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Michael Lasquero | ScoringLiveNovember 5, 2017, 8:11am
Sat, Nov 4, 2017 @ Wong Stadium [ 7:00 pm ]
HILO, Hawaii — For the first time of the season, there was rain at Wong Stadium when the Hilo football team was in action.
Fittingly enough, Saturday night was the first time the Vikings ever won a state tournament game.
Hilo broke open a 7-all game at the break to top Maui, 26-7, in the semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division I State Football Championships.
The Vikings (9-1), who earned the Big Island Interscholastic Federation's first-ever win in the D1 state tourney, will face Damien for the state title on Nov. 18 at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m.
"We worked so hard for this over the years," said Hilo coach Kaeo Drummondo. "We've come close before (so) to finally push through feels great."
With Maui (5-6) looking to stop running back Kahale Huddleston, senior quarterback Kaleo Apao stepped up. He threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Guyson Ogata for the first score of the game and rushed for 128 yards on 18 carries.
Apao, who was a starting defensive back before the season, also had a 30-yard run to set up Kaleo Ramos' go-ahead TD run with 3:57 to go in the third quarter.
"He found the open gaps in our defense and made some nice runs," Maui coach Rodney Figueora said of Apao. "We were keying on Huddleston a lot to stop that running game, and that quarterback stood up and took part of the offense in moving the ball and just kept making great plays."
But the Vikings wouldn't have done it without their defense. Maui had just 19 yards of net offense in the second half and was dropped behind the line of scrimmage 10 times.
Micah Bello's second interception of the game also set up Huddleston's 5-yard TD run to give Hilo a 24-7 lead with 7:45 left in the game.
"Our defense did this the whole season and they help us a lot," said Apao. "They get us through adversity, hats off to them."
Kuresa Toledo had a sack and four total tackles for loss to lead the defensive effort.
"We put the work in, we stuck it out, never gave up," said Toledo. "We came out and did what we're supposed to do and we got that win."
The Vikings also got a 18-yard field goal Keanu Keolanui and a safety in the fourth quarter to wrap up the scoring.
Maui's lone score of the game came on Naia Nakamoto's 67-yard TD run in the second quarter. Nakamoto had 126 yards rushing on 23 carries in the loss.
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