Mikaele, North top Summit, still undefeated

It was a no-brainer decision for Summit football coach Nick Matheny.

Trailing by 13 points in the third quarter, Matheny passed up a 39-yard field-goal attempt when a North penalty made a fourth-and-7 into a fourthand-2 at the 17.

The SkyHawks went for it and were stopped on fourth down. On the next play, Venasio Mikaele scored on an 82-yard touchdown run that all but sealed the game for North in an eventual 26-6 nonleague victory Friday night at Miller High.

“I felt I had to go for it,” Mantheny said. “I don’t regret that. What I regret is the play call. But it was a play that worked for us a couple of times earlier in the game.”

“That was a huge play,” North coach Opalani Vaipulu said. “I didn’t even see the touchdown, but that made a huge difference.”

On the play, Summit running back Sitani Mikaele (no relation to Summit’s Mikaele) was thrown for a 1-yard loss.

The play was typical for a large chunk for the game as the defense for North (4-0) held Summit’s run game in check. In the SkyHawks’ first eight run plays of the second half, seven went for 4 yards or less.

“We were hoping to shut down their run game and make them one-dimensional,” Vaipulu said.

The inability to convert on fourth down wasn’t the only time for Summit.

Trailing 7-0 in the second quarter on a Jaidyn Gamble quarterback sneak, Summit drove to a second-and-2 at the Huskies 20. Two plays later, it was a fourth-and-4 and quarterback Payton Clark couldn’t handle the snap and Summit turned it over on downs.

North then converted the next drive into another touchdown as Mikaele scored on a 23-yard touchdown run to make it 13-0. His second touchdown made it 20-0, and Ahson Elliott’s 19-yard scoring run made it 26-0 before Summit (1-2) scored on a De’Marri Owens 2-yard touchdown run on the game’s final play.

“We wanted to make our nonleague schedule and we wanted Beaumont or North,” Matheny said. “We got both. Our guys didn’t quit and we know what we’re up against. (North) is a really good team. There’s a reason why they haven’t played a close game.”

North’s offense had four rushing touchdowns, but Gamble had a 20-yard completion to Ashar Granger and nearly connected with him and other receivers several times on deep passes.

“We had some chances. We need to fix some things,” Vaipulu said.

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