Waimea High School and Kapaa High School football will be fighting for state titles in the 2025 First Hawaiian Bank Hawaii High School Athletic Association Football Championships presented by the Hawaii Army National Guard that will play on Friday at the John Kauinana Stadium at Mililani High School on Oahu.
This follows a four-game semifinal round on Saturday that was played at different venues across the state.
Waimea, representing the Kauai Interscholastic Federation in the Division II bracket, earned its spot following a 27-26 victory over the Roosevelt Rough Riders on Saturday afternoon. That was the same time frame that Kapaa, representing the KIF in the Division I bracket, was tangling with the visiting Damien Monarchs.
Waimea, playing at the Hanapepe Stadium, held a 21-7 lead at the break, and held on against a 19-6 Roosevelt comeback rally effort in the second half to emerge with the one-point advantage.
Over at the Bryan J. Baptiste sports complex stadium, Kapaa picked up nine points in the first minute of play and held Damien at bay for the 31-25 advantage after shutting down the Monarchs’ passing attack.
With less than 15 ticks peeled off the game clock, Warrior defender Eleu Keawe plucked a Damien air ball and ran it back 25 yards for the score. Yair Antonio did the Point After Touchdown boot for the 7-0 bulge that was upped on the Monarch’s next possession.
Unable to gain a first down in three attempts, Kapaa’s defense rose to block Damien’s punt. The ball rolled into the end zone for a safety, upping the Kapaa lead to 9-0.
For the remainder of the contest, Kapaa quarterback Kaitin Mundon scored three touchdowns — a 15-yarder in the first quarter, a 16-yarder in the second quarter, and a 2-yard plunge in the third quarter.
Mundon, in addition to his three scores, carried the ball 22 times for 114 yards, sharing duty with Alakai Pigao-Mundon who also had 22 carries for 83 yards. Isaiah Konishi had 46 yards on his seven carries, and Kaisen Mundon had 15 yards.
Damien scored its four scores on three pass receptions, and a sole quarterback keep when Alani Tuifua picked up an 18-yarder in the third quarter. Overall, Tuifua picked up 232 passing yards compared to Kapaa that took to the air just once for 12 yards.
Tuifua’s favored target was Wyatt Ho-Williams who pulled in two scoring passes — a 37-yard score in the second quarter where the PAT kick was blocked, and in the fourth quarter, a 12-yard passing score where the 2-point conversion failed. The two failed PATs and the safety combined for the 5-point Kapaa margin as both teams found the end zone on four different occasions.
Siotome Malafu was the top Kapaa defender with six tackles and a shared QB sack with Bryden Sugai-Salvador, followed by Keawe getting five stops and the interception. Brayden Bermoy also intercepted a Damien pass along with adding four stops.
Jay-Sean Aquino led the Monarchs’ defense with 9.5 stops followed by Shason Tomisa and Uriah Maiawa each marking seven stops. Tomisa also had a quarterback sack.
Over at Hanapepe Stadium, Kaikea Miyashiro ran for three touchdowns, and Kolby Correa had one score to lead Waimea to its 27-26 win over Roosevelt.
Roosevelt, trailing 7-21 at the break, came back with two touchdowns in the final quarter when Cameron Jackson capped a 90-yard drive with a one-yard TD with 6 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the contest. An Ioane Kamanao PAT boot settled the scoreboard to a 20-27 deficit.
With two minutes remaining in the contest, Victor Silva pulled in a two-yard pass from QB Kaeo Bush for the 26-27 scoreboard read. The two-point conversion effort saw Bush take to the air for an unsuccessful pass that saw the Rough Riders come up a digit short.
Overall, Roosevelt outplayed Waimea with a total of 331 offensive yards compared to Waimea’s 277 yards for an average of 5.4 yards gained on each play for the Rough Riders. The Menehune gained an average of 6.4 yards on each play. In passing, the Menehune had negative yards compared to Roosevelt’s 264 yards gained on 23 completions. Waimea picked up 309 yards rushing compared to Roosevelt’s 67 yards.
Top Menehune rusher was K. Miyashiro who picked up 210 yards and three touchdowns. Cameron Jackson led the Roosevelt ground attack with a touchdown and 54 yards on the ground.
Game time on Friday is 4 p.m. for Division II title when Waimea, seeded No. 2 in the bracket, meets top-seeded Kamehameha Schools-Maui.
This match will be followed by top-seeded Kapaa meeting No. 3-seeded Kailua in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff for the Division I state championship.
For more information, visit the HHSAA website at www.hhsaa.org.
Source: The Garden Island