One of the two teams playing for the Division I state football title will earn the first state football championship in their school’s history when Damien takes on Hilo at Aloha Stadium.
VIDEO: Damien coach Eddie Klaneski
VIDEO: Hilo coach Kaeo Drummondo
GAMEDAY: Damien vs. Hilo
A live blog will follow below.
Hilo 35, Damien 19
at Aloha Stadium
Damien (10-4) 13 0 6 0 — 19
Hilo (10-1) 7 14 7 7 — 35
First Quarter
Dam—Akila Arrechi 94 kickoff return (kick failed)
Dam—Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 1 run (kick)
Hilo—Kahale Huddleston 20 run (Kahaku Tolentino-Perry kick)
Second Quarter
Hilo—Huddleston 12 run (Tolentino-Perry kick)
Hilo—Kaleo Apao 22 run (Tolentino-Perry kick)
Third Quarter
Dam—Jarvis Natividad 19 pass from Faufata-Pedrina (run failed)
Hilo—Kainalu Tioganco 5 pass from Apao (Tolentino-Perry kick)
Fourth Quarter
Hilo—Makana Kanehailua 21 pass from Apao (Tolentino-Perry kick)
The BIIF has its FIRST state football championship as the 2017 Hilo Vikings get it done. 35-19.
(2:12) Damien with its last chance. Ball on the 20. Isaac Liu with a sack for Hilo. Lauti gets two steps on his guy and Faufata-Pedrina hits him but it’s dropped. That would have been a huge gain, maybe even 6 if he catches it in stride. Faufata-Pedrina under a ton of pressure and finally goes down on fourth down. That will do it.
(4:07) Hilo ball on the Damien 35. Meanwhile Kahuku has walked out to the Hilo sideline and the place is getting a bit loud. Monarchs get the stop and call timeout with 2:19 to go. Hilo misses a 47-yard field goal.
(5:02) Damien ball on its 9. Vikings have done a great job on defense after that first quarter. Kahiau Walker nearly comes up with a pick. Damien will punt. Short kick out of bounds.
(7:12) Vikings ball at the Damien 49. Third-and-4 at the 43 and Hilo moves early. Inside shovel pass to Huddleston and Damien sniffs it out, tackling Huddleston out of bounds. Delay of game. Hilo will punt.
(8:51) Damien ball at the 50. Faufata-Pedrina runs around in the backfield and then hits Sevilleja for 20 yards. Damien called for a hold on the next play, however. Third-and-18 at the Hilo 39. Two-down territory at this point. Faufata-Pedrina is PICKED by Elijah Apao. Hilo ball.
(9:17) Damien ball on its 9. FUMBLE. Micah Bello with the forced fumble and Lavata’i recovers for Hilo at the Damien 21. First play and Apao goes DEEP to Makana Kanehailua and it’s a 21-yard TD for the Vikings, who lead 35-19, 8:53.
(11:36) Hilo ball at the Damien 48. Huddleston is stopped for no gain on third-and-4 and a big stand for the Monarchs, who should get the ball right back. Hilo lines up to go for it though. Damien almost jumps but Hilo takes the delay of game and will punt.
(:07) Monarchs start on their 11. Monarchs start the fourth quarter second-and-4. Faufata-Pedrina with two incomplete passes and Damien will have to punt.
(6:02) Vikings start on their 43. Hilo has it third-and-2 but Damien jumps offsides to give up a first down. Hudleston with a run to the 16 on third down to move the chains. Apao hits Tiogonco for 5 yards on third-and-goal and it’s a TD for Hilo. 28-19, :14, Q3.
(10:39) Damien ball on its 23. Hilo has to burn a timeout after Kauhi is stopped for no gain. Amazing job by Kauhi to catch a pass and then just carry half the Hilo defense on his back to turn a short gain into 9 yards. Third-and-1. Arecchi moves the chains with a 6-yard reception. Faufata-Pedrina to Lauti for 17 yards and we’ve seen this before. Damien heating up to start the second half on offense. Bullet over the middle by Faufata-Pedrina hits Hilo’s Kashtian Ioane in the chest but he can’t make the pick. Diving attempt by Lauti but the ball is just out of his reach. Punt time. NO! It’s a fake. Faufata-Pedrina with the pass to Pomai Kim and Kim gets 12 yards to move the chains on fourth-and-10. Third-and-1 at the 25 and Kauhi powers for 6 yards to the 19. Faufata-Pedrina on the boot leg finds Jarvis Natividad for the 19-yard TD. Impressive drive by the Monarchs. 2-point conversion is no good. 21-19, 6:04.
(11:58) Hilo ball at the Vikings 48. Braeden Halili with a sack for the Monarchs to set up third-and-15. Huddleston open down the sideline but Apao can’t get it there and the Vikings are three-and-out.
Damien tries an onside kick to start the second half but Hilo recovers.
