Damien's Kepono Kawaakoa attempts to battle through a host of Pac-Five defenders on a carry. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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Damien's Kepono Kawaakoa attempts to battle through a host of Pac-Five defenders on a carry. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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HALAWA — Shawn Borges blocked three field goals and had the game-sealing interception to help Damien outlast Pac-Five, 6-3 at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium Friday night.

Borges also added six tackles as the Monarchs, ranked fifth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division II Football Power Rankings, improved to 5-0 and 2-0 in league play despite being flagged 19 times.

Sixth-ranked Pac-Five suffered its first loss of the season and dropped to 3-1 and 1-1.

"They dug deep and I kept telling the guys all day that we would need to make one more play on defense and we saw it at the end of the game," said Damien coach Eddie Klaneski. On the penalties Klaneski said: "I've been talking about it all year, we haven't really played a good game yet. Once we get everything together this team is going to be unstoppable."

Pac-Five had a first-and-goal situation at the Damien 9-yard line, but forced three straight incompletions by Pac-Five quarterback Kainoa Ferreira to bring it to fourth down. Borges stepped in front of a pass intended for Travis Kaloa a play later to seal the game for the Monarchs.

"It was fourth down and we just wanted to pump up the crowd," said Borges. "I just dropped back into coverage and saw the ball coming to me so I went to go get it."

The Monarchs' defense sacked Ferreira four times and drew five holding penalties. Court Paaga led the way with five tackles and two sacks.

Ferreira completed just 19 of his 47 pass attempts for 179 yards and was intercepted twice. Dylan Tapat recorded the first interception on Ferreira, and returned it all the way to the Pac-Five 7-yard line to set up the Monarchs' lone score of the game. Quarterback Bransen Apao kept the ball on the next play to give Damien a 6-3 lead with 5:04 left in the first quarter.

"He's a good quarterback and we knew we had to get pressure on him so we could stop the passing game," Borges said on Ferreira. "We knew we had to get pressure, and when we did it created opportunities and we capitalized on them."

Apao had a rough outing in his first start under center, having completed just six of his 16 pass attempts for 43 yards and an interception. He led the team in rushing with 73 yards on one carry.

"We just came out slow and guys were dropping balls but give credit to Pac-Five, they did a great job putting pressure on (Apao) knowing it was going to be his first game," said Klaneski. "They played a heck of a game against us on that side of the ball and we're just happy we made one more play than they did and it was good enough to get us the victory."

Pac-Five got its lone score of the game after Casey Nakamura recovered a Damien fumble at the Monarch's 25-yard line. Tyler Fukuroda's 28-yard field goal five plays later gave the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead with 7:10 to go in the first quarter.

Damien will have a week off while Pac-Five plays Saint Francis (2-4, 0-2) next Friday.