High school football: Freshman Kaue Akana’s kick sends Orem to 5A semifinals

With just over a minute left in the game and the season on the line, the special teams for Orem came up huge when it mattered most, coming up with a pair of clutch dramatic moments, narrowly escaping Alta with a 26-24 win to move on to the semifinals of the 5A region playoffs.

With Orem down by one and just over a minute left in the game, Orem head coach Gabe Sewell made the gutsy decision of sending out his inexperienced freshman kicker Kaue Akana to try to give Orem the lead late in the game with a 32-yard field goal attempt. Akana rewarded his coach by splitting the uprights and putting his team ahead.

Speaking about his kicker, Sewell could not have been more pleased with the composure and focus that he showed with everything that was on the line.

“With the magnitude of that play, the scenario and the situation, I was a little bit hesitant to throw him out there. But he prepared hard every day just like everybody else, and I had to give him the opportunity and he did not fail,” said Sewell.

Down two with less than a minute to play, Alta had to come up with something quick if they wanted to continue their season at least one more game. Quarterback Matt McKea was able to put his team in position to win, throwing a bomb down the sideline and connecting with one of his receivers that would put Alta in field goal range.

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Alta kicker Lincoln Eberhardt stepped up, but once again Orem made the play in the clutch, blocking Eberhardt’s field goal attempt, sending the Tigers to the semifinals and bring Alta’s season to a heartbreaking end.

“We gave up that long bomb to them and that put them well within their kickers reach. Luckily I had one extra timeout there to try to ice the kicker and make something happen, luckily we were able to get a hand to it and was able to run the rest of the clock out,” added Sewell.

Orem scored 21 of their 26 points in the first half, with Roger Saleapaga having himself a stellar night with two touchdowns, as well as Feleti Longi contributing to the win with a score of his own late in the first half.

While this victory is certainly something to enjoy and celebrate, Orem will need to get right back in preparation mode because they have a tough task ahead of them in the semifinals, going up against a Timpview team that made easy work of Wasatch in their quarterfinal matchup. 

“Timpview is loaded. They got a lot of athletes; a lot of great players and they are a great team on a roll right now. The game plan is always to win, and we are going to prepare for a tough game that I feel we’ll be up for,” said Sewell.