When they did manage it, Opotiki looked dangerous and were the first to put points on the board after 10 minutes when Crowe pinged Whaka for an infringement in the ruck 23m out from goal and halfback Sam Howe slotted effortlessly.
But it was the experienced heads of Stone, Doug Edwards and Caleb Ralph working in tandem to create space out wide that created tries for wingers Chanse Ritete-Perham and Tofu Pomale in the 15th and 33rd minutes. Stone converted both easily.
Ritete-Perham's try in particular was special. From a ruck, Whaka halfback Chris Miller passed to Stone, who then fed Edwards. The centre got on the outside of his man and popped a short pass to Ralph, who had joined the backline and then drew and passed to the flying Ritete-Perham.
The winger beat his man, pushed off a couple of covering defenders but was cut short of the line. Ritete-Perham got to his feet quickly and rejoined the backline in time to take an inside pass from Stone.
He beat two weak tackles scored near the post and was greeted by a warm hug from his spectator father.
Whaka's second try was similar to the first. Miller, who played a blinder, cleared the ball from a scrum 10m inside Opotiki's half and Stone, Edwards and Ralph did their thing to give left winger Pomale a 25m sprint to thecorner.
It seemed Whaka would go into the break with a substantial lead but you can never count out Opotiki's dynamic duo - the Wilbore twins Hata and Te Amo.
Whaka, who were on attack deep inside Opotiki's half, suddenly turned over the ball which Hata latched on to. He put his brother Te Amo into some space and the fullback ran 50m to score on the left-hand flank.
However, Te Amo was unsuccessful with his own conversion andWhaka went into the break leading 14-8.
The home side scored five minutes after the break, thanks to a Stone penalty and it seemed Whaka were coasting to a win.
But Opotiki got a second wind when Te Amo Wilbore caught a poor clearing kick by Whaka, just inside his own half. His brother and he combined again, this time giving winger Luke Morris a sprint to the corner which Howe converted to narrow the score to 17-15.
Opotiki's forwards lifted and after 70 minutes found themselves with an attacking lineout 5m from Whaka's tryline. Crowe penalised the Whaka backs for being offside and Howe found his mark giving Opotiki the lead.
Whaka were desperate after this and tried running the ball from anywhere. But it was hard and straight running by Miller which finally gave them a sniff. The red and blacks ran the ball from inside their 22 to 5m from Opotiki's try line.
The visitors cleared the immediate danger but soon found themselves on defence with minutes to go.
Whaka applied the pressure and rumbled the ball forward. When Opotiki were penalised 10m inside their own half, before Stone could even point to the post, Whaka's water-boys were running on with the kicking-tee.
Stone kicked the penalty to fire up the Whaka crowd, who were keen to celebrate the win and the blazer presentation (50 games for a club) to Doug Edwards and Peter Smith.
In other games in the round, competition leaders Te Puke Sports beat Rotoiti 24-17, Mt Maunganui overcame a spirited Rangataua 37-23, Tauranga Sports smashed Waikite 118-0 and Greerton Marist drew with Te Puna 38-38.
Division one leaders Rangiuru clocked up a 53-10 win over Poroporo, Whakatane Marist narrowly beat Ruatoki 24-21, Marist St Michael's were too strong for Reporoa 24-13, Te Teko and Paroa drew 17-17 and Ngongotaha beat Kahukura 27-16.
Results: Whakarewarewa 20 (Chanse Ritete-Perham, Tofu Pomale, tries; Maurice Stone 2 cons, 2 pens) Opotiki 18 (Te Amo Wilbore, Luke Morris, tries; Sam Howe 1 con, 2 pens) Halftime: 14-8.
