Football Opens Season with Win

The Molokai Eight-Man football team traveled to Hawaii Island last weekend and got a hard fought 14-8 win over the Pahoa Daggers. The Farmers (1-0) held the Daggers (0-1) to just one TD under the lights at Keeau High School field.

Head Coach Mike Kahale was pleased with his teams play.

“It was a hard fought defensive battle and when Pahoa scored first we needed to keep our composure and stick to the game plan,” he said. “We made some adjustments at half time, but more than anything we just needed the boys to settle in, play their assignments and execute.”

Molokai scored on two pass plays after Pahoa showed the were tough against the run.

“They were pretty tough up front and we needed to open the field with some passing plays,” said Kahale. “Quarterback Kaimana Nakayama threw a couple of long touchdown passes to wide receiver Kanalu Kahale which proved to be the difference in end… Nalima Puaa-Aki, Nickolas Rapanot, and Nakayama came up big for us on defense. The whole defense played well, especially in the second half.”

The Farmers will open league play at Hana on Friday Aug. 24. This weekend’s home 11-man preseason game against Honoka’a has been canceled after the Dragons were unable to secure transportation.

The Farmers have won three league championships in a row and Kahale is looking forward to another successful season.

“As with any first game of the season, we’ll see a bunch of mistakes on film and there will be lots of improvement to be made.,” he said. “But we super proud of how they all played. A great first win and we are truly grateful for the hospitality Pahoa showed us.”