Jungle rumble: Wildcats wallop Waiakea

KEALAKEKUA — In a battle of fleet-footed vs. smashmouth, Konawaena sprinted by Waiakea 48-13 at Julian Yates field on Saturday night.

Konawaena quarterback Austin Ewing had his best showing of the season, racking up 305 yards on 18 of 27 passing with four touchdowns. The junior standout averaged just under 17 yards per completion against the Warriors and has accounted for 10 touchdowns in the last two games.

Kamakana Ching caught everything Ewing tossed his way. The duo connected five times for 115 yards and three scores. Konawaena running back Micah Laban racked up 120 yards from scrimmage and found the end zone three times.

The Wildcats (2-1, 3-1) have outscored opponents 110-19 since dropping their BIIF opener to Hilo back on Aug. 27. But head coach Brad Uemoto still feels the ceiling for his squad is still a ways off.

“It’s getting there, but we are not satisfied,” Uemoto said. “I feel that we understand that this is a process. We are in a good spot, but still have lots of things we can work on.”

Waiakea (1-2, 1-5) found some success running the ball early, but couldn’t find its footing after falling behind. Austin Deperalta led the rushing attack with 38 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Gehrig Octavio was 3-4 passing for 136 yards — 94 of those coming on a desperation heave late in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors showed no desire to pass the ball early, reeling off 22 runs in a row before even looking to the air. That first throw, however, was worthwhile. With four minutes left in the half, Octavio found Kingsly Kalili for 30 yards, setting up a 5-yard touchdown run from Deperalta.

“Defensively, we pride ourselves on stopping the run,” Uemoto said. “When a run-heavy team comes in, that’s an extra challenge for us. We knew they were going to come at us and we just had to buckle down. At the end of the day, our defense did a great job at stopping them.”

Senior Tyler Kahananui was in the trenches trying to stop the Waiakea ground game, and echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“We just had to play through it,” Kahananui said. “We practiced how to defend it and knew what we had to do.”

Konawaena didn’t get a lot of chances with the ball in the first quarter, but capitalized early with Ewing connecting with Laban for a 16-yard score. Laban added touchdown runs in the second and fourth quarters.

After Waiakea’s touchdown, Ewing connected with Kamakana Ching on a short route and the big wide receiver did the rest, rumbling 16 yards for the score.

With two minutes left in the half, Waiakea moved into a shotgun set with Makoa Andres at quarterback. Three consecutive passes came up well short, and just 17 seconds ran off the clock, giving the Wildcats too much time to work with.

Ching reeled in a highlight reel grab along the sideline and then turned on the spin cycle. He spun around three different defenders before being hauled down at the 3-yard line. Michael Banagan-Brock finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge with no time left in the half and the route was on.

The Ewing-to-Ching express found more success in the third quarter. They hooked up twice on long touchdown passes in the right corner of the end zone, forcing a running clock.

Waiakea still had a bit of magic in the tank late. In a backyard football type play, Octavio scrambled, almost got tackled for a safety multiple times, then threw up a Hail Mary to a wide open Kalili. A host of Wildcats tried to chase him down but he stumbled over the goal line for the 94-yard score.

Konawaena’s next contest is Sept. 23 against west side rival Kealakehe. It will be homecoming for the Wildcats.

“Rivalry, homecoming, distraction, distraction, distraction,” Uemoto said. “Kealakehe is coming off of a win and have a lot to build off of. They always play us well.”

Waiakea travels to take on winless Hawaii Prep on Sept. 24.