KAILUA-KONA — After a stellar sophomore campaign, Austin Ewing entered this season with a heavy weight on his shoulders and bright red target on the back of his green Wildcat jersey.
KAILUA-KONA — After a stellar sophomore campaign, Austin Ewing entered this season with a heavy weight on his shoulders and bright red target on the back of his green Wildcat jersey.
How did the Konawaena quarterback respond to the pressure? He simply upped the ante, earning him the BIIF Division II Offensive Player of the Year honors for a second year in a row, as selected by West Hawaii Today and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
“It feels great,” Ewing said. “My teammates and I really worked our butts off during the year and in the offseason.”
Ewing accounted for 36 touchdowns — 32 passing and four rushing — during his junior season, helping lead Konawaena to a second consecutive BIIF title and fifth in six years.
He tallied 2,688 yards through the air, and had a streak of six games with a least four touchdown passes as the signal-caller of the up-tempo Wildcat attack.
“He’s just one of those players that don’t come around too often. He plays smart, has a high football IQ and can make plays when nothing is there with his athleticism,” Konawaena head coach and Division II Coach of the Year Brad Uemoto said of his quarterback. “This was the first time he came into the season with expectations. When he came in as a sophomore he had a lot to prove. That was so much different than this year, where he had already built a reputation for himself.”
With a larger part of the offense relying on his play, Ewing showed grit and determination when his team needed plays to be made. His elusiveness and escapability behind the line of scrimmage left many defenders scratching there heads, and often resulted in large chunks of yardage or points.
However, once in a while, it didn’t. Ewing tossed 13 interceptions — a very manageable number as noted by his head coach, but twice as many as his sophomore season. But that’s just the nature of the beast in an offense where he was asked to pass 35 or more times on six occasions and went for 40-plus four times. His ability to bounce back from those mistakes was a testament to his growing maturity.
“He became a better manager of the offense in general,” Uemoto said. “He was an extension of our offensive coaching staff on the field and understood why we were calling certain plays for certain situations.”
After two seasons as the starter in Kealakekua, Ewing has a 63-19 touchdown to interception ratio, and is 23 yards away from breaking the 5,000-yard mark. And now with two years of experience, expect those already gaudy numbers to approach historic figures.
“With one year under my belt, the game didn’t feel like it was moving as fast,” Ewing said. “But I always have to thank my lineman. They work hard up front so I can work back there.”
Two of Ewing’s big guys up front joined him on the All-BIIF squad in senior Viliami Kaea and junior Kolu Alani.
“Viliami was the cornerstone of the line, playing left tackle on Austin’s blind side. We put him in a lot of tough matchups,” Uemoto said. “Kolu started on the defensive line, but showed unselfishness when we said we needed him to take reps on the O-line. He started almost every snap for us this year.”
Filling out the offensive line are Kamehameha’s Teva Reynolds and Joe Hooper, along with Hawaii Prep’s Dane Francis.
Ewing had a diverse arsenal of weapons in the passing game to work with, which made it hard for other BIIF squads to match up. Wide receivers Kamakana Ching and Austin Aukai were All-BIIF picks, while Jeremiah Casuga-Llanes was selected as a utility player.
A move from the slot to out wide proved beneficial to Aukai. He had four games with five or more catches, including a 126-yard performance in the HHSAA semifinals against Lahainaluna.
Ching was the league’s elite touchdown scoring wide out. The 6-foot-3 senior was nearly impossible to defend in the red zone, but had breakaway ability as well, often roasting his coverage for momentum swinging plays downfield.
“Kamakana’s length and leaping ability was incredible,” Uemoto said. “And he could run away from people too. He was a unique player in this league. We will miss him a lot.”
The Wildcats came up with ways to get the ball in Casuga-Llanes’ hands. He provided big plays catching and running the ball, and even got a few reps in at quarterback when games got out of hand.
“We had a lot of threats,” Ewing added. “It was easy for me to make plays with those guys out there. We really built a brotherhood on this team and the seniors will be missed.”
Kamehameha running back Abishai Campbell and pass-catchers Israel Bowden and Makana Manoa rounded out the All-BIIF offense.