KEAAU – Evan Manoha is a cowboy, giving him a unique perspective as a linebacker on the football field.
KEAAU – Evan Manoha is a cowboy, giving him a unique perspective as a linebacker on the football field.
Compared to tackling cows in rodeo, the Ka’u senior said, “a guy with the ball is not that hard.”
The problem for Pahoa on Thursday night was that when Manoha was given the ball, he ran like an unstoppable, raging bull.
Manoha charged for 302 yards, the last of which gave him his fifth second-half touchdown and the go-ahead score with four seconds left, carrying Ka’u to a 54-48 victory against the resurgent Daggers in a wild BIIF eight-man affair at Keaau High.
“The line was doing what they were supposed to do,” Manoha said. “They were supposed to open holes and I was supposed to take off.”
He said rodeo is his past, he’s been a cowboy since his elementary school days, and his future, he hopes to continue the rancher’s life beyond high school. For now, he just wants to enjoy the present, and that’s football.
“Rodeo is always going to be there,” Manoha said. “My high school years, this is never going to happen again.”
He scored three straight touchdowns spanning the third and fourth quarters, staking the Trojans (1-1 BIIF, 1-1) to an eight-point lead with 2:25 remaining after they trailed 40-30.
The Daggers (0-1 BIIF, 0-1) and quarterback Lava Benn wasted little time, though, in tying the game. Duane Correa caught Benn’s fourth touchdown pass and Joaquin Ridgway hauled in two-point conversion with just more than a minute left.
“I never walked so much in my life,” Trojans coach DuWayne Ke said. “Holy smokes.”
Ka’u quarterback Kamaehu DeRamos found Kainalu Medeiros-Dancel for a 22-yard gain and ran 11 yards to set up the game-winner for Manoha, who plowed in from a yard out.
The play resembled many for Ka’u in the second half. With DeRamos dinged up, Manoha took the snap from under center and simply plowed ahead with a full head of steam.
“The QB was getting sore, so I told coach to let me in there,” Manoha said. “We weren’t really running plays, the line was just opening holes.”
Seeking its first eight-man victory and coming off a winless season, Pahoa might have been run over but it was far from a pushover.
Benn threw for 270 yards and also ran for a score, and Ridgway caught six passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns as the Daggers featured a host of playmakers, surpassing their 2014 season point total in one game.
“We proved we can move the ball on offense,” offensive coordinator Jay Adolpho said. “We’re a team this year.”
But the Daggers lost four fumbles, and the Trojans turned each into a touchdown. Trailing by two late in the fourth quarter, Pahoa got new life when the Trojans fumbled inside the Daggers’ 10, but Pahoa promptly put the ball on the ground again.
“It’s something we can work on,” Adolpho said. “Just communication issues between QB and running back.”
Each offense took advantage of short fields most of the night.
While Pahoa lost the turnover margin, it won what was a battle of onside kicks, recovering two to Ka’u’s one.
There were three lead changes in the second half, the first coming on Manoha’s 72-yard scamper.
Kaniala Harris’ second touchdown, this one a catch, and two-point conversion reception put Pahoa back on top 34-30 in the third quarter, and the Daggers recovered the onside kick and took a two-score lead when the fleet-footed Ridgway caught a slant and raced 43 yards for a score on fourth down.
But Manoha took over for the Trojans. Defensively, he helped spearhead Ka’u with two sacks.
“If he only played defense,” Ke said, “he would have had way more.”
DeRamos threw for 158 yards and two scores, including a 43-yard strike to John Kalahiki.
Kalahiki’s nifty catch set up Manoha’s 10-yard scoring run, and Ka’u went on a long 76-yard march that ate up almost half the clock in the fourth quarter, with Manoha capping the drive from 12 yards away.
The Trojans missed a two-point conversion that could have put the game away after Manoha’s 6-yard TD, and Benn quickly hooked up Ridgway for another big play to put Pahoa in position to tie the game.
“Eight-man is tough,” Ke said. “Everybody thinks it’s easy.
“These guys gave me their hardest. Whatever whatever works to get us through the year.”
Ka‘u 16 6 14 18 —54
Pahoa 14 12 14 8 —48
First quarter
Pahoa – Joaquin Ridgway 24 pass from Lava Benn (Damien Bartolome-Mercado pass from Benn), 7:19
Ka‘u – John Kalahiki 43 pass from Kamaehu DeRamos (Gregory Ysawa run), 6:55
Ka‘u— Kainalu Medeiros-Dancel 39 pass from DeRamos (Evan Manoha run), 6:15
Pahoa – Benn 3 run (run failed), 1:36
Second quarter
Ka‘u –Kalamakoa Waiwaiole 4 run (run failed), 8:19
Pahoa – Kaniala Harris 5 run (run failed), 3:12
Pahoa – Dyson Gacutan 3 run (pass failed), :34
Third quarter
Ka‘u – Manoha 72 run (Waiwaiola run), 8:26
Pahoa – Harris 20 pass from Benn (Harris pass from Benn), 8:07
Pahoa – Ridgway 43 pass from Benn (pass failed), 6:45
Ka‘u – Manoha 10 run (run failed), 3:43
Fourth quarter
Ka’u – Manoha 12 run (run failed), 7:30
Ka‘u – Manoha 6 run (run failed), 2:25
Pahoa – Duane Correa 7 pass from Benn (Ridgway pass from Benn), 1:06
Ka‘u – Manoha 1 run (run failed), :04