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Waimea Leaves No Doubt By Roaring Past King Kekaulike 45-6 For D-II State Championship

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Football is all the way back in Waimea.

The no-frills Menehunes left no doubt in the minds of high school football onlookers Saturday night with a dominant 45-6 victory over top-seeded King Kekaulike in the Division II title game of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships.

“This is family right here,” Waimea coach Kyle Linoz said afterward while pointing at the blue-clad fans in the stands. “That’s why they play so hard. They want to do it not just for themselves, but for each other and their parents and their community. We just love football and we wanted to get back in touch with our past and it showed tonight with our ground game.”

Waimea coach Kylie Linoz got doused after the Menehunes wrapped up the Division II state championship with a 45-6 victory over King Kekaulike.

As expected, it was a game of running and defense at the Mililani High field. And if you had the right glasses on, perhaps you saw the clock turning back to the 1990s and early 2000s, when a disciplined Waimea bunch under Jon Kobayashi ruled the KIF and made waves but never won the state tournament.

Now, for the first time, westsiders on Kauai have their very own state championship football team. Since the tournament started in 1999, the Menehunes had never before advanced to the title game, but now the koa trophy will be proudly displayed in the school gym’s awards case.

“This brings it back to the old Waimea, that rugged team,” said Waimea defensive lineman Kaizen Castillo, who made a game-high nine tackles. “That was a lockdown team and I think that’s what we brought to the table and we tried to replicate that as much as we could.”

It was the second straight D-II state crown won by a Garden Isle team, after Kapaa went all the way a year ago. When those Warriors from the eastside of the island moved up to Division I, it opened the path for the Menehunes to get the job done this year.

Three players punctuated Waimea’s offensive effort Saturday. In the early going, it was Kaili Arakaki, who was the workhorse in the team’s last drive of the first half and punched home a 1-yard TD run for a 17-6 lead.

In the second half, quarterback Kameron Apilado and Aukai Emayo kept the needle moving the Menehunes’ way. Apilado, who finished with 228 yards rushing, scored on long runs of 70 and 85 yards. Emayo added TD runs of 1 and 6 yards and wound up gaining 83 yards on the ground.

Defensively, Waimea (9-2) got into the scoring act, too, back in the first quarter when Mykah Brun’s 31-yard fumble recovery return allowed the Menehunes to take control of the momentum with a 10-0 lead.

“This means a lot to us because we never did win a state championship and we come in here and win it,” Waimea’s Castillo said. “That brings a lot of pride to our families and the whole westside community.”

Added Apilado: “It means everything for the coaches, the players and the community. And the fans all came out, keeping us pumped up.”

Waimea players show off the koa trophy after Saturday’a 45-6 D-II state championship victory over King Kekaulike.

On a rare pass play by either team, MIL D-II champion King Kekaulike (5-7) struck gold early in the second quarter to make it 10-6. That’s when Ahe Sumibcay broke open to catch a 31-yard touchdown pass from junior QB Kalelepono Wong.

.“It’s amazing to come to this game,” Wong said. “It means everything. It was a lot in the making. We proved a lot. Congratulations to them, but we’re coming back next year.”

It was a scary moment for Wong after a hard hit in the fourth quarter. He opted to walked off the field instead of getting put on a stretcher that had been wheeled out,

“I couldn’t feel my body and I was dizzy,” he said about the aftermath of the play.

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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:

FOCUS ON FOOTBALL: QB Waika Crawford’s Steady Hand Shepherds Kahuku Past Punahou 20-0 For Second Straight Open State Championship

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