Maneafaiga carries Pearl City football to win

Joe Maneafaiga’s first game as a starting running back was historic.

The Pearl City junior broke the school’s single-game rushing record on his final carry when he scooted for 6 yards and the game-clinching first down to preserve s 14-7 victory over Roosevelt in the OIA Division II opener for both teams at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium on Friday night.

Maneafaiga, who sat out the first quarter due to disciplinary action, piled up 217 yards on 23 carries to break Antoin Dewalt’s record set in 2006 by a single yard.

“Everything was going great for us,” Maneafaiga said. “All of the holes were open when I got the ball and boom, I could go straight through the hole. Our offensive line did a great job.”

Maneafaiga carried the ball only five times as a sophomore and missed the second half of the season after tearing a knee ligament.

He entered the game in the second quarter with the score tied 7-7 and carried the load offensively, tallying 217 of Pearl City’s 355 total yards.

“I had to sit out the first quarter and learned my lesson. I won’t ever try to do something like that again,” Maneafaiga said. “We felt a little rusty (as a team), but we’ll work at it for next game.”

The Chargers (1-0, 1-0) won the previous three meetings against the Rough Riders (1-1, 0-1) by a combined score of 125-13, but didn’t put the game away until Maneafaiga’s clinching run in the final minute.

Alosina Toomalatai scored a 4-yard touchdown run on his only carry of the game in the fourth quarter.

Pearl City missed two field goals inside of 40 yards and self-destructed near the red zone multiple times with dropped snaps and penalties.

The Chargers had to cancel their scheduled opener last week because of a shortage of players.

“It’s a new team. We lost a lot of seniors last year, especially on the offensive side,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. 

“It’s a good win under our belt. Joe is big for us taking over the running back position and he reads the holes real well.”

Roosevelt, which beat McKinley 39-0 last week, scored its only touchdown on a 14-yard pass from sophomore Shastyn Kekahuna to Shayne Teruya, who caught five balls for 40 yards. The Rough Riders were held to 6 total yards and one first down in the second half.

“We’re learning and it’s slowly coming together, and all we can ask of them is to keep improving every week,” Roosevelt coach Jeff Azuma said. “It was a good, tough football game. (Pearl City’s offense) was on the field too much and dictated the pace of the game and I think that was the difference.”

Kekahuna was 8-for-17 for 68 yards but completed only one pass — for negative yards — in the second half. Tala Moeone scored the first touchdown of the season for the Chargers on a 27-yard run late in the first quarter. Roosevelt’s touchdown came after Pearl City had a punt deflect off of one of its players. The ball was recovered by the Rough Riders on the Chargers 14-yard line.