Monarchs edge Wolfpack, 27-21, rally to second win in a row

Damien's Sylas Alaimalo finished with 22 carries for 119 yards and two scores in a win over PAC-5. He also threw for 60 yards on 4-of-7 passing. Greg Yamamoto | SL

HALAWA — Sylas Alaimalo ran for two touchdowns and threw for another score to lead Damien to a 27-21 win over PAC-5 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu football game at Aloha Stadium Friday night.

The Monarchs erased a 14-point first-quarter deficit to record their second come-from-behind victory in as many weeks to improve to 3-0.

Alaimalo ran in a 29-yard touchdown run with 3:35 left and Rustyn Ah Yat kicked the ensuing extra point to give Damien the lead for good.

PAC-5 got the ball back with 3:30 to play, but was unable to get beyond its own 35-yard line and eventually turned it over on downs. Damien regained possession with 40 seconds remaining and Alaimalo took a kneel down to run out the clock.

"It's all about the mindset," Alaimalo told Spectrum OC16's Jimmy Bender in a postgame interview.

"All we gotta do is stay calm under pressure. Our boys did what we had to do and we came out with the win; shout out to my boys," said Alaimalo, a freshman utility player for the Monarchs.

Alaimalo's first trip to the end zone, a 1-yard TD run, got Damien on the baord with just 32 seconds left in the opening quarter, but came after PAC-5 had taken a 14-0 lead.

Joshua Arcayena's 3-yard TD run, followed by Ezekiel Rodrigues' 99-yard scamper to pay dirt less than two minutes later gave the Wolfpack a 14-0 lead with 5:07 to play in the first quarter.

Damien pulled even at the 1:11 mark of the second quarter on Alaimalo's 21-yard scoring strike to Pono Sales, followed by Ah Yat's extra point. It took its first lead of the game on Jayven Chinen-Zablan's 49-yard interception return for a touchdown.

But the Wolfpack did not go quietly. Rodrigues found the end zone from 29 yards out with 7:39 to play and the ensuing PAT put them ahead, 21-20.

Damien had 244 yards of total offense, including 184 rushing, to PAC-5's 301 total yards and 275 rushing.

Both teams saw key players unable to continue due to injury in Monarchs' starting quarterback Jensen Tanele and Wolfpack running back/linebacker Joshua Arcayena.

"That's that mindset, just next man up," said Alaimalo, who took over at quarterback after Tanele was forced to exit the contest. "My coaches believed in me, I believed in myslef, we do what we did."

Alaimalo finished with 22 carries for 119 yards. He also threw for 60 yards on 4-of-7 passing.

Rodrigues ran for a game-high 156 yards and Arcayena carried 14 times for 98 yards.

Braeden Faurot made eight tackles, Kahiau Young seven and Jayce Pedro five — including three tackles for losses and one sack — to lead Damien's defensive effort.

Daymian Lapitan and Arcayena tallied eight tackles apiece for PAC-5 defensively.

The Monarchs will face Saint Louis II Friday at 5 p.m. at Aloha Stadium, while the Wolfpack will take on Iolani in the 7:30 p.m. nightcap in Halawa.