The Nanakuli Golden Hawks found themselves trailing the Pearl City Chargers 22-0 early in the first half on Friday at Pearl City High School, and after an intense, and highly motivated sideline pep talk by Golden Hawks coaches, both the offense and defense went on to score 59 unanswered points to stun the Chargers and come away with a 59-22 win. With the win, Nanakuli improved to 1-1 in OIA Division I league standings (2-4 overall), while the Chargers fell to 0-2 in league standings, (0-4 overall).
The Chargers scored their first points of the ballgame on a safety of Golden Hawks QB Kingston Salausa. Pearl City had several blown opportunities to score in the red zone in the second half, but turnovers and penalties took away solid drives and potential points on the scoreboard. The Golden Hawks defense put the game out of reach on a 90-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Shaysen Akiona and a PAT by kicker Chance Asinsin that put the Golden Hawks up 52-22 over the Chargers late in the third quarter. Nanakuli’s offense scored their final touchdown of the ball game in the fourth quarter on a 29-yard run by Talitonu Keohuhu and a Chance Asinsin PAT that increased the Golden Hawks lead to 59-22 and what would prove to the final score.
Golden Hawks QB Kingston Salausa completed 19-26 passes for 225 yards and 4 touchdowns with no interceptions. Chargers QB Ikaika Torres passed for 203 yards, completing14-32 passes with no touchdown and 1 interception. Torres also rushed for 72 yards on 8 carries and 1 touchdown.
The Golden Hawks return to league play on Friday, September 20 at home against the Leilehua Mules (0-1, league) with kick off set for 7:30pm.
The Chargers will hit the road and take on the Radford Rams (0-1, league) at Radford High School on Friday, September 20 with kick off set for 7:30pm.
GO CHARGERS!
Videos and Photos by Barry Villamil
