-line stands - he pleaded for a better second half.

"I challenged them," he said.

Solomon Matautia, AWOL in the first half for disciplinary reasons, returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown with one minute, 37 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Sabers (6-2 overall, 4-2 Red West) ahead for the first time in the rather sloppily-played game.

"I just picked up (the ball) up, saw a couple holes and I just followed the blocks," Matautia said.

Amosa challenged Matautia to atone for his mistake.

"I told him to come out and support your team," Amosa said he told Matautia. "When you come in, let your team know how sorry you are. He came out and got that return."

How bad was it?

*Campbell turned over the ball twice inside its 6-yard line, only to have the defense save the day with two stands.

*One of the Sabers' TDs came when receiver Jayce Bantolina recovered a fumble in the end zone after a 23-yard pass from Isaac Hurd to Kona Reiny-Aloy, who had the ball jarred loose at the 1.

*The Sabers had an apparent 35-yard TD pass nullified by a holding penalty.

*Campbell's other TD, a 1-yard sneak by Hurd, was set up when the Hurricanes lost a fumble at their 19, giving the Sabers' a short scoring drive.

*Kapolei completed 1 of 10 passes for seven yards.

There were strange incidents:

*Campbell got called for unsportsmanlike conduct on Matautia's punt return when when one of the officials on the Campbell sideline made contact with one of the coaches. (That is why sideline warnings are issued when officials notice coaches encroaching into the area that's supposed to be clear for the officials to move in.)

*The referee signaled touchdown on a fumble, but no one signaled it was nullified because the recoverer was downed before the goal line.

For awhile, it was looking like deja vu for the Sabers. Last year, the Hurricanes stunned the Sabers, 35-34, in the regular-season finale at Kapolei under the same circumstances. Had Campbell won that game, it would've got the division's second seed and playoff bye. But the loss dropped the Sabers to the fifth seed. That would've happened again had the Hurricanes prevailed Friday night.

The different was the Hurricanes could not capitalize when the opportunities presented themselves. They came out with nothing after two getting two turnovers inside the Sabers' 6.

"Campbell's D (defense) did a great job," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said.

Worse, is the Hurricanes were unbalanced. They completed only one pass in 10 tries. They were highly successful on the ground, as Campbell transfer Tristan Pebria rushed for 126 yards on 19 carries, including a 71-yarder that set up a Kapolei TD.

"We couldn't muster anything in our passing," Hernandez said. "We have the worst passing game in America. We gotta get better. You can't win just running the ball. As much as I love to run the ball, we have to be able to throw."

After a scoreless first quarter, the Hurricanes struck first on QB Aizon Kahana's 6-yard TD run. The drive started at the Hurricanes' 26, but was aided by Pebria's long run. Arielle Stoyanow's PAT gave Kapolei a 7-0 lead with 10:07 in the half.

Campbell scored on its next series, the five-play, 70-yard drive ending when Bantolina recovered Reiny-Aloy's fumble. Micah Paris blocked the PAT to preserve Kapolei's lead at 7-6 with 7:48 in the half.

Kapolei answered back on its next series. The 52-yard drive - aided by an 8-yard gain by punter Paris on a fake punt on fourth-and-2 - eventually set up Kahana's 15-yard TD run to make it 14-6 with 4:35 left in the half.

For awhile, it appeared Stoyanow's PATs were going to be the difference. But Matautia dashed that with his electrifying punt return.