EWA BEACH — A couple of momentum-shifting plays on special teams made all the difference for No. 1 Campbell in its 40-23 win over fifth-ranked Kapolei Saturday. 

The crosstown rivals each entered the game undefeated, but the Sabers (4-0 overall, 2-0 OIA Open) erased a slim first-quarter deficit to pull away from the Hurricanes (3-1, 0-1) on a sun-drenched, but breezy afternoon on the Ewa plain. 

Campbell's standout quarterback and Cal-Berkeley-commit Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw four touchdown passes, two of them to Rusten Abang-Perez, but a pair of returns for touchdowns came at crucial junctures of the contest. 

Tainoa Lave's 70-yard punt return for score with 3:09 left in the first quarter gave the Sabers a 12-6 lead — one they would not relinquish. 

When Kapolei jabbed it way back to within 26-21 following a touchdown on its first possession of the second half, Zayden Alviar-Costa counterpunched with an 84-yard return on the ensuing kickoff for Campbell's second special teams' touchdown. 

"I feel like our special teams carried us today a bit," said Lave, a starting defensive back. 

"They caught our back when we was down, that's just how you play as a team. You trust your playmakers and hope they make a play and that's what Zayden did," Lave said. 

The Hurricanes had just cut it to a one-score game after a 12-yard touchdown run by Chazz-Michael Kupahu and had momentum on their side when Alviar-Costa seized it right back for the Sabers after he was able to turn the corner down the right sideline and outraced Kapolei's kickoff coverage team to the end zone. 

Alviar-Costa recalled a key block by Aisiah Paogofie that sprung him free. 

"Once I got the ball, all I seen was (Paogofie). He was just gonna block that one guy and all I seen was green, straight to the house. I guess they took a bad angle and one guy missed a tackle and then I just broke it," Alviar-Costa said. 

Campbell found some breathing room thanks to Alviar-Costa's house call; Jadyn Parker tacked on the point after to give his team a 33-21 cushion. 

Kapolei cut into the lead with a safety to make it a 10-point game with 1:46 left in the third quarter and had a chance to pull within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but had a 44-yard field goal try by Larry McCarley miss short and right. 

Campbell subsequently drove 80 yards in eight plays on its ensuing drive, capped by Sagapolutele's 12-yard touchdown pass to Brystin Sansano to close out the scoring with 7:22 to play. 

Sagapolutele's first TD toss to Abang-Perez opened the scoring and gave the Sabers a 6-0 lead a little more than three minutes into the game. The PAT that followed was no good due to a botched snap. 

The Hurricanes answered on their next possession, which culminated with a 2-yard sneak into the end zone by quarterback Liatama Amisone. McCarley converted the extra point to give Kapolei its only lead. 

Two plays into Campbell's next drive, Kapolei caught a break when Noah Papu-Muaava stripped Sagapolutele and a teammate recovered the loose ball — the only turnover all game for the Sabers. 

However, they were unable to recycle the takeaway into any points. Instead their drive stalled at the Campbell 41-yard line and were forced to punt away. McCarley's punt managed minimal hang time and took a bounce or two before Lave scooped it up amongst a crowd and found a seam up the middle. He went untouched to the end zone on the 70-yard touchdown. 

Lave said he had a similar situation arise in last week's win over Farrington, but he chose to err on the side of caution that time. He threw caution to the wind Saturday. 

"Last week I had the same thing, but I didn't grab the ball — I jumped over it and there was a wide opening — so I told myself this week, ‘I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna take a shot and see where it takes me,' and it took me to a touchdown," Lave said. 

"Tainoa did a good job on that, I was scared though because he just picked it up out of nowhere and he scored, but that was a good play right there by Tainoa," Alviar-Costa added. 

Campbell's defense then forced a three-and-out and got the ball back for its offense. In turn, Sagapolutele and crew put together an eight-play, 62-yard drive that was highlighted by a spectacular catch by Abang-Perez for a 26-yard completion from Sagapolutele to convert a fourth-and-10. 

"We had to get the first (down) — it was fourth down — so the safety was inside, the linebacker was outside of me, I knew I had to go in the middle and Jaron threw that up and I grabbed it and then (the defender) tried to take it from me. I just pulled it in, landed and we got the first," Abang-Perez said. 

Two plays later, the same pair connected for a 4-yard TD pass. Sagapolutele pulled the football from Sansano on the RPO play, before he zipped a well-placed pass to Abang-Perez, who was aligned wide right of the formation. 

Amisone kept the ‘Canes close with his 21-yard TD pass to Zayne Pasion a few minutes later, but the Sabers recovered an Amisone fumble to regain possession with 4:42 left in the first half. They cashed in on the turnover with a methodical nine-play, 98-yard drive that resulted in a highlight-reel grab by Tyson Ball on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Sagapolutele. 

On the scoring play, Sagapolutele was able to elude an oncoming Kapolei pass rush from multiple angles and just got off his pass toward Ball near the right sideline. A defensive back appeared to get a hand on the Sagapolutele pass, but Ball was able to gather it in after a couple of bobbles and ran untouched to the end zone. 

"I thought he dropped that at first, but I seen him running and I knew he was gone," Abang-Perez said. 

Abang-Perez finished with 10 receptions for 103 yards.

Sagapolutele completed 19 of 25 passes for 203 yards and was not intercepted. He was sacked once. 

Sansano carried nine times for 74 yards rushing in the win. 

Amisone, Kapolei's dynamic dual-threat quarterback and a San Jose State-commit, was corralled to 17-of-33 passing for 166 yards. He led all rushers with 77 yards on 17 carries.

Amisone was sacked just once, but had difficulty finding open receivers and was forced to throw it away no fewer than seven times. 

"Our secondary did good. Tama had to keep scrambling because none of the guys were open. Our defense was just locking them up," Alviar-Costa expressed. 

Lave said limiting big plays by Amisone was a key task for the Sabers' defense. 

"Our game plan was just to contain Tama — I mean, he's a dog. He's shown it on film," Lave said. "We just came out practicing the whole week on just keeping him in the box and make him hold the ball, just let our secondary cover and that's what we did. He got some ballers, but we had them."

Kapolei was 5 of 12 on third downs and 1 for 4 on fourth downs. 

Campbell was 3 of 6 on third downs and converted its only fourth down attempt. 

The Hurricanes were penalized 16 times for 165 yards, while the Sabers were flagged 18 times for 153 yards. 

Kapolei will look to rebound against Waipahu Friday night. 

Campbell will play a non-league game at Keaau Saturday afternoon before an Oct. 5th showdown against Mililani.