HALFTIME BOX
at Aloha Stadium
Damien (10-3) 13 0
Hilo (9-1) 7 14
DMS—Akila Arecchi 96 kickoff return (kick failed)
DMS—Marcus Faufata-Pedrina 1 run (Shiloh Kaeo kick)
Hilo—Kahale Huddleston 20 run (Kahaku Tolentino-Perry kick)
Hilo—Huddleston 12 run (Tolentino-Perry kick)
Hilo—Kaleo Apao 22 run (Tolentino-Perry kick)
RUSHING—Damien: Keoua Kauhi 7-32, Faufata-Pedrina 10-26. Hilo: Apao 9-66, Huddleston 10-63, Kiale Tiogonco 1-(minus 1), team 1-(minus 2).
PASSING—Damien: Faufata-Pedrina 7-12-0-77, team 0-1-0-0. Hilo: Apao 5-9-0-103.
RECEIVING—Damien: Jarvis Natividad 2-13, Logan Lauti 2-8, Arecchi 1-28, Pomai Kim 1-16, Lindon Sevilleja 1-12. Hilo: Huddleston 3-49, Kalae Akui 1-30, Tioganco 1-24.
Vikings take a knee. HALF.
(:48) Monarchs ball on their 37 with two timeouts. Faufata-Pedrina to Natividad for 9 yards to the 46 and he’s out of bounds. Deep ball and Faufata-Pedrina has a man open deep down the middle but he hesitated enough that the DB was able to get back and make a play on the ball. Third down. Damien has to burn a timeout though as the play clock was about to hit zero. Rough TO there. Faufata-Pedrina takes off and runs for 9 yards to the 45. First down. Damien clocks it with 23 seconds to go. Apao with a huge tackle of Faufata-Pedrina, who might have had a big run to the outside. Instead Damien has to burn its final timeout with 17 seconds left at the Hilo 44. Deep ball is overthrown but a nice arm shown by Faufata-Pedrina. Fourth down at the 44. Damien will go for it with only 9 seconds left. Arecchi drops a pass and Hilo ball with 3 seconds left.
(2:58) Hilo ball on its 33. Third down and Apao with a throw right on the money to Kainalu Tioganco for 24 yards to the Damien 37. After a tough PI call against Damien, Apao goes three-wide and there is nobody out to the left side of the field and he is in for a 22-yard TD run. 21-13
(5:00) Damien ball on its 25. Faufata-Pedrina takes a monster hit from multiple Hilo defenders on a third-down sack. Punt.
(7:00) Hilo will start drive on its 34. Apao hits a big 30-yard play to No. 6 (we don’t have a name) and Huddleston scores his 35th TD of the season on a 12-yard run. 14-13 Vikings with their first lead, 5:10.
(8:43) Damien ball on its 20. Iosaia Lavata’i comes in and drills Kauhi for a loss of 5.
(11:11) Hilo ball on its 22. Third-and-1 and Apao is stopped on the keep by DL Jon Dalmacio, who got there first. TFL and Vikings punt.
(2:15) Damien starts on its 35 as the kickoff went out of bounds. Vikings stop Faufata-Pedrina twice for no yards but the Russell Wilson lookalike scrambles through tacklers for 11 yards on third down. Damien will start the second quarter first-and-10 on the Hilo 42. Faufata-Pedrina with a pass to Lindon Sevilleja with gets 7 yards or so but fumbles and Apao, the QB, recovers on defense.
Hilo starts on its 36. Vikings explode for two big plays on a 33-yard pass from Apao to Huddleston and a 21-yard run for Apao down to the 15. Huddleston with a great burst of speed on a 20-yard TD run. 13-7, 2:15.
(7:47) Monarchs start on their 26. Third-and-9 and Faufata-Pedrina rolls to his right and gets absolutely drilled but gets off a pass complete to Arecchi for 28 yards. Faufata-Pedrina picks up 3 yards on a second push from his offensive line on third-and-1 to move the chains. Pomai Kim‘s sixth catch of the year is a 16-yard reception to the 6. Second-and-goal at the 1 and Hilo calls timeout. Faufata-Pedrina with a 1-yard TD run on the QB sneak. 13-0, 3:09. 11 plays, 74 yards, 4:38.
Kaleo Apao at QB for Hilo. RB Kahale Huddleston gets 8 on his first carry. Vikings run the ball into Damien territory. Damien DB Kellen Robins-Beers with two big hits for the Monarchs but Apao runs for 12 on third-and-11. Third-and-16 after Huddleston is dropped for a 6-yard loss and Damien’s Eddie Klaneski calls timeout. Shiloh Kaeo sacks Apao and Hilo will punt.
Damien will receive. Monarchs run a reverse on the kickoff and Akila Arecchi takes it 94 yards to the HOUSE. Touchdown Monarchs. PAT is off the post. 6-0, 11:38, Q1.
Kickoff has been delayed close to 2 hours after the first game went seven overtimes.
How can I watch this live?
It’s pay per view on spectrum digital.
Well. It’s official—the N.I. will have more state championship wins this season than Oahu. 🤗
Chicken Grease, that is true. But it’s titles that no one cares about other then the kids and families who can’t cut it playing against the big boys. So I guess since it’s the less meaningful titles that makes Hilo the 28th best team in the state and Lahainaluna maybe the 40th best? Yeah I would brag about being the winners of all the weak teams that can’t cut it playing the best. Good point though.
RRFL