Konawaena's Algene Kelokolio rushed for a game-high 263 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Damien. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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Sat, Nov 7, 2015 @ Konawaena [ 7:00 pm ]

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Damien

33

Konawaena

42

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Damien (6-2-0)	6	0	6	21	33
Konawaena (11-2-0)	12	21	6	3	42

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Austin Ewing 218 yd 3 TD

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 296 yd 3 TD

Algene Kelekolio 263 yd 3 TD

Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 50 yd 2 TD

Reyson Ching 79 yd 1 TD

Austin Ballesteros 153 yd

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii — It was a tale of two halves, but Konawaena finally exorcized its first-round demons.

Behind big offensive performances by Algene Kelekolio and Austin Ewing, the Wildcats held off Damien, 42-33, in the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football State Championships on Saturday night at Julian R. Yates Field.

The Wildcats ranked third in the Hawaiian Electric/ScoringLive D2 Power Rankings advance to play second-seeded and top-ranked Radford at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. The Big Island Interscholastic Federation champs make their first-ever semifinal appearance after going 0-4 in the opening round. The sixth-ranked Monarchs end their season at 6-2 overall.

"This is the first (state tournament) win for Konawaena and we made it tough tat the end there, but I think sometimes just getting that off of our back maybe opens up the doors for us to maybe have wins come a little easier down the road eventually," Konawaena first-year coach Brad Uemoto said.

The 75 combined points is the second highest in D2 state tournament history, tying Iolani and King Kekaulike in 2006. Both teams combined for 968 yards of net offense.

Damien trailed 33-6 at halftime, but rallied to outscore the Wildcats, 27-9 in the second half. Marcus Faufata-Pedrina threw a 6-yard touchdown to Bransen Apao, but the run failed. Konawaena immediately answered back after Ewing threw a 9-yard touchdown to Kupono Kane, but the PAT attempt failed to make it, 39-12.

"It shows the character of our boys. We talked to them at halftime about our mistakes and we give credit to Konawaena. Also credit our boys in the second half and we told them get one stop and we'll be in it. We came up short in the end, but can't be any prouder of our guys this season," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski. 

The Monarchs' 21 fourth-quarter points ties Kauai's fourth-quarter output against Hawaii Prep back in 2009. Apao caught his second touchdown pass from Faufata-Pedrina and Faufata-Pedrina added his second rushing touchdown from 2 yards out and his 2-point conversion to Kaimana Cameron was good as the Monarchs trailed, 39-27.

"That was probably on me," Uemoto said of Damien's late charge. "We got so excited with a fast tempo on offense that we sort of forgot about some of our two-way players and I think we tired our defense out a little bit. Luckily we held on, but man what a reisilient team in Damien. Give all the credit to them, too."

Faufata-Pedrina dumped it off to Kepono Kawaakoa for a 22-yard score to bring the Monarchs within six with a little over five minutes in the quarter. Faufata-Pedrina passed for 296 yards, three touchdowns, added 50 yards on the ground and two scores to lead the Monarchs offensively.

"I think Marcus did a great job in the second half and he stood in there to throw the ball to get us back in it. We couldn't ask for any more from our boys," said Klaneski. 

Ewing's 34-yard field goal attempt was no good, but Damien was called into running into the kicker giving him another chance. His 29-yard field goal with 0:39 left was good to ice the game as the Monarchs could not stop the clock.

"That first one the hold was a little off and when I got hit I was so happy I got a second chance at it," Ewing said about his game sealing field goal. "When I got another chance I wasn't going to miss that one."

"Obviously the penalty was huge, but Austin's been a good kicker for us all year," Uemoto said. "I'm proud of that kid in terms of throwing the football, running the football for big first downs and what a kick, too."

Ewing threw for 218 yards on 17-of-31 passing, three touchdowns and an interception. Kelekolio finished the game with 263 rushing yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns.

Konawaena took a 12-0 lead after two Kelekolio runs. The Wildcats redeemed a Damien fumble into points after Kelekolio's 2-yard run, but the kick was blocked. Kelekolio added another 2-yard touchdown on a drive that covered 98 yards.

"He's been huge for us all year," Uemoto said of Kelekolio. "I don't think much people knew who he was coming into this year. He had 700-something yards pretty quietly all year and he came up for us huge. We tried to take what the defense was giving us and they gave us some runs in between the tackles for a little while and he took full advantage of it."

"I think this is my best game ever. I was on my line the whole week," said Kelekolio. "I knew they were getting mad at me, but I knew it was a good thing to push our line and they made it happen."

Faufata-Pedrina's deep pass to Shawn Borges set up Faufata-Pedrina's keeper for 14 yards to get the Monarchs on the scoreboard, but the kick failed.

Konawaena scored 21 points in the second quarter. Kelekolio broke multiple Monarch tackles to score on a 69-yard run to cover a six-play drive to take a 19-6 lead. Austin Ewing threw a 15-yard touchdown to Kamakana Ching that took 32 seconds to put the Wildcats up by 20.

Ewing threw his second touchdown pass to Kayson Mahiai for 36 yards with 40 seconds before halftime to make it 33-6. Ewing had 131 passing yards at the half.

Kelekolio had 185 rushing yards and the Wildcats gained 279 yards on the ground and 20 first downs in the first half. Konawaena had 410 yards of net offense and finished with 580 for the game.

"Credit to him, he was running hard on us and he made enough plays in the second half to get first downs and killed time," said Klaneski. 

Austin Santos-Johnson led the Wildcat defense with 14 tackles and three sacks and Jeriah Cacal had an interception and three pass break-ups.

"Our defense is always scrappy. He's probably our best defensive lineman," said Ewing about Santos-Johnson. "We have him go at practice against our best guys and he still messes them up and gets to me all the time. He's a big threat out there for our D line to help us out."

"I thought (Damien) didn't see anybody like (Santos-Johnson) probably all year," Uemoto said. "He's been a great player for us all year and he just did what he usually does and give credit to him. He did a great job."

Courtney Paaga and Scott Lam led the Damien defense with 11 and 10 tackles respectively. Borges had an interception and two fumble recoveries.