Nov. 12—The Warriors of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation prevailed over the host Lunas at Sue B. Cooley Stadium to advance to the semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank /HHSAA Division I state football championships.
Kapono Na-O piled up 256 yards in rushing and passing, rushing for three touchdowns and passing for another. His night was full of long runs and even longer passes. But he agreed the biggest play was a short little run.
“Yes, definitely. There was no decision. All I could think of was the end zone, ” said Na-O of the 2-point conversion that made the difference in getting Kapaa past Lahainaluna 29-28 in a taut battle of neighbor island unbeaten champions Saturday.
The Warriors of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation prevailed over the host Lunas at Sue B. Cooley Stadium to advance to the semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank /HHSAA Division I state football championships. They play top-seeded Konawaena at Julian Yates Field on the Big Island on Saturday. The winner of that one goes to the championship game Nov. 25 at Mililani.
Na-O completed a 48-yard touchdown pass to Evan Daligdig with 46 seconds left, and the quarterback then scored on the conversion.
All told, he rushed 24 times for 159 yards and completed three of five passes for 95 yards.
“He’s been a workhorse for three years, ” Kapaa coach Mike Tresler said. “Last year he got hurt. We gotta find that kid a place in college. He runs well and he throws well, so he’d be a good fit in the read-options that are so popular now.”
After Na-O’s conversion, the Lunas’ last gasp drive made it to the Warriors 16-yard line with 8.5 seconds left. But time ran out after a complete pass to the Kapaa 10.
Kaulana Tihada’s 19-yard touchdown with 1 :30 left appeared to be the decisive blow for the Lunas, but Lahainaluna still needed to make a final defensive stand, as…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kapaa-ends-lahainalunas-season-223200156.html
Author : The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Publish date : 2023-11-12 22:32:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
