Aragon football outlasts Carlmont

And while the game played out like the movie — with Aragon coming away with a 48-27 victory — the Scots kept getting off the canvas.

“[Carlmont] was incredible,” said Aragon head coach Steve Sell. “They made some big plays offensively.”

In a game that was much closer than the score suggests, Aragon (1-0 PAL Ocean, 4-2 overall) didn’t pull away until the fourth quarter, scoring three touchdowns.

“Ugly,” was how Sell described his team’s performance. “We had a disjointed week of practice. … We got off to a great early start and then the guard come down. … We scored two quick touchdowns and it was on to next week.”

But every time Aragon made a big play, Carlmont came back with one of their own. While the Scots may not have had as many, they certainly had enough to get the Dons’ attention.

But the Dons have Mone Hokafonu and Carlmont (0-2, 1-5) does not and that was the difference. The senior running back had a career night. He rushed for 263 yards and three touchdowns and also added a 79-yard kickoff return for a score.

“He’s special,” Sell said, who got his first look at Hokafonu when he was a sophomore, before moving midway through the season. Sell said he saw flashes and those flashes have evolved into a spotlight.

Another special one for the Dons is Hokafonu’s counterpart, sophomore Ivan Nisa, who added 126 yards and a score as the Dons racked up 459 yard rushing on the night.

Nisa did not make his varsity debut until two weeks ago because, Sell said, “He didn’t think he was ready.”

While it was Aragon that slowly took control of the game in the second half, during first two quarters the two teams took turns throwing haymakers at each other, scoring five touchdown in the first nine minutes, 31 seconds of the game.

And the fireworks started on the opening drive. Aragon received the kickoff to start the game. On the third play from scrimmage, Hokafonu broke off a 43-yard scoring run for a 6-0 Aragon lead.

The Dons got the ball right back when Alan Tanielu recovered his own onside kick. Four plays later, Aragon led 13-0 when Tanielu went around the left end for a 27-yard touchdown.

Less than three minutes into the game and the Scots were already down two scores before they even touched the ball.

Carlmont, however, answered right back. Facing second-and-7 at the Dons 47, Carlmont quarterback Jack Wiessinger was forced out of the pocket and rolled right with a defender in hot pursuit. He hit Austin Li across the middle, who made a fingertip catch, kept his balance and raced the rest of the way for a 47-yard score.

Then it was Carlmont’s defense to step up, forcing the Dons to turn the ball over downs, allowing the Scots’ offense to cash in right away. They needed just six plays to cover 68 yards, culminating in a Luke Nessel 24-yard score off left tackle to tie the score at 13-all.

Aragon, however, snatched the momentum right back as Hokafonu fielded the ensuing kickoff on a bounce at the 21 and raced 79 yards for the score and a 20-13 Dons advantage with 2:29 still left in the first quarter.

The second quarter, however, turned into a slogfest, but Carlmont finally put its offense back in gear, getting the game-tying score with just over a minute left in the half when Nessel plowed in from a yard out to cap a eight-play, 56-yard drive.

The Dons forced Carlmont to punt on its first possession of the second half and then Aragon took control of the game. Nisa scored from 2 yards out for a 27-20 Dons’ lead before Hokafonu scored on an 80-yard run four minutes into the fourth quarter to put the Dons up 34-20. And when Hokafonu scored his fourth touchdown of the night from 2 yards out to give the Dons a 41-20 lead, it looked as if Carlmont was finally done.

Battered and bruised, the Scots were not bowed and they kept coming back. Leo Cappa caught everyone off guard with a 69-yard scamper around left end with just under five minutes left and the Scots had some life.

But the Dons finally put them away when Nisa broke off a 33-yard run down to the 2 and scored on the next play to account for the final margin of victory.

“It shows in high school football, if you have a home-run hitter, it covers up a lot of sins,” Sell said.