Vincent Massey Collegiate likes to take away something from an opponent they visit and incorporate it into its own traditions.
After this week’s trip is over, Vincent Massey will be able to take something else home for the first time: a victory.
Quarterback Andre Dueck threw two first half touchdowns Saturday night as Vincent Massey survived a furious comeback from Kealakehe to win 26-21.
“We’ve been down to the U.S. twice now, this is the third time, and we finally got a victory down here. We’re really excited,” Vincent Massey coach Kelsey McKay said. The Trojans lost to Leilehua two years ago and lost in California back in 2011.
Trailing 19-0 going into the fourth quarter, Kealakehe began to feast on a Vincent Massey defense that was largely comprised of second-string players. Sophomore Anthony Trevino moved the football down the field, finding Riggs Kurashige over the middle for a 26-yard touchdown completion to cut the Trojan lead to 19-7 with 9:03 remaining in the game.
Kurashige touched the football more in this game than he did in the first two combined. He caught five passes for 157 yards and also ran for 30 yards on six carries.
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Vincent Massey answered back immediately. Abdul Gassama returned Colby Martin’s ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to push the lead back to 26-7.
“We were trying to run a return to the right and we were missing that one block. We were freeing up two guys that our two-man wedge would have taken care of,” McKay explained. “That time, they got ’em, and Abdul didn’t have to break stride.”
Kealakehe fired back as Trevino completed a 58-yard pass to Kurashige to get down to the Vincent Massey six-yard line. Three plays later, Trevino ran into the endzone himself for a one-yard score and followed with a successful two-point conversion run to trim the deficit to 26-15 with 7:14 remaining.
Howard Cosare forced a fumble on a run by Liam Casey to give the Waveriders the ball back, and six plays later, Trevino ran in another score from four yards out to make the score 26-21 with 4:56 remaining.
Trevino, just a sophomore, was 9-of-17 passing for 170 yards in the second half.
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Kealakehe (1-2) would get one more shot with less than two minutes remaining from its own 18 yard line. Trevino threw two incomplete passes to Kurashige and Gabriel Bala. The latter pass went through Bala’s hands as he was open in the middle of the field. Later in the drive, Trevino couldn’t find an open receiver down the field, and Freddy Noriega-Gomez sacked him to end the drive and the comeback.
Both teams traded possessions early, but Vincent Massey scored first on a mistake by Kealakehe starting quarterback Markus Degrate. The senior threw a backward pass that went into the ground and was picked up by Neel Visen, who returned it 48 yards to give the Trojans the 6-0 lead in the first quarter.
Degrate completed just five of 13 passes for 31 yards and an interception.
Vincent Massey’s offense got a groove going in the second quarter. Despite a missed 41-yard field goal by Taj Moryl to end the first drive in the quarter, scoring chances still kept appearing for the visitors. Dueck found Brayden Saville down the right sideline for a 28-yard touchdown connection to give the Trojans a 12-0 lead with 8:36 left in the first half.
“Our offensive line, I think it had just been a while since they had really, really smashed with somebody, and they really started to take control,” said McKay of his team, playing their first game of the season. “They started moving their feet and selling themselves out, and it gave Andre time to get the ball out there.”
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On the next drive, Dueck completed a pass to his left, finding Patryk Bujalski, who fought his way across the goal line to extend Vincent Massey’s lead to 19-0 with 5:21 remaining in the half.
Dueck, who has attended the Manning Passing Academy and other quarterback camps in Florida and Illinois, completed 12 of his 20 passing attempts for 137 yards. At one point, he completed seven consecutive passes in a row.
Kealakehe didn’t help itself in the first 24 minutes. The Waveriders turned the ball over four times in the game, three of them in the first half. Near the end of the half, the Waveriders defense seemed poised to get the stops necessary to give the offense one more chance to touch the football, but Kealakehe decided to keep all of its timeouts and not use them, keeoing them scoreless at the half.
Kealakehe will open up Big Island Interscholastic Federation play on Aug. 28 at home against undefeated Kamehameha-Hawai’i. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio and simulcast on KBIG FM.
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