KEALAKEKUA — Regular season or postseason, when Kamehameha and Konawaena meet up, it’s worth the price of admission.
The matchup between the BIIF Division II rivals has become a familiar one over the last half-decade, with the Wildcats and Warriors clashing for the championship every season since 2014.
The Wildcats have won the last five meetings in the series, but three of those have been thrilling one-score games. Kamehameha won a regular season matchup in 2015, and the Warriors’ victory in the 2014 title game is the only gap in the Wildcats’ six titles over the last seven seasons.
The two programs have been the standard in D-II on the Big Island, combining for 12 of the last 13 championships.
This year will be no different, with both the Warriors (3-1) and Wildcats (4-0) entering Friday’s matchup at Julian Yates Field with championship berths already in hand and a postseason date on the horizon. The only thing left to decide is home field, which Konawaena could lock up with a win.
“You become familiar with each other when you see each other two times every year,” Konawaena head coach Brad Uemoto. “But honestly, it’s not too different of a week for us — just business as usual, focusing on our preparation.”
Business as usual would be a good way to describe the recent results for Konawaena and Kamehameha.
After dropping a pair of preseason contests, the Wildcats have won their four league games by an average of 42 points, never truly feeling threatened by a BIIF opponent.
“We have just been trying to get our ducks in a row and improve every week,” Uemoto said. “Our expectations in terms of our execution are high, regardless of what the scoreboard says or what quarter it is. There’s always stuff for us to work on..”
Konawaena freshman quarterback Sheynen Nahale has thrown for 1,527 yards and 14 scores this season. However, he’s thrown at least a pair of interceptions in each of the last four games.
“We have seen Sheynen put together some huge drives with great throws. But then on the next drive, he makes a freshman mistake,” Uemoto said. “We have been happy with what we’ve seen so far, but just need to limit those mistakes and have a little more consistency.”
Defensively, Konawaena junior defensive end Alex Muti has 10.5 sacks in four BIIF games to lead a unit that has allowed just two offensive touchdowns this season.
“On defense, it’s not just one player they can key on. Lots of guys have been stepping up and making plays,” Uemoto said. “We have been real tough up front and the secondary has made huge strides.”
With no preseason games, Kamehameha took a little while to get going with a 1-1 start, escaping against Keaau with a narrow 21-14 victory and losing to Kealakehe 49-42 in a shootout. But in their last two, the Warriors have reeled off a pair of victories over Honokaa and Hawaii Prep by 30-plus points.
Part of that improvement has been due to the return of quarterback Kaimialoha Like, who brought a sense of balance back to the offense. The Warriors QB has thrown six touchdowns and two interceptions in his two games back behind center.
“He makes that offense more dynamic, for sure,” Uemoto said.
However, Kilohana Haasenritter has been the multifaceted key to the Warriors offense, notching three 150-yard rushing games this season, including last week in a win over Hawaii Prep where he averaged a whopping 12 yards per carry. The junior back — who contributes on both sides of the ball — was filling in at QB before Like’s return.
Uemoto said the game plan against the Warriors’ dynamic back will be similar to what it was last year against Hilo’s Kahale Huddleston. Konawaena was the only team to limit Huddleston — the D-I offensive player of the year — to fewer than 100 yards and no touchdowns.
“We will treat them similar,” Uemoto said. “Haasenritter is a playmaker and is real quick in small spaces.”
Uemoto said the Wildcats plan to keep the game plan fairly “vanilla,” considering the next time the teams meet on championship weekend (either Oct. 26 or 27) much more will be at stake. But he can also see the benefits of showing off some new wrinkles.
“I guess there’s a thought that the more we put on tape this time around, the more they will have to prepare for next time,” Uemoto said. “We are really just trying to find what works best with this group of players and want to be playing our best football at the end of the year.”
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Kealakekua, after the JV game.
HPA (0-5, BIIF D-II) at Honokaa (0-5, BIIF D-II), 7 p.m., Friday
At the end of this game, one team will have their first win of the season and bragging right in the North Hawaii rivalry to go with it.
Both squads have had a tough go this year, especially the last two weeks, trading turns against Konawaena and Kamehameha.
Honokaa has won the last two in the rivalry, but this year has an additional angle. First-year Hawaii Prep head coach Albert Cummings was an assistant with Honokaa before coming over to lead Ka Makani, giving his group just a little extra incentive to get the W.
Kealakehe (3-1 BIIF D-I) at Waiakea (3-2, BIIF D-II), 1:30 p.m., Saturday
The Waveriders and Warriors meet in the game that has the most meaning of the weekend.
It’s a win-and-in situation for Kealakehe, which would secure a trip to the D-I championship by defeating the Warriors.
Waiakea could easily already qualify this season as a win, reeling off a 3-2 record just a year removed from a winless campaign. But there’s no doubt the improved Warriors will be eager to cause a little bit of chaos in the D-I standings and give themselves an outside shot at returning to the championship after a year off.
Hilo (4-0 BIIF D-I) at Keaau (1-4 BIIF D-I), 7:30 p.m., Friday
Three out of four games have been shutout wins for the Viks, who will look to improve that number against the struggling Cougars.
Keaau is averaging a shade under two touchdowns a game, but showed some life early against Kealakehe, even holding a lead after the first quarter. However, there was little to cheer about the rest of the way for Keaau, as Kealakehe scored the final 35 points in a convincing victory.
8-man: Kohala (0-3) at Ka’u (3-0), noon Saturday
Homecoming can be a day of rest if the Trojans so choose.
Ka’u wrapped up a spot in the eight-man championship game with a 58-28 home victory against Pahoa on Sept. 29 behind another big performance from super sophomore Izaiah Pilanca-Emmsley, who scored four touchdowns, two on 74-yard runs and another of that covered 79.
Shesley Martinez added two touchdowns on the ground, and he threw to Pilanca-Emmsley for a score as part of the Trojans’ 30-point second quarter. Kyson Toriano capped the 12-minute onslaught, returning an interception 86 yards for a TD.
The Cowboys have yet to get on track offensively, scoring just a pair of touchdowns so far this season, including a 30-6 home loss to Ka’u on Sept. 15.
Pahoa (2-2) and Kohala will meet next Saturday at Kamehameha in a semifinal. Seeking its fourth title in five seasons and third in a row, Ka’u hosts the winner in the title game Oct. 20.
The Daggers jumped out to a fast start last week in Pahala, with two Matthew Ortega TD runs and a 46-yard scoring pass from Josaiah Waiolama to Duke Palma staking Pahoa to a 20-14 first-quarter lead. The Trojans dug in and forced five punts along with the pick-six before William Velez’s TD run in the fourth quarter.
