HONOKAA — The Dragons didn’t need to let it fly on Friday night. Instead, Honokaa kept things grounded in its season opener against Waimea, pulling away with a fourth quarter touchdown run for a 20-14 victory.
The ground and pound attack was led by senior Klayton Gascon, and if there were any questions about his conditioning entering the first game of the season, he answered them against the Menehune of Kauai.
Gascon finished with 21 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. He had a pretty good backfield buddy in Kainalu Swift, who totaled 96 yards on 13 carries using a similar bruising style of running.
As a team, the Dragons totalled 278 yards on the ground, just under coach Noeau Lindsey’s goal of 300. Honokaa ran nearly double the amount of plays that Waimea did in the game.
“We wanted to control the clock as much as we could. That was the goal and I think we did it,” Lindsey said. “It’s been a while since Honokaa had an offensive line that can push guys around how this group does, so we want to run behind them.”
Honokaa quarterback Maui Kanekoa didn’t do too much damage through the air — 5-of-16 for 68 yards and two interceptions — but he delivered the dagger with a fourth down, 17-yard touchdown scramble to give the Dragons the lead in the fourth quarter.
“I was happy with how the boys responded and the resilience they showed,” Lindsey said. “They kept their heads and continued to push. Our coaching staff stuck together and buckled down the play calling. It’s good to see.”
Non-league matchups haven’t been kind to Honokaa. The Dragons had not won a preseason game against an outer-island opponent in a decade, the last coming in 2008 in the form of a 34-12 victory over the St. Anthony’s — an MIL program that no longer exists.
“It turned out great,” Lindsey said. “It’s great to see the hard work show up on the field. These boys are so talented — they have heart and passion and just love playing the game.”
Honokaa had waited patiently to take the field for a full-fledged game. There were originally three preseason matchups on the slate, but the first against Waiakea was converted to a controlled scrimmage and a game against Molokai next weekend was scrapped due to travel issues. This was the only tuneup for the Dragons, who open the BIIF season against Waiakea on the road on Sept. 1.
“It was a relief to see them operate in a game situation,” Lindsey said. “We saw where our mistakes came, how we responded to those mistakes and where we are as a team.”
Both teams had to knock off the rust in the first half, but Honokaa had the more costly mistakes early.
An interception by Makoa Vanaman on Honokaa’s first pass of the game set up the Menehune’s first score — a 1-yard dive by full back Cory Soares. The drive was also aided by a 35-yard catch down the sideline by Isahn Ulanday on third down. It would be the only completion of the half for the Menehune.
Honokaa’s response featured a heavy helping of Gascon, who ended the first half with more touches (16) than Waimea had plays ran (14). The Dragon’s senior workhorse had a pair of first half touchdown runs, including 8-yard rumble to tie the game at 14-14 just before half.
The turnover bug continued through a second half drizzle. A fumble recovery by Honokaa’s Micaiah Morales was cancelled out by a Waimea interception by Kawelo Huddy, but neither turnover resulted in points.
The bash brother duo of Swift and Gascon forced Waimea to load to box, opening the door for Kalai Ahuna to make a diving sideline snag to put Honokaa inside the 5-yard line. A pair of flags totaling 20 yards didn’t make it easy, but on fourth down Kanekoa scrambled up the middle for 18 yards to put Honokaa ahead 20-14 with eight minutes remaining in the game.
Waimea looked like it would get its chance late when Honokaa shanked a punt out of its own end zone with just under three minutes that would have put the Menehune inside the 20-yard line. However, a yellow hanky for roughing the punter negated the opportunity, giving the ball back to Honokaa to run off more clock.
The Menehune got the ball back with 51 seconds left, but had to rely on the passing game to get in the end zone. Up to that point, Waimea had only completed two passes. The Kauai squad threatened, but Kamuela Boneza’s second interception of the night sealed the game for Honokaa.
