Konawaena’s Austin Ewing looked like a first-year quarterback only once against Waiakea on Friday night.
Lining up behind the guard in the shotgun, the snap from center sailed past Ewing into the backfield at Wong Stadium, but he alertly corralled the loose ball, scrambled to his right and salvaged the play with a 3-yard pass to Tristan Fleming-Nazara.
Displaying poise like that, Ewing was even better when he lined up correctly.
On his third and final touchdown pass of the game, the sophomore felt the pressure, escaped the pocket, veered to his left and calmly flicked a pass to Fleming-Nazara in the end zone.
“That’s what we expect out of him,” first-year Wildcats coach Brad Uemoto said after a resounding 57-17 victory in the BIIF season-opener. “I wish we were a little more consistent at times, but he’s young and he’ll get there.”
“What separates him is those intangibles and him being able to break out of the pocket, and make something happen to prolong a play.”
Konawaena (1-0 BIIF Division I, 3-0) took two steps back early on when penalties wiped out Cameron Howes’ long kickoff return to open the game and Ewing’s long touchdown pass to Kamakana Ching. The flags never stopped flying on the Wildcats, but they went on to punish the mistake-prone Warriors in all three phases of the game.
With the Wildcats favoring the ground game in the fourth quarter, Ewing finished 12 of 20 for 162 yards. Making his first regular-season start, he buried Waiakea (0-1 BIIF Division I, 0-3) with a second-quarter flurry and kept Konawaena turnover-free.
“My offensive line, I thank them so much this game,” Ewing said. “They gave me so much time. My receivers were running awesome routes and they helped me make the right read.”
Algene Kelekolio rushed for three touchdowns and 82 yards and Micah Laban added two scores and another 60 yards. Meanwhile, the Warriors were intent on establishing the run but netted just 107 yards on the ground.
The only wart for the Wildcats was 14 penalties, many of which were personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It’s something that we teach all the time: play with integrity and class,” Uemoto said. “It’s disappointing that it sort of overshadows the win.”
Said Ewing: “We got to clean it up. We have to keep our cool and we have to talk to each other.”
Waiakea never recovered from two early turnovers and it allowed two blocked punts.
Mahina Ellis-Noa intercepted Gehrig Octavio and returned the ball 62 yards to the 5, and Kelekolio plowed in for a score on the next play for a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, the Wildcats took over at the Waiakea 25 after a fumble, which Ewing turned into a 15-yard scoring pass to Ching.
The Wildcats’ best drive was of the quick-strike variety. Covering 72 yards and taking just five plays, Ewing finished it when he improvised and found Fleming-Nazara in the end zone for a 28-3 lead.
“We’ve been working on hitting the underneath stuff and establishing tempo,” Uemoto said.
Fleming-Nazara was Ewing’s favorite target, hauling in seven catches for 61 yards.
Ewing learned Uemoto’s system while playing junior varsity last season.
“It helped out a lot,” said Ewing, who also connected with Jeriah Cacal for a 38-yard score. “It was confusing in the beginning, but after awhile it became natural.”
Austin Santos-Johnson led Konawaena with 11 tackles, three for loss, and he had one of his team’s four sacks.
“When we came into this game, we scratched out the preseason,” Ewing said. “We just had to come out and play Konawaena football.”
Konawaena won the JV game 33-0.
