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Maui High records first league victory

PUKALANI – Facing friends on his former team, Maui High School running back Onosai Emelio was ready for Saturday night’s football game against King Kekaulike.

The junior scored the first two touchdowns, and the last, in the Sabers’ 32-7 victory at King Kekaulike Stadium in front of about 1,000 fans – many of whom were rooting for Emelio, who moved with his family to Kahului during the offseason.

“I was really excited and stuff like that,” Emelio said. “I wasn’t nervous. I’m really, really happy that I get to play against them and do my best. Those guys are my friends. It feels good to win.”

Emelio finished with 78 rushing yards on 14 carries and had three catches for 64 yards. Daniel Kelley ran for 104 yards on 11 carries.

Emelio scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and a 24-yard pass from Tyson Takabayashi to put the Sabers (1-1 in the Maui Interscholastic League) on top 14-0 less than eight minutes into the game. In the fourth quarter, after Maui High’s Jared Kapisi ran for 46 yards out of punt formation to the King Kekaulike 37-yard line, Emelio delivered runs of 24 and 13 yards, the second one for a touchdown with 10:21 to play.

Na Alii (0-2), held to three yards in the first quarter, had multiple second-half threats produce no points.

They went 60 yards in 11 plays on the first series of the third quarter, but Micah McDonald missed a 42-yard field-goal try. On its next possession, King Kekaulike drove to the Maui High 12, but a bad snap while lined up to try a 29-yard field goal ended the threat. Na Alii reached the Sabers’ 10 on their next drive, but lost the ball on downs after holding the ball for 11 plays.

Maui High bounded out to a 21-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Daniel Kelley’s 39-yard run helped set up Emelio’s first touchdown, and after the teams exchanged fumbles, Emelio caught the first of Takabayashi’s two touchdown passes.

The Sabers then found some fortune when a Takabayashi pass tipped off the hands of his intended receiver and landed in the arms of Kapisi, who weaved his way to the end zone for a 34-yard score.

King Kekaulike quarterback Ryley Widell broke free for an 84-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter, but Maui High boosted the lead to 24-7 on a 32-yard field goal by Kapisi.

Takabayashi passed for 102 yards, all in the first half.

Despite being sacked four times, Widell had 114 rushing yards and 116 passing.

Maui High, which lost to Baldwin last week, dressed 34 players on Saturday – 15 were injured.

“We just wanted to see how the kids would bounce back after a tough loss, lots of injuries, see who was going to step up,” said Sabers coach David Bui.

Na Alii suited up 29 players.

“We are still trying to mesh, we have got some injuries that we are working out, but we are getting better,” said King Kekaulike coach Kyle Sanches. “The kids are still believing, they are still fighting, so I think we’ll be all right.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

_______________

Maui High ……….. 21 ….. 3 ….. 0 ….. 8-32

King Kekaulike ….. 0 ….. 7 ….. 0 ……. 0-7

First Quarter

MH-Onosai Emelio 1 run (Jared Kapisi kick), 10:22.

MH-Emelio 24 pass from Tyson Takabayashi (Kapisi kick), 4:06.

MH-Kapisi 34 pass from Takabayashi (Kapisi kick), 1:59.

Second Quarter

KK-Ryley Widell 84 run (Micah McDonald kick), 11:43.

MH-Kapisi 32 FG, 7:40.

Fourth Quarter

MH-Emelio 13 run (Takabayashi run), 10:21.

Junior varsity-King Kekaulike 27, Maui High 0.

* * *

Friday’s Result

MISSION VIEGO 49, BALDWIN 20

Mission Viejo ….. 21 ….. 21 ….. 7 ….. 0-49

Baldwin …………… 7 ……. 6 ….. 0 ….. 7-20

First Quarter

MV-Tony Williams 6 run (Zach Olson kick), 9:54.

MV-Alex Suchesk 39 run (Olson kick), 7:19.

MV-Jake White 3 blocked punt return (Olson kick), 6:18.

B-Kawela Kaeo-Mata 15 pass from Josiah Maglente-Tonu (Benjamin Wuthrich kick), 0:31.

Second Quarter

MV-Conner Hill 6 pass from Ian Fieber (Olson kick), 10:02.

MV-Rome Innocenzi 2 run (Olson kick), 6:26.

MV-Daniel Marx 8 run (Olson kick), 2:48.

B-Kaeo-Mata 15 pass from Maglente-Tonu (kick blocked), 0:14.

Third Quarter

MV-Hunter Bland 15 run (Olson kick), 2:46.

Fourth Quarter

B-Chris Kazanecki 5 pass from Jeremiah Badillo (Wuthrich kick), 0:57.

……………………………….. MV ………….. B

First downs ……………….. 25 ………… 23

Rushes-yards ……… 28-334 ……. 25-59

Passing yards …………. 179 ……….. 190

Total offense …………… 513 ……….. 249

Return yards …………… 110 …………. 83

Comp-att.-int. ……. 11-19-0 ….. 20-42-1

Fumbles-lost …………… 1-1 ………… 6-2

Penalties-yards ….. 14-137 ………. 4-20

Punts-avg ……………. 0-0.0 … …. 3-25.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-MV, Williams 6-68, Suchesk 3-59, Innocenzi 5-59, Brian Radcliff 1-46, Marx 5-43, Bland 3-26, Marques Caster 2-21, Shane Beaver 1-6, Marcus Contreras 2-6; B, Badillo 3-49, Dusty Flores 12-27, Kawena Alo-Kaonohi 2-3, Keenan Luis 1-2, Micah Pagaduan 1-(minus 2), Maglente-Tonu 6-(minus 20).

PASSING-MV, Fieber 10-15-0-156, Bland 1-4-0-23; B, Maglente-Tonu 17-36-1-166, Badillo 3-6-0-24.

RECEIVING-MV, Marx 3-56, Andrew Schuurs 3-39, Innocenzi 1-25, Colton Young 1-23, Adrien Whiteside 1-16, Nicholas Castelli 1-14, Hill 1-6; B, Kaeo-Mata 6-86, Kazanecki 6-54, Patrick Turner 3-24, Drake Carvalho 2-13, Flores 1-6, Solomon Kurkowski-Hoopii 1-4, Badillo 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-none.

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