Kamehameha hangs on to defeat Punahou in nail biter

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Sixth ranked Kamehameha notched a crucial league victory over Punahou, escaping with a 31-30 result at Alexander Field.

The Warriors held what appeared to be a comfortable 17-3 lead at the 8:15 mark of the third, but saw that become a brand new ball game as the Buffanblu rallied behind a pair of Hunter Fujikawa to Brady Lau scoring strikes to tie the contest up at 17-all with 56 seconds in the quarter.

Nainoa Melchor plunged in from three yards out with 8:51 in regulation to push Kamehameha back in front, but Punahou equalized on a Fujikawa strike to Mason Perpignan with 3:20 on the clock.

Then, with 1:04 left, the Warriors regained the lead once again as Hazyn Botelho sprinted in untouched from three yards out in the wildcat formation and Tyler Fujimoto booted through his fourth PAT to make it 31-30.

Punahou got the ball with just over a minute left from its own 20, and quickly marched down the field on a series of chunk completions to midfield, then benefitted from a pass interference call that placed the ball just outside the Kamehameha 30 with 27 ticks. Another completion to Lau got the ball to the 12, and it was Lau again on the following play hauling in his third score of the afternoon to make it 31-30.

On the ensuing point after touchdown, Punahou lined up for what would have been the game tying kick, but was called for a delay of game on that try. The Buffanblu opted to go for two on the ensuing attempt, and Fujikawa's scramble down the middle was snuffed out by the Warriors. Evan Cazimero had the initial hit, and Jayden Braun and company did the rest.

Punahou had one last gasp attempt with an onside attempt on the kickoff, but the ball was carefully cradled by a Warriors' up man Carson Akau to end it.