Kapaa quarterback Kapono Na-O looks evades the tackle of Lahainaluna's Kuola Watson in the third quarter. Rayden Aoki | ScoringLive

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Sat, Nov 11, 2023 @ Lahainaluna [ 7:00 pm ]

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Kapaa

29

Lahainaluna

28

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kapaa (9-1-0)	7	7	0	15	29
Lahainaluna (5-1-0)	0	14	0	14	28

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Lyrik Kahula 22 yd

Kapono Na-O 95 yd 1 TD

Kaulana Tihada 124 yd 2 TD

Kapono Na-O 159 yd 3 TD

Kaulana Tihada 8 yd

Evan Daligdig 65 yd 1 TD

LAHAINA, Maui — This one came down to the wire.

Quarterback Kapono Na-O accounted for four touchdowns and ran in the go-ahead 2-point conversion and linebacker Steeler Burley made the game-sealing tackle on the final play of the game to help Kapaa edge Lahainaluna, 29-28, in the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division I Football State Championships Saturday night at Sue D. Cooley Stadium.

The Warriors (9-0) advance to next Saturday's semifinal where they will face reigning state champion Konawaena (10-1) at Julian Yates Field.

It was also Kapaa's first win in the state tournament since moving up from the Division II ranks. Earning it against the Lunas made the victory that much sweeter as Lahainaluna has won the previous five meetings against the Warriors, with three of those meetings coming in the D2 state championship games of 2016, 2018 and 2019.

"It means a lot," said Na-O, the younger brother of former running back Baba Na-O on Kapaa's 2018 and 2019 squads. "My brother, he played them twice ... three times actually and he lost all three of them so this is for him, straight up."

Na-O rushed 24 times for 159 yards and three TDs in the win and was clutch when Kapaa needed him the most. His 42-yard scoring run on fourth down helped the Warriors score on their opening possession and he completed a 30-yard pass to Kamalei Gonsalves right before halftime to set up his 1-yard scoring run to make it a 14-all game at the break.

In the fourth quarter Na-O scored on another fourth down run to tie the game at 21 with under six minutes to play before the Lunas retook the lead with 90 seconds remaining in regulation. But like he did all night, Na-O came up big once again when he hooked up with Evan Daligdig for a 48-yard TD with 46.3 ticks left in the game. Na-O made good on the big play with a 2-point conversion run around right end to give Kapaa the lead for good.

"We can do anything straight up, but we worked hard this whole season. We've been practicing since January and it just paid off right now," said Na-O.

Lahainaluna did not go down quietly however as they drove into Kapaa territory in the waning stages of the game while benefiting from two defensive pass interference penalties against the Warriors. The second infraction put the Lunas at the Kapaa 17-yard line to set up the final play of the game.

Instead of going for a field goal to take the lead with 8.5 seconds remaining, the Lunas opted to run a play to take a shot at the end zone. However, Lyric Kahula completed a pass over the middle for Kaulana Tihada, who was stopped by Burley at the 9-yard line to end the game as time expired with no timeouts remaining.

Burley, who normally lines up at outside linebacker, was covering the middle of the field on the final play of the game.

"Just doing my job, looking every where, scanning the field," he said. "I seen all cross routes and I made a play."

The completed pass before the end zone was an unfortunate mistake Lahainaluna co-head coach Dean Rickard said.

"We were just going to try to shoot for the end zone and our quarterback just made a poor decision, but at the same time it's our fault," said Rickard.

"We had the field goal set up after a shot at the end zone. That was the plan, but it didn't work out that way."

It was a season-ending loss for a Lahainaluna (5-1) team that had to overcome adversity and tragedy off the field with the Maui wildfires in August.

"We're proud of what our kids accomplished this season," Rickard said. "We told them you don't need to hang your heads. Be proud of the game you played. Yeah, we came up short, but at the same time we showed that even through the face of adversity, you guys were able to pull through, come together and give a good performance."

The Lunas scored their first points of the game after Kapaa turned it over on downs at the Lahainaluna 29. The drive stalled near midfield, but a fake punt by Kuola Watson for a 19-yard gain extended drive. After an 11-yard run by Kahula, Tihada ran in five straight times before scoring on a 1-yard surge with 4:12 to play in the second quarter.

A bad Kapaa snap on fourth down set up Lahainaluna's next scoring drive. The Lunas took over on the Warriors' 19-yard line and scored two plays later on Watson's 15-yard counter play up the middle of the field to take a 14-7 lead with 1:48 remaining in the first half.

The Warriors moved the ball 30 yards on three Na-O runs before Gonsalves caught a 30-yard pass to set up Na-O's tying run just before halftime.

Kapaa drove all the way to Lahainaluna 1-yard line on the first possession of the second half, but fumbled at the goal line to give the Lunas possession. Lahainaluna then used a 15-play drive before taking a 21-14 lead on Watson's 7-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Warriors responded with their own 13-play, 67-yard drive that was capped by Na-O's 3-yard run on fourth down out of a jumbo package. This tied the game with 5:57 remaining in regulation.

A 10-play drive on the following series was capped by Tihada's 19-yard TD run to give Lahainaluna a 28-21 lead with 1:30 left in the game.