Bayley Manliguis scored three touchdowns to spark Kamehameha over Hawaii Prep 57-22 in the BIIF Division II semifinals Saturday at Paiea Stadium.
Bayley Manliguis scored three touchdowns to spark Kamehameha over Hawaii Prep 57-22 in the BIIF Division II semifinals Saturday at Paiea Stadium.
The Warriors (6-2 BIIF, 9-2 overall) earn the opportunity to defend their title against Konawaena (7-1, 9-1) on Friday at Julian Yates Field.
The season is over for HPA (2-6, 2-7), which loses 17 seniors, including standout linebackers Anthony Palleschi and Alex Brost.
Manliguis reeled in six catches for 132 yards, including touchdowns of 7 and 84 yards. Both sandwiched an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that capped a pair of one-play scores in an entertaining second quarter.
Kamehameha led just 35-22 at the half before putting the game out of reach after the break.
“We did our best to make a lot of mistakes,” Kamehameha coach Dan Lyons said about his team’s first-half woes. “Sometimes, you have to learn how to overcome adversity. We never got down attitude-wise. We were very business-like at halftime. We just had to get out of our way.”
Hawaii Prep coach Jordan Hayslip threw offensive changeups and curveballs to find something that would work for his Ka Makani, who snapped Kamehameha’s streak of allowing a TD to a Division II foe.
HPA still couldn’t run the ball (23 carries for negative 37 yards), and relied on the toughness and right arm of sophomore quarterback Kekoa LeBlanc, who went 11 of 32 for 124 yards with two touchdowns and three picks.
“We wanted to mix things up and see what could work for us,” Hayslip said. “At practice, we talked about throwing everything and the kitchen sink. We blitzed more and made big tackles, but also got hurt.”
The Warriors compiled a half-dozen sacks, including three from junior right end Wayne Dacalio, who tenderized LeBlanc all day.
Despite giving Lyons a headache with sometimes spotty execution (muffed punt, three turnovers, a dozen penalties), the Warriors stuck to their blueprint: they ran the ball, Duarte grew again at QB, and the defense was pretty much nails.
Duarte went 11 of 19 for 204 yards with four TDs and one pick. Batacan, the 5-6 workhorse, was his usual productive self with 193 yards on 25 attempts, and three touchdowns. Manoa had two catches for 42 yards.
Hawaii Prep 9 13 0 0 — 22
Kamehameha 6 29 22 0 — 57
First quarter
KS-Hawaii — Kaeo Batacan 3 run (kick no good), 10:35
HPA — FG 35 Alex Brost, 4:01
HPA — Noah Wise 3 pass from Kekoa LeBlanc (kick no good), :56
Second quarter
KS-Hawaii — Bayley Manliguis 7 pass from DallasJ Duarte (Jai Cabatbat kick), 10:44
HPA — Jonas Skupeika 78 pass from Kekoa LeBlanc (kick no good), 10:25
KS-Hawaii — Manliguis 87 kickoff return (Batacan run), 10:11
KS-Hawaii — Duarte 1 run (Cabatbat kick), 6:51
KS-Hawaii — Manliguis 84 pass from Duarte (Cabatbat kick), 1:56
HPA — Anthony Palleschi 57 interception return (Brost kick), :02
Third quarter
KS-Hawaii — Batacan 14 run (Cabatbat kick), 11:25
KS-Hawaii — Batacan 15 run (Batacan run), 8:40
KS-Hawaii — Makana Manoa 21 pass from Duarte (Cabatbat kick), 4:29