Saturday, October 6, 2001
[ PREP FOOTBALL ]
Waipahu quarterback Paulo Aga was lucky he had a little time to roam around. The clock was ticking down and none of his receivers were immediately open. Last-minute TD deals
Roosevelt its first lossBy Nick Abramo
nabramo@starubulletin.comBut Aga patiently waited for Kawika Raymondo to break open and he quickly hit him with a 15-yard touchdown strike in the back of the end zone to lift the Marauders to a thrilling 27-22 victory over Oahu Interscholastic Association White Division rival Roosevelt at Waipahu's Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex last night.
The score came with 28 seconds left as Waipahu had to stop one more Roosevelt possession before locking up the win.
"This was a huge win for us," said Waipahu coach Todd Fujimori. "Our kids, when it got tight, didn't give in. There wasn't one phase where they felt like they couldn't do it."
The Marauders improved to 5-1 with the come-from-behind win, while the Roughriders fell to 4-1.
It looked like Roosevelt was ready to cash in on the victory when Cameron Kimura kicked a 25-yard field goal to put the Roughriders ahead 22-21 with 8:26 left.
But Waipahu quickly marched down the field on the hard up-the-middle running of Avei Moevao, who clicked off two 6-yard gains and a key 31-yard pickup. The drive stalled with about four minutes to go when five Roosevelt defenders mobbed Branden Chung and stopped him short after a fourth-down reception.
Roosevelt, however, failed to pick up a first down, and Waipahu's Travis Atualevao put his team right back in the game with a 38-yard punt return all the way to the Roughriders' 15 to set up the winning TD.
"That play didn't work as planned," said Fujimori, referring to the game-winning pass. "But the offensive line maintained their blocks and the receivers knew enough to get open and wave their arms up."
It was a break-out game of sorts for Moevao, who was used primarily as a blocker before last night's game. He finished with 128 yards on 16 carries.
"He's the guy who's always saying 'let's go, let's go,' " Fujimori said. "He's also the guy who comes over and tells me what I need to know about what's going on out there."
Roosevelt quarterback Chris Mols completed 21 of 38 passes for 224 yards, and threw two of the team's three interceptions.
Waipahu took a 14-0 first-quarter lead on Aga's touchdown passes of 53 and 9 yards to Chung. Chung also scored in the first half with an 87-yard interception return as Waipahu held a 21-12 halftime lead.
The Roughriders got on the board in the first half on Mols' TD passes of 14 and 27 yards to Jerry Perreira and Matthew Terukina. Mols' 1-yard touchdown run cut Waipahu's lead to 21-19 midway through the third quarter.
Radford 32, Moanalua 29: Ten points down in the fourth quarter, Rams running back Justin Rellin broke for a 60-yard TD run to put the team within 4.
A Tracy Burton PAT and a Shane Roberson 4-yard rumble for a score capped off Radford's comeback.
Rellin finished the game with 118 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Menehunes wide receiver James Stromback, the OIA White's leading receiver, finished the game with six catches for 187 and three touchdowns.
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