6:26 p.m.
Partly cloudy here in Wahiawa. A perfect evening for prep football. I ran into Leilehua boys basketball coach Patrick Wetzel, who guaranteed me that it’ll rain later.
“This is Wahiawa,” he reminded me. “It always rains.”
If it rains, shooting video becomes problematic without an umbrella. Blogging becomes near impossible since I’m situated in the bleachers, not the press box. The box here is ancient and small, and every available window is occupied.
No matter what, the view is one of a kind. I’ll have updated info here, weather permitting. JV game is in the third quarter. Campbell leads 18-14.
9:10 p.m.
It’s halftime at Hugh Yoshida Stadium and the Mules lead 13-0. They scored on the opening kickoff, a 95-yard jaunt to paydirt by Tristin Kamaka gave the Mules a quick 7-0 lead.
But both offenses stalled for almost the entire half. Leilehua’s defense kept a curtain around Campbell’s dangerous quarterback, Isaac Hurd. Kalanimoku Pauole started at QB for the Mules, but fumbled on a sack and did not return.
Mack Eberhardt didn’t fare a lot better against a tough Campbell defense, but he avoided turnovers and hit Kamaka over the middle for a 23-yard touchdown catch-and-run on third and long late in the half. A fake PAT kick failed when a pass by the holder, Pauole, sailed out of bounds.
Leilehua had one more chance to score after recovering a fumble near the red zone on the ensuing kickoff with 11 seconds left, but came up short.
10:10 p.m.
A wild second half continues. Campbell now leads 21-20. The Sabers were clutch. Hurd came through with a long bomb on third and long deep in Campbell territory. That set up a sneak by Hurd for a touchdown, and one possession later, he tossed a touchdown pass to tie it at 13.
But the Sabers were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the score, and the ensuing 35-yard PAT kick was wide left.
Ikaika Piceno then returned the kickoff for a touchdown — after Campbell had squib-kicked every kickoff since Kamaka’s touchdown return.
The Sabers, down 20-13, drove and scored on a fourth-and-2 toss by Hurd. Then they went for 2 and Hurd raced on a read option to the right pylon. He stuck the ball inside the pylon as the Mules chased him out of bounds for the conversion, and the Sabers led 21-20 with about 10 minutes left.
10:17 p.m.
Just like that, the Mules have driven the length of the field and scored on Eberhardt’s fade pass to Toma Savea in the corner of the end zone. Pretty.
Then Eberhardt hit Kamaka on a leak route, rolling right, then finding Kamaka wide open across the middle to the left. Mules lead this wild battle 28-21 with 8:02 left.
Sorry, no TV timeouts, no time to blog and shoot video!
10:45 p.m.
Wild end to a wild second half. The Mules sack Hurd, forced a fumble to end it with :08 left. Mules had to really dig deep, this young defense, and find a way to contain Hurd at the end.
Great report. Super Game. Mahalo.