Sabers play lights out, top Bears 52-15 | News, Sports, Jobs

Maui High School’s Piercen Evans stretches the ball across the goal line to score a touchdown during the first quarter of the Sabers’ 52-15 win over Baldwin on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

WAILUKU — The Maui High School football team kept its playoff hopes alive with a 52-15 win over crosstown rival Baldwin in a Maui Interscholastic League Division I game on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.

A power outage turned off the stadium lights on the parking lot side with 9:25 to play and the Sabers owning the ball with a first down at their own 42-yard line with a 38-15 lead

The power outage lasted 20 minutes and play resumed at 10:20 p.m.

Piercen Evans scored his fourth touchdown of the game with 3 minutes, 56 seconds to play on a 3-yard run.

After the Sabers recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, two-way lineman Sione Ngalu scored on a 5-yard run on the final play of the game to account for the final score.

Maui High’s Sione Ngalu rushes Baldwin quarterback Kalaheo Kana‘e-Oliveira in the second quarter Friday night. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

The Sabers improved to 2-1 in MIL D-I play and 2-5 overall, while Baldwin fell to 0-3, 0-7 and was officially eliminated from any postseason possibilities.

The Sabers outgained the Bears 150 yards to 3 in the first quarter and 229-52 for the first half. For the game, Sabers outgained the Bears 530 yards to 162.

Evans, who finished with 184 yards on 27 carries, scored three touchdowns in the first half to give the Sabers a 22-0 lead at the break.

His 4-yard score made it 6-0 with 7:16 left in the first quarter and it capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive that started on the opening kickoff.

Evans opened the game with a bang, going 62 yards around the right end on the first play from scrimmage, but the play was called back on an illegal motion penalty.

Maui High quarterback Nathaniel Russell throws under pressure from Baldwin’s Pita Takafua in the first quarter Friday. Blocking for the Sabers are Jonaven Rodrigues (left) and Piercen Evans. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

Two plays later, Ofa Falekaono rushed 39 yards on the same play Evans ran to open the game, moving the ball to the Baldwin 38-yard line.

After six runs and an incomplete pass brought the ball to the 4, Evans bulled in from there.

Evans rumbled 30 yards up the middle to make it 14-0 with 32 seconds left in the first quarter. The 39-yard, four-play drive was set up by a lightning-quick interception made on a flare pass to the outside by Maui High’s Jarel Fuala’au and his 26-yard return.

The Sabers pushed the lead to 22-0 on an 11-play, 79-yard drive when Evans scored from 3 yards out with 30 seconds left in the first half.

The big play on the drive was a 38-yard strike from Nash Vida Ah Loo to Charlie Peterson that took the ball to the Bears’ 4-yard line.

The Bears’ Trotter Apo dives for a pass just out of his reach as the Sabers’ Leimana Poepoe defends. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

The Bears got on the scoreboard when Tylan Ponatanilla-Balag took the second-half kickoff 75 yards to the end zone.

The Sabers pushed the lead back to 30-7 on a 4-yard run by Fuala’au, but the Bears struck right back with a 69-yard pass from Kalaheo Kana’e Oliveira to Cooper Watkins just over a minute later. A two-point conversion catch by J.J. Panglao brought the Bears back within 30-15 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.

Peterson caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Nathaniel Russell with 40 seconds to go in the third, and Evans ran in the two-point conversion to extend the lead to 38-15.

Peterson finished with six catches for 92 yards and Vida Ah Loo was 7 for 9 passing for 118 yards.

Baldwin has lost 21 games in a row — its last win came on Oct. 23, 2021, when the Bears beat King Kekaulike 22-0.

Baldwin quarterback Kalaheo Kana‘e-Oliveira releases a second-quarter pass. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

Baldwin00150–15

Maui High1481614–52

First Quarter

MH–Piercen Evans 4 run (kick failed), 7:16.

MH–Evans 30 run (Braden Albrecht pass from Evans), 0:32.

Second Quarter

MH–Evans 3 run (Ofa Falekaono run), 0:30.

Third Quarter

B–Tylan Pontanilla-Balag 75 kickoff return (Elijah Valdez kick), 11:46.

MH–Jarel Fualaau 4 run (Falekaono run), 4:00.

B–Cooper Watkins 69 pass from Kalaheo Kanae Oliveira (J.J. Panglao pass from Oliveira), 2:54.

MH–Charlie Peterson 7 pass from Nathaniel Russell (Evans run), 0:40.

Fourth Quarter

MH–Evans 3 run (Falekaono run), 3:56.

MH–Sione Ngalu 5 run (no kick attempted), 0:00.

Junior varsity–Maui High 14, Baldwin 7

MIL STANDINGS

Note: Only in-division games will count toward state tournament qualification; overall record in parenthesis

DIVISION I

WLPctPFPA

Lahainaluna (2-0)201.000796

Maui High (2-5)21.6678569

Baldwin (0-7)03.00032121

DIVISION II

WLPctPFPA

KS Maui (5-0)101.0003421

King Kekaulike (4-1)01.0002134

Friday’s Result

Maui High 52, Baldwin 15

Today’s Game

Lahainaluna vs. Kamehameha Maui at War Memorial Stadium, 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 20

Maui High vs. King Kekaulike at War Memorial Stadium, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 21

Baldwin at Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.

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