Kalaheo quarterback Cody vonAppen reminds his coach Chris Mellor of John Elway. From the way he looks, to the way he walks, to the way he comes through in the clutch.

VonAppen rushed 20 times for 97 yards and three touchdowns and repeatedly scrambled away from pressure for big gains as Kalaheo held off host 'Iolani, 28-25, yesterday.

"He's the John Elway of high school in Hawai'i," Mellor said. "He even walks a little pigeon-toed like him and he looks like him a little bit in the face. He has a cannon and he can scramble."

With under a minute remaining and the Mustangs facing fourth-and-6 from the 'Iolani 26, vonAppen dodged a few defenders and scrambled for 21 yards. He took a knee twice to run off the final seconds.

"You have a quarterback like that making good decisions with the ball, and then when he's on the move and in space, he's tough," 'Iolani coach Wendell Look said.

VonAppen, a senior, guided the Mustangs' veer-option offense to 232 yards on the ground.

"Our guards did a good job pulling and they executed every play," said Phil Tauai, who rushed 15 times for 67 yards and a touchdown.

Perhaps vonAppen's instincts are no surprise since he is the son of a coach — Fred vonAppen, who was the University of Hawai'i head coach from 1996-98.

"My dad helped me a lot, just being around the game for a while," vonAppen said.

Fred vonAppen, who is visiting from Missoula, Mont., added: "He grew up around the practice field, around the office. At U of H he used to shag balls and hang around."

VonAppen scored on a pair of 1-yard quarterback sneaks as Kalaheo (2-0) took a 14-0 lead with 11:15 left before halftime.

His most electrifying play came 8 minutes before halftime, when he scrambled up the middle for a 48-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1. VonAppen dodged and weaved past numerous defenders along the way, and the score made it 21-7.

The play was improvised, according to Mellor.

"He said, 'Coach, let's line them up in our spread formation (which is two receivers to each side), put me in the shotgun and let me scramble,' " Mellor said.

'Iolani backup quarterback Jarrett Arakawa — who replaced Kela Marciel (two TD passes, 265 yards) — led a seven-play, 63-yard drive, capped by his own 5-yard run, which made it 28-25 with 2:42 left. But Tauai recovered the on-side kick and 'Iolani (1-1) never got the ball back.

Kalaheo set the tone on the game's first possession when it scored on a 13-play (12 runs), 76-yard drive, which took 7 minutes, 42 seconds off the clock.

"We're bigger than them so we tried to run the ball," vonAppen said. "We didn't want their offense to have the ball that much, so we wanted to use the clock."

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8041.

KALAHEO (2-0) 7 14 0 7—28

'IOLANI (1-1) 0 14 3 8—25

Kal — Cody vonAppen 1 run (Nathan Johnson kick)

Kal — vonAppen 1 run (Johnson kick)

Iol — Reid Furukawa 10 pass from Kela Marciel (Chris Otani kick)

Kal — vonAppen 48 run (Johnson kick)

Iol — Lionel Fujioka 45 pass from Marciel (Otani kick)

Iol — FG Otani 22

Kal — Phil Tauai 14 run (Johnson kick)

Iol — Jarrett Arakawa 5 run (Fujioka pass from Arakawa)

RUSHING — Kal: Max Karsten 12-65, Tauai 15-67, vonAppen 20-97, Larry Soto 1-1, Vince Santiago 1-2. Iol: Justin Yamamoto 11-27, Kellen Imada 1-(minus 2), Marciel 8-41, Arakawa 2-0.

PASSING — Kal: vonAppen 7-13-3—116. Iol: Marciel 15-29-2-265, Arakawa 3-5-0-63.

RECEIVING — Kal: Tauai 1-30, Keano Bruhn 2-45, Karsten 1-1, Bruce Andrews 1-12, Kao Malama-Custer 2-28. Iol: Furukawa 6-151, Fujioka 7-119, Ronnie Hirokawa 3-33, Aaron Fong 1-5, Yamamoto 1-20.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.