After a week off, Kaiser enjoyed a night of happy returns in a 60-34 OIA Red win over Waipahu on Friday.
The Cougars opened the game with Andrew Kaufusi’s 91-yard kickoff return for a score. Chance Kalaugher returned a fumble for a score and Nicolas Tom scored on punt and interception returns of 70 and 80 yards.
Kaiser running back Jensen McDaniel sat out the Cougars’ loss at Kahuku on Aug. 21 and a bye gave him another week of rest. He announced his return on his first touch of the game, catching a swing pass from Tom and racing down the sideline for an 88-yard score.
McDaniel finished the night with 100 rushing yards on 10 carries and a touchdown and Parker Higgins ran for 129 yards on 17 attempts and also scored and Kaiser picked up its first win of the season.
The big plays were enough for Kaiser to overcome Waipahu receiver Andrew Simanu’s 249-yard performance. Simanu caught 12 passes, two going for touchdowns.
Kaiser stuck early, with Kaufusi fielding the opening kickoff and bursting through the Waipahu coverage team for a 91-yard touchdown return.
After McDaniel’s first touchdown of the night, Waipahu quarterback Gavin Marques came off the bench to ignite a Marauders scoring drive. He completed three passes for 39 yards and ran for 23, the last 13 coming on a touchdown run, and Waipahu closed to 12-7.
But the Kaiser defense got the score back when defensive end Kalaugher tracked down an errant shotgun snap and returned it 32 yards for a score.
Waipahu closed the gap when Marques lofted a deep ball to Simanu on fourth-and-4 from midfield. Simanu came down with the ball and wove into the end zone for the score.
But Kaiser rode McDaniel on all five plays of a 59-yard drive and scored on his second touchdown, a 7-yard run.
On his next handoff, McDaniel broke free again but fumbled at the end of a 25-yard gain. Kaiser’s Jonny Hanawaihine scooped up the loose ball and advanced it to the Waipahu 3. Tom scored two plays later to extend Kaiser’s lead to 33-14 going into halftime.
Kaiser continued to pull away in the second half, stretching the lead to 46-20 on Tom’s 70-yard punt return on the final play of the third quarter. Tom added the game’s final touchdown with his 80-yard interception return late in the fourth quarter.
