Peyton Costa came up with a key fumble recovery and Ezra Forges connected with Noah Aki for a 21-yard touchdown to break a scoreless battle as Kamehameha outlasted Leilehua 10-3 on Friday night at Kunuiakea Stadium. With a giant new scoreboard gracing the sunset view, a big crowd welcomed the Warriors. The visiting Mules brought a relatively young roster, but nearly matched the home team with relentless defense.
“That’s a very good team,” Kamehameha coach Kaeo Drummondo said of Leilehua. “All we try to do is get better. We want to change it up (defensively).
We wanted to go with a quick game, not blitz on every play and get caught. There’s some things we wanted to try, to get one-on-ones. There’s times when it worked, and some situations we have to get better at it.
” Leilehua coach Mark Kurisu coached against Drummondo when the latter was a two-time Division I state-title coach at Hilo. His defense stopped Kamehameha three times in the first half on fourth-and-short situations. “That’s how we do, man.
Coaching against Coach Kaeo when he was at Hilo, no change. I love how our players, their youthfulness, they just play. Doesn’t matter who we got or who they got,” Kurisu said.
“We just take care of us and great things happen. This was a big moment. This is a beautiful field.
Fans in the stands. It can be nerve-wracking for young guys, but this was a fun big game for us.” Costa’s big play was part of a series of different schemes presented by Kamehame.