GAME NIGHT 9/2: Damien/St. Francis

Three of the top five teams in the state are in action tonight with a six-game slate on Oahu.

Live updates of the 5 p.m kickoff will follow below:

RUSHING—St. Francis: Tyson Shimabukuro 9-20, Bubba Akana 3-22, Matthew Dacuycuy 2-3, Mailei 2-1, Jake Smotherman 8-0. Damien: Justice White 18-51, Faufata-Pedrina 15-22, Asing 0-10, Akila Arecchi 3-2, team 1-(-2), Deacon Kapea 5-(minus 8).
PASSING—St. Francis: Akana 8-25-2-43, Smotherman 2-5-2-11. Damien: Faufata-Pedrina 6-14–0-73, Chase Kokualani 1-3-1-9.
RECEIVING—St. Francis: Micah Kalei 2-24, Destin Pakele 1-8, Shimabukuro 2-9, Kaniala Williams 1-3, Pono Luis-Mateo 4-10. Damien: Apiki 4-46, White 2-34, Kapea 1-2.

FOURTH QUARTER

Damien ball on its 25. Faufata-Pedrina back in at QB and Monarchs immediately move early. Saints have one timeout. White gets a nice 11-yard run but Faufata-Pedrina stopped for loss of 2 by Taka Lautaha. Saints use up final timeout with 1:59 remaining. Damien has it third-and-6. BALL GAME. Play-action pass goes to White for 15 yards. That will do it.

A 23-yard punt return is wiped out by a block in the back. Saints will start on their 40. Akana scrambles for 7 across the 50 on fourth-and-6. Akana now scrambles for 9 to the 34. First two runs for him all game. Best drive of the game for St. Francis inside the 30. Shimabukuro with a 4-yard catch on third-and-4 to pick up the first down at the 24. Timeout Damien with 3:31 remaining. Longest pass play for St. Francis is a 14-yard strike over the middle to Luis-Mateo to the 10. PI moves it to the 5. Illegal substitution on Damien moves it to the 2. Now Damien moves early moving the ball to the 1. Wembley Mailei 1-yard TD run with 2:40 remaining. Mailei runs in the 2-point conversion to make it 21-16 with 2:40. Sixteen fourth-quarter points by St. Francis.

Three-and-out after two penalties on third-and-1. Monarchs punt with 5:31 remaining.

Sefa Finau recovers the onsides kick for St. Francis. Saints in business. Bad snap is a loss of 6 but then Smotherman runs for 10 to set up third-and-6 from the Damien 40. Braxton Wilcox with the big hit on the sack and forces a fumble. Damien recovers.

First play is third-and-8 at the Saints 48. Chase Kokualani is the QB. White gets a yard on fourth-and-1 for a first down at the 40. Kokualani completes first pass but then Destin Pakele steps in front and returns an interception 72 yards for a St. Francis TD. 21-8 after the Wembley Mailei run for the 2-pointer. 8:37 remaining.

THIRD QUARTER

New QB in for Damien as quarter ends. Faufata-Pedrina looked like he may have been cramping at end of last drive.

Saints start on their 25. Just 36 total yards for St. Francis. Smotherman gets his first shot in the second half at QB. And there it is. The hat trick for JT White, who picks off his third pass in the game.

First first down of the second half comes on an illegal substitution by the Saints. Apiki with an 11-yard reception for longest play of half before punt.

DB Scott Lam intercepts an Akana pass on third down. Three picks for the Monarchs’ secondary.

Shawn Borges with a nice 31-yard return on the punt to the St. Francis 32. Monarchs go for it on fourth down and it’s incomplete. That’s 16 total plays run by both teams in the second half for a net of zero yards.

Saints start on their 13. They stick with Akana. First time all game they don’t rotate QB’s each drive. Just nothing there for the Saints as they JUST miss on a deep ball that hits the fingertips of Kalei in stride. Three-and-out.

Saints start on their 40. Three incomplete passes. Punt. BLOCKED. Second blocked punt of the game for Damien. JT White, who had two picks, not with a blocked punt. Monarchs do nothing with it as White rushes three times for 2 yards. Punt is down inside the 15.

Monarchs will start on their 35. Monarchs lose a yard in three plays. Supilani Mailei was a force for the Saints. Three-and-out.

