Waianae's Esau Fenderson takes breaks away for a
50-yard touchdown run against Kaiser.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin

The Red Conference swept the first of this week's two doubleheaders in the Oahu Interscholastic Association playoff quarterfinals.

An Aloha Stadium crowd of 2,985 saw Waianae and Waipahu advance to next week's semifinals with victories over the champions of the Blue and White Conferences, respectively.

The Seariders overpowered Kaiser, 35-0, while the Marauders had to scrap to hold off Leilehua, 14-6. The winners will face each other next Friday at the stadium.

The quarterfinals resume this afternoon when Red Conference third-place finisher Farrington (4-2) meets White Conference third-place team McKinley (5-2) at 5:35 p.m., followed by Red runner-up Campbell (4-2) vs. White runner-up Castle (5-1-1).

In a game that many thought would be close, Waianae ran at will against Kaiser.

The Seariders (7-0) had 126 rushing yards to minus-17 for the Cougars (7-1) in the first half as they took a 14-0 lead.

In the second half, they rushed for 151 more yards while Kaiser was held to 12. Waianae had 13 first downs to Kaiser's three in that half.

Waianae senior Esau Fenderson led all rushers with 103 yards on 12 carries, including an electrifying 50-yard touchdown scamper early in the second quarter to give the Seariders a two-touchdown lead.

In the air, where the Cougars had done a lot of damage this year, quarterback Grant Sato threw for 94 yards but couldn't find the end zone.

"We didn't make plays and they took advantage of our errors and that's what they normally do," Kaiser head coach Tony Gayer said. "But the fact that we didn't stick it in the end zone is more my fault than any of my players. I called a bad game. My players deserve all the respect in the world."

Waianae head coach Leo Taaca denied any credit for coaching the win.

"Nah, it's the style of play where we wore 'em down," he said. "They're not used to the physical game of the Red Conference."

Kika Kaululaau, Waianae's 6-2, 285-pound right guard, said his line was taking no chances against Kaiser.

"We heard all week how good they are, so our whole O-line had to push," he said. "We have to do it this way because we're a smash-mouth team."

Pono Mathewson, a 6-3, 280-pound tackle, was ecstatic over the ground yardage total.

"I thank coach for making us push the sleds last week," he said. "We had to move our feet quick and drive our legs and that taught us not to give up."

n Waipahu 14, Leilehua 6: Linebacker Kaiser Lauti, who was the Leilehua offense's worst nightmare throughout the evening, made two key stops inside his own 5-yard line to stave off a rally by the Mules (6-2) in the last minutes of the game.

On fourth-and-three, Lauti smelled out a plan to run outside left with Josiah Tomas and jackknifed across the path of two offensive linemen to nail Tomas at the 4.

"They were lined up on my right side, so I knew the play was going that way," Lauti said. "The two blockers missed me."

Leilehua head coach Cass Ishitani was perplexed about why his team couldn't punch in a second touchdown. "We were just three yards shy," he said. "But Lauti made a good stop on the last play."

Jason Iseri sealed the win for the Marauders (4-3) when he picked off a Joey Raquino pass in his own territory with 1:04 left to play.

The Mules' John West, a junior, led all rushers with 140 yards on 28 carries.

Waipahu quarterback Kaiser Seumalo, who doubled as a linebacker, passed for 136 yards and one touchdown.

Keith Torres, who bore the bulk of the Marauders' ball-carrying chores, had 73 yards and a touchdown. he scored on a five-yard run with 1:31 left in the first quarter, capping a 71-yard drive.

Seumalo connected with Neal Gossett for the game-winning touchdown pass with 6:51 left in the third quarter.

Waianae 35, Kaiser 0:

Kaiser  	0	0	0	0--  0
Waianae  	7	7	0	21--35

Scoring summary

Wai-Koa 1 run (Pave kick)

Wai-Fenderson 50 run (Pave kick)

Wai-Dizon 32 interception return (Pave kick)

Wai-Keliikipi 1 run (Pave kick)

Wai-Kawai 6 run (Pave kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing-Kaiser: Sato 6-(-27), Castro 6-13, Kakuda 1-18, Balangitao 1-(-9). Waianae: Keliikipi 13-48, Simpson 13-52, Black 4-12, Fenderson 12-103, Koa 7-22, Moku 1-5, Kawaii 3-29, Galindo 1-10.

Passing-Kaiser: Sato 10-34-2 for 94 yards, Balangitao 0-1-0 for 0 yards. Waianae: Simpson 5-8-0 for 53 yards.

Receiving-Kaiser: Kakuda 2-12, McAngus 6-58, Yoshino 1-15, Takemoto 1-9. Waianae: Nakoa 2-20, Gilman 3-33.

Waipahu 14, Leilehua 6:

Leilehua 	0	6	0	0-- 6
Waipahu  	7	0	7	0--14

Scoring summary

Waip-Torres 5 run (Naehu kick)

Leil-Mohica 13 pass from Raquino (kick failed)

Waip-Gossett 16 pass from Suemalo (Naehu kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing-Leilehua: Paulding 7-32, West 28-141, Raquino 10-58, Watson 6-26, Sanborn 1-6. Waipahu: Torres 14-73, Suemalo 7-3.

Passing-Leilehua: Raquino 1-6-1 for 6 yards. Waipahu: Seumalo 13-24-1 for 136 yards.

Receiving-Leilehua: Tomas 1-6. Waipahu: Takeshita 3-16, Nouchi 2-8, Chang 1-17, Candido 1-8, Gossett 6-87.