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Waianae fails to wrestle
win away from Mililani
The Trojans take control in
the fourth quarter, then hold off
the Seariders for a 26-24 win
» Yesterday's results
It was more about toughness than anything else for Mililani last night in a 26-24 Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West football victory over Waianae.
The two leading contenders for the division crown got off to a rollicking start in the conference opener at Mililani's stadium, hammering away at each other and trading touchdowns until the Trojans (2-1) took control early in the fourth quarter and then held off the Seariders' desperation comeback.
David Rivers' leaping 18-yard touchdown catch with 9:52 left gave Mililani the lead for good, 19-18.
"I took my visor off (before the play) and I just jumped, grabbed it with one hand, concentrated, kept my eye on it and looked it straight into my body," said the 6-foot-4 Rivers, who had 9 inches on 5-7 Waianae defensive back Chad Paaluhi on the pass from Austin Funakoshi.
Both teams had something very tangible on the line. The Trojans, rulers of the West the last few seasons, didn't want to give up any of that hard-earned ground, but the Seariders (2-1) knocked off state powerhouse Saint Louis last week and wanted to show they once again belong in the upper echelon of teams statewide after a few lean years.
Curtis Murakami's interception with 2:50 left set up Kekoa Perbera's second touchdown, an 8-yard run, for a more comfortable (and, as it turned out, needed) 26-18 advantage for the Trojans.
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But Waianae wasn't done. Quarterback Henry Keomalu hit Curtis Jones streaking down the right sideline for a 77-yard touchdown to pull the Seariders closer at 26-24 with 58 seconds to go. Jones got the call again on the 2-point try, but he was dragged down by several penetrating Mililani defenders.
Still, the Seariders didn't quit. At the bottom of a scrum after the onside kick, Waianae's Anthony Miyose and Junior Faliuga battled Mililani's Chad Kilthau and others for the ball. Kilthau won.
"I felt the refs cheated us, because Junior got that ball," said Waianae defensive back Preston Ayala, who had two interceptions, including one he returned for a 44-yard touchdown that tied the game at 6-6.
"The referee told me he ruled it a joint possession," Seariders coach Daniel Matsumoto said. When asked what that meant, Matsumoto shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and said, "That's a good question."
Trojans coach James Millwood, who looked relieved after the narrow escape, was confident his player got the ball.
"Cody definitely had it when the play was over," Millwood said. "Maybe, a Waianae player got it after that. I don't know.
"But Waianae definitely came to play. It was a real tough game. It's good to have a win on them. It means we have the upper edge (in case of any late-season tiebreakers) on them. Our kids came to play and I'm proud of them."
Mililani's ability to pound the ball up the gut in the second half was a major factor. The Trojans took up the first 6:45 of the third quarter with a 10-play drive that was capped by Perbera's 25-yard razzle-dazzle run for a 13-6 edge.
Two straight Seariders touchdowns -- Jones' 19-yard scamper and Keomalu's 16-yard pass to Jordan Manuel -- put Waianae up 18-13 late in the third. Vincent Marcellino set up the latter score with a fumble recovery at the Trojans 16.
Mililani came right back, with Jordan Torres and Tyran Onizuka ripping off long runs to set up Rivers' go-ahead grab.
"We needed to make the tackles (in the second half), obviously," Matsumoto said. "Their running backs ran well on us."
The Seariders almost had another first-half score when Keomalu took a fourth-down quarterback sneak 45 yards for an apparent score. But a Waianae player reported into the game late before the play and the Seariders were hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty afterward. So, instead of the 45-yard gain and the six points, Waianae lost 30 yards.
[ OIA WHITE ]
Kaiser coaches prod
Cougars past Mustangs
After sleepwalking through the first half, the Kaiser Cougars responded to a halftime wake-up call from their coaches to rally for a 30-22 victory over Kalaheo last night.
"It was rowdy," first-year Kaiser coach Pat Samsonas said of the scene at halftime. "It was pretty nuts."
Kaiser was limited to 35 yards and trailed the Mustangs 14-3 after the first half of the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference game at Kailua High School.
The Cougars then scored on their first three possessions of the second half to take the lead and remained undefeated at 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the OIA White.
Kaiser quarterback Nick Yuzawa connected with Paa Kamauoha on two touchdown passes and running back Isaac Saffery rushed for two scores to fuel the Cougars' comeback.
Yuzawa finished with 178 passing yards, while Saffery had 82 on the ground, 79 coming in the second half.
Kalaheo's Matthew Soueira ran for 124 yards and three touchdowns for the Mustangs (0-2, 0-1) and Jeremy Perry added 108 yards. But Kalaheo turned the ball over three times in the second half to aid Kaiser's rally.
"More than them beating us, we beat ourselves," Kalaheo coach Russ Ramos said. "We had fumbles, we lost our composure.
"They started blitzing their linebackers and made a good adjustment in stopping the run game. We just didn't execute in the second half."
Kalaheo had a bye last week to prepare for its conference opener and ran to an early lead.
The Mustangs attempted just one pass in the first half, while three running backs combined to rush for 164 yards.
Soueira capped the Mustangs' second possession of the game with a 44-yard sprint to the end zone.
After Kaiser got on the scoreboard on a Kyle Niiro field goal, Soueira added to Kalaheo's lead with a 22-yard TD run.
Trailing by 11 at the break, Kaiser wasted little time in starting its comeback, as Yuzawa found Kamauoha running alone down the right side for a 65-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half.
"They were stacking the box, so we just had to go deep," Samsonas said. "They were giving us seven in the box the whole first half, so we just wanted to loosen them up."
Kalaheo's next possession ended with Soueira scoring his third touchdown of the game to put Kalaheo up 22-10.
Kaiser came back with a 16-play drive and cut Kalaheo's lead to two on Saffery's 2-yard run on fourth down.
A Kalaheo fumble gave the Cougars the ball back deep in the Mustangs' territory, and Yuzawa hit Kamauoha for a 17-yard touchdown pass to give Kaiser its first lead of the game with 1:39 left in the third quarter.
Kalaheo fumbled the ball away twice in the fourth quarter, and Saffery's 37-yard run gave Kaiser a 30-22 lead with 1:35 left in the game.
"They came through at the end; it was a good comeback," Samsonas said.
Radford 41, Waipahu 0
Ryan Burciaga threw for 175 yards and a touchdown and the Rams shut out the Marauders.Burciaga also led Radford with 37 yards and a touchdown on the ground in the blowout as the Rams scored four times before halftime.
The Rams limited the Marauders to just 2 yards rushing and 11 yards passing in the shutout.
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