HALFTIME BOX
at Aloha Stadium
St. Francis (1-1, 0-0) 0 0
Damien (2-1, 0-0) 7 14
DMS—Rush Asing 10 fumble recovery (Kaimana Cameron kick)
DMS—Shaun Apiki 17 pass from Marcus Faufata-Pedrina (Cameron kick)
DMS—Faufata-Pedrina 1 run (Cameron kick)

RUSHING—St. Francis: Tyson Shimabukuro 8-17, Matthew Dacuycuy 2-3, Jake Smotherman 4-0. Damien: Faufata-Pedrina 10-28, Justice White 5-22, Asing 0-10, Akila Arecchi 3-2, Deacon Kapea 1-1.
PASSING—St. Francis: Bubba Akana 3-10–1-8, Smotherman 1-3-1-8. Damien: Faufata-Pedrina 4-8–0-47.
RECEIVING—St. Francis: Micah Kalei 1-8, Destin Pakele 1-8, Shimabukuro 1-5, Pono Luis-Mateo 1-(minus 5). Damien: Apiki 2-26, White 1-19, Kapea 1-2.

SECOND QUARTER

Saint switch field position with a 60-yard punt backing Damien up to its 5. Faufata-Pedrina is almost sacked right at the goal line but somehow squirts free and picks up 19. Screen pass to White nets 19 yards on third-and-12. Damien timeout on its 47 with 14 seconds to go. Monarchs out of timeouts. Faufata-Pedrina almost sacked, tries to throw it away and almost gets it picked. Five seconds to go. Run for 2 yards. HALFTIME.

Smotherman back in at QB. Shimabukuro carries twice for no gain. Smotherman scrambles for 3 yards and it’s a punt. Damien defense not giving up anything on the ground.

Three penalties by St. Francis aid the short drive capped off by Marcus Faufata-Pedrina‘s 1-yard TD run to make it 21-0 with 3:43 remaining in the half.

JT White gets his second pick of the game on defense and Damien is in business again on the Saints 19.

Matt Faufata-Pedrina blocks a punt and Damien recovers on the Saints’ 12-yard line. After a false start, Marcus Faufata-Pedrina throws a 17-yard TD pass to Shaun Apiki. 6:09, Q2.

Kaimana Cameron gets a sack of Smotherman for Damien. Deep ball is incomplete. Three-and-out.

Monarchs three-and-out. Saints defensive line causing all sorts of problems.

Screen pass to Shimabukuro goes for 5 yards and then Shimabukuro finds a hole and rumbles for 16 yards inside Damien territory. Screen pass goes for negative yardage and it’s fourth-and-14 at the 40. Long pass from Akina is broken up by DB Scott Lam. Damien takes over on its 40.

FIRST QUARTER

Akana back in at QB and ends the quarter with an 8-yard completion to Kalei on first down.

Third tackle for loss already for Otuvaka, who is unblockable off the left end so far. Enough to force Damien to use a timeout. Faufata-Pedrina breaks a long run of 41 yards but an illegal block brings it back. Faufata-Pedrina completes two passes for 11 yards but it’s still a three-and-out.

Smotherman back in at QB and he picks up 5 yards on a scramble. Saint call timeout facing third-and-7 at the Damien 36. DB JT White intercepts a pass on the next play. Monarchs ball.

Great field position wiped out by a block in the back but the Saints still start on their 48.

Senior Tevita Otuvaka blows up two Damien runs for a loss of 8 yards and then a host of Saints bring down Marcus Faufata-Pedrina for a sack. Three-and-out.

Bubba Akana in at QB for the Saints. Three straight incomplete passes. Saints will punt.

Supilani Mailei with a big tackle for loss on second down. Damien three-and-out.

Jake Smotherman starts at QB for St. Francis. Three runs go for a loss of 1 yard. Three-and-out.

Damien jumps early before it runs its first play. Wild first play as the pitch goes to Justice White for 19 yards. He fumbles at the 10 but it’s picked up by Rush Asing and run in for the TD. 7-0 Damien, 11:44, Q1.

Kickoff near the sideline is fielded by St. Francis’ Micah Kalei but as he goes out of bounds he tries to pitch it back into the field. It’s a fumble recovered by Damien on the St. Francis 24. Never seen that one before.

**********************

CAPTAINS
St. Francis: Destin Pakele, Pono Luis-Mateo, Tevita Otuvaka, Supilani Mailei
Damien: Shawn Borges, Rush Asing, Soane Tuihalafatai, Caleb Burnett

Sophomore Bubba Akana and senior Jake Smotherman switching each rep in pregame at QB for St. Francis. Akana has started and played both games while Smotherman, a transfer from ‘Iolani, was waiting on a waiver from the ILH to play this season. Smotherman played in four games last year for the Raiders and was 14-for-40 for 127 yards with a TD and a pick.

**********************

The first game of the ILH doubleheader at Aloha Stadium is very intriguing. Damien, the reigning ILH D-II champions, took advantage of ‘Iolani’s departure to Division I last year, but was beat soundly at the end of the regular season by the Saints, who return most of their team from last season. With only four regular season games in ILH Division II play and the top seed getting a bye in the playoffs, every game is of huge importance.

History: Damien has won three of the four meetings but St. Francis won the last meeting to end last season, 21-6.