KAILUA-KONA — The Dragons came, they saw, they conquered.

KAILUA-KONA — The Dragons came, they saw, they conquered.

Honoka’a High played a physically imposing brand of football on both sides of the field during Friday’s road matchup at Waverider Stadium, spoiling Kealakehe’s season opener with a 66-14 rout.

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The Dragons continued their hot start to the 2026 season after shutting out Kea’au a week prior — elevating to 2-0. They average 50 points a game while allowing seven thus far.

The battle was won in the trenches for Honoka’a, whose size, speed and agility was too overwhelming for the Waveriders, who understandably were rusty in their first game of the new season.

Kealakehe’s offense was consistently punished by the Dragons’ front, as quarterback Deeton Padillio seemed to be running for cover more often than not. The ‘Riders made a few positive plays — such as two explosive Padillio touchdown passes to Kazuo Isisaki and a long kick return from Kaden Telles deep into Dragon territory — but for most of the night, it was all Honoka’a.

The star of the show was Dragons running back Chrys Coelho, who used his downfield vision and creativity between the tackles to rush for three touchdowns. Coelho’s heavy workload didn’t seem to deter him, as he ran hard all night long — exhausting Kealakehe’s defensive unit.

Honoka‘a quarterback Kage Yadao had a strong night controlling the offense, as the junior excelled at making downfield reads and fitting long passes into tight windows. He finished the evening with four touchdown passes before freshman backup Waimaka Stender assumed duties in the third quarter.

Coelho scored the first touchdown of the night early in the first quarter, bouncing off a series of Waverider defenders to reach the outside. On the Dragons’ next drive, senior wideout Hapaki Moniz caught a slant pass from Yadao that turned into a long catch-and-run play, setting up his team deep into Kealakehe territory. On the next play, senior receiver Kiakahi Lindsey caught a beautiful back-shoulder ball in the right hand corner of the end zone to put Honoka‘a up two scores early.

At the start of the second quarter, senior Kua‘aina Cordoban showed off his athletic abilities by diving in the center of the end zone to haul in a low pass — catching the Dragons’ third touchdown of the night. The guests then clinched the two-point conversion after missing the extra-point kick on the previous touchdown drive.

Kealakehe had issues protecting the football, botching several snaps and fumbling on special teams that blew the game wide open. A high snap caused Padillio to fumble in the ‘Riders own territory, which set up Coelho’s second touchdown run of the game a few plays later. Kealakehe then lost the ball on a kick return following a Hapaki touchdown catch, which caused Kupono Luta to scoop and score for the Dragons.

Honoka‘a finished the half showing no mercy, as senior Hau‘oli McGurn hauled in a 30-yard pass from Yadao to go up 47-0. However, the ‘Riders were finally able to get on the board before the end of the half, as Padillio launched an off-platform pass while evading the rush to find Isisaki for the first of his two touchdown receptions.

Coelho ran for another long rushing touchdown to kick off the second half, and Kealakehe soon responded with another Padillio-to-Isisaki touchdown play, but that was the last time the blue and white reached the pylons.

Once Stender stepped in at quarterback, the Dragons offense hardly missed a beat, as he fired a touchdown pass to Kupono Ng to keep piling up the score. To fittingly cap off the dominant night for Honoka‘a, Lindsey picked off Padillio in the end zone, taking the ball to the house determinedly for a coast-to-coast pick six as regulation expired.

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The Dragons will look to keep their hot start going with first-year head coach Matthew Moniz, with their next matchup against Ka‘u on Friday night in Honoka‘a town.

With Honoka‘a’s deep talent on both sides of the ball and collective chemistry, the Dragons are one of the heavy favorites to win the BIIF Division II crown in 2026.

The Waveriders (0-1) and first-year coach Nano Padillio will seek redemption against Hilo on Friday at Waverider Stadium.

Vikings,
Warriors dominate

On the east side of the island, two more routs took place within BIIF football over the weekend.

On Friday night, Hilo High took care of business against the hosting Kea‘au Cougars with a 33-6 win.

Despite wet conditions at Kea‘au High, the Vikings were able to find the end zone multiple times, scoring 26 in the opening half. The Cougars — a much younger, inexperienced team — were able to establish their run game, but made some mistakes in the red zone that left points on the table.

Hilo earned its first win of the year after falling to Beaumont earlier this month in a non-conference battle. The Vikings will look to keep stacking victories with their next matchup against Kealakehe this weekend in West Hawaii.

Kea‘au will look to keep improving as a younger team, and will next set its sights on Iolani in a non-conference bout — set to kick off Sept. 11 on Oahu.

In Hilo, Waiakea continued its hot start with a 42-0 shutout of Hawaii Prep on Saturday, elevating to 2-0 on the season. The Warriors have been on quite the turnaround since head coach Keli‘i Kailipaka took over the program in 2025 — winning five games in his first year after the program won two total games from 2019-24, including going winless from 2019-2023.

In Kailipaka’s second year at the helm, Waiakea is averaging XX points per game thus far. The Warriors will look to keep it going in their non-conference battle against Woodinville this weekend at home.

Ka Makani, now 0-2 overall, will try to get in the win column against Kohala on Saturday in Waimea.

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