Between Nick Kapule and Stephen Barber, Punahou has more than enough pristine passing talent in the shotgun.
The two slingers also have a penchant for spreading the pigskin from sideline to sideline, taking what any defense gives. Kamehameha happened to give Punahou’s Judd Cockett more opportunities than he’s used to getting. Cockett, a 5-foot-11, 163-pound senior, slithered his way through the creases of Kamehameha’s active defense for five receptions and 103 yards, including touchdown grabs of 4, 8 and 44 yards to help turn Punahou’s 7-0 lead to a 28-7 cushion by the early minutes of the third quarter.
With Kamehameha’s defense pinning Punahou’s ground attack early — to the chagrin of Buffanblu coach Kale Ane — Kapule (17-for-31, 348 yards, five TD strikes) knew where to look.
“We were all really hungry to play. We had a bye for four weeks. We were anxious to play,” Kapule said. “We just take what the defense gives us. We knew they like to blitz a lot, so those hot reads, that’s why I hit Judd a lot. The corner blitzes. If he blitzes, it should be good. We watched a lot of film, so we knew that was coming. We’re just happy we got to play.”
Cockett was targeted eight times by Kapule and Barber, who combined for 37 total pass attempts. Cockett had one of his team’s two drops in an otherwise sterling performance against a talented, but young Kamehameha secondary.
Ethan Takeyama led the Buffanblu in receiving yardage with seven hauls for 146 yards and a TD. Keala Martinson had big gain after big gain, finishing with four catches for 84 yards, and Eamon Brady added three receptions for 63 yards. The Warriors seemed to zone in on deep threat Cole Arceneaux, but that may have opened up lanes for his teammates.
In all, Kapule and Barber finished with a combined 407 yards on 20-for-37 passing — a whopping 11 yards per attempt.
And yet, Ane wanted to see a bit more balance.
“We got a lot of kids in, that was nice to see,” Ane said. “I’m a little disappointed we couldn’t run it better, but at the end, we got a little bit of a running game in and we’ll try again next week.”
Punahou rushed for 118 yards on 25 carries, but the numbers belie early-game struggles on the ground. While the Buffanblu strive for the ground attack that Ane likes, there’s no question their passing game is humming on all cylinders. It’s arguably the most precise and efficient four-wide passing attack in a state that boasts some elite passers.
For now, they’ve shown they can overcome a blitzing defensive scheme by getting the ball out quickly without the added pass protection and route-running of a tight end, as they’ve shown over the years. Up next, possibly the finest defensive unit in the state: Saint Louis. The two ILH title contenders meet on Sept. 9 at Aloha Stadium.
“finest defensive unit in the state: Saint Louis.”
Hmmm…any second now. Or all them uncles up north past bedtime, already?
IMO…. for St Louis it’s state title or bust. With the amount of returnees they got all they have to is stay healthy. J. Saole should be healing up, Slade-Matautia is close to 100%, along with Purcell & Toilolo at LB, and Tufaga at safety it’s a no Brainer. On paper St louis has the best D in the state, but that’s on paper. Punahou seems to be putting up some heavy numbers after 2 games. It’ll be fun to watch and see, good luck to the teams. Don’t beat each other up too much, both of your schools are alrdy in the state tourney. Stay healthy till it really counts, and watch 6-8 OIA teams scrap for the remaining four spots…
No wonder why Garret Gabriel’s kid transferred out of Punahou. He wouldn’t have seen playing time until his senior year.
That was a blow out, puns wouldve blow out waianae too the OIA did not catch up to Puns/Stlouis. Kahuku is the only elite team in the OIA they have a target on their back and the ILH is sending 2 teams to take them down.
ENEMY OF THE STATE
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*ILH Bias Alert*
“possibly the finest defensive unit in the state: Saint Louis”
Everybody else who is not a sportswriter for Hawaii Prep World: “is you CRAZY?”
We all know who has the undisputed best defense in the state: Big Red.
You can go ahead and debate who has 2nd best: St LuLu, Puns, Waianae, Farrington…take your pick.
By the way St LuLu… good luck next week… you’re gonna need it! Did you watch Puns O-line? Did their QB even SMELL pressure? It’s gonna be a looooooooooooooooooooong season for St LuLu.
And when you send Cal Lee to go pick up his 2nd place trophy for ILH this year, remind him to pick up his 2nd place trophy for States that he “forgot” last year.
LMFAAAAAAAAAO!
RR4L!
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@aok. Yup! Well proven against Hilo. Lol……Don’t think anyone will argue with you on this one. Lol…
Don’t get too excited a out this.
Kam School is the Farrington of the ILH.
Iolani has a serious shot at getting into the D1 Tournament. Nothing will be happening for Kam anytime soon but their song contest.
@TooMeke
You sound just like the “Samoan Stuntman”. LMAO! “2nd Place Trophy”.
You are measuring last night’s game but not looking at all the facts. Kam has a coach that doesn’t know how to win. He’s young & they really don’t know what to do with their “talent” that they have every year. Seriously, Kam hasn’t been consistent in competing since Gaison left. So all that knick knack “Seen the O-Line” stuff is basically skilled players under a consistent program pushing trash all over the field.
Punahou vs St. Louis is what everyone will take a good look at next week. And its hard for everyone to admit that they’ll be getting a early look at 2 teams that will be in the State Semi Finals this year.
It’s a Kamehameha vs.Punahou game yet the St.Lulu troll, under numerous names, screams for attention. Lol. Too funny,too easy.
@RuggedSlaps
Don’t know who that is. I’ve always been just me. 100% of the time. Get it??? lol.
What I DO know is St Lulu is playing for 2nd place in ILH…and an early exit out of States (because that will mean they will have to play Big Red in the first game of States – go see my other post on that).
They have a great QB behind a crappy O-line. Same as last year. Same results.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooood night.
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That’s why Gandhi is on here putting kids down bc he probably was crappy back in his playing days. Kids transfer for their own reasons and yes maybe it was bc they have two good quarterbacks but that doesn’t matter because now Gabriel is the starter at Mililani as a sophomore and will have two more years. Those 2 QB’s at Punahou are good but they will have to share playing time.
toomeke calm down be humble season is still young anything can happen so dont jinx RR nation
fact – it was proven lastyear that everyone looks good till they face kahuku, nobody likes to give credit to kahuku because they jells
ENEMY OF THE STATE
All you MoFo’s arguing about your intra state games. Who is better and who is not. LMFAO!! In two weeks, Big Red going to 702 to battle… that’s where the talk needs to be focused.
I told my cousin that lives up there that Big Red going up there and run the ball straight up their A$$! And BG better be ready to play some F’n football. He thinks it’s the other way around, BG going send Big Red home as losers. Just for pride, my cousin and I have a small wager… straight up, no odds. Winna take all! I have faith and pride in our Big Red, and I know they not going let me down!
Nuff intra state stuff…. start the talk against BG!!!
F BG! Cuz… you might as well pay me now!
@89
You think York is in it for 2 more years? I don’t see the Poly’s migrating to Mililani anymore.
@Gandhi
That is usually the case when standout pop warner kids go to a place where everyone is a standout. The strong ones separate themselves from the weak.
Gabriel is a good Qb & fills in great in place of McKenzie Milton. But I think they are built the same in most ways. Very mobile, mediocre arm strength & very fragile. But both have high game IQ. It’ll get him a UH scholarship. You already know how the locals work, if they hired Chow they are willing to make locals happy even in a losing effort.
YEAH AND THEN YOU PUNAHOU CLOWNS COME OUT NORTH SHORE SIDE AND WE LICK YOU GUYS ON THE FIELD AND IN THE PARKING LOT AFTER!! TAP ALL YOUR RICH PRIVATE SCHOOL CHICKS TOO! BUT YOU GUYS NO LIKE COME OUT CUZ YOU SCARED AH?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
ALL THESE TEAMS NO EVEN MATTER. ONLY TEAM THAT MATTERS IS BIG RED LOL!
RR4L! HATE US CUZ YOU AINT US BRUH
@AOK, especially for like what’s bedtime, like that sounds like a youthful jargon written by you whereas you must live in your Ohana birdnest; at least we don’t have nightmares and we sure love them homeward bound victory bus ride north to No mercy Nation.
For AOK from RR4L Unko,…sorry I over slept?.