Rough and tumble. Wild and woolly. Call it what you want. The official name is the OIA Red West, and the football craziness that has been happening all year continued Friday night.

Leilehua, coming off a tough loss to Campbell a week ago, rallied for a 27-26 overtime win over Waipahu at Hugh Yoshida Stadium.

The Mules (3-2 Red West, 5-1) broke a 20-20 regulation tie by scoring first in overtime after Waipahu decided to defend first. Then Leilehua —after yielding a TD to Waipahu —stopped Marauders running back Terrance Lauti on the 2-point conversion to end the game.

"We wanted to win it in overtime," said Waipahu coach Eric Keola, when asked why he chose to go for the 2 points instead of the kick to tie. "That’s why we chose to defend first. We wanted to stop them and then win it. We just didn’t get enough push (from the line on the 2-pointer)."

The Marauders (2-3, 2-5) were without their bull of a running back, Wesley Nagaseu, for that crucial conversion try. The 6-foot 250-pounder, who is used in pivotal short-yardage situations, was on the bench with a hamstring injury.

"I know how they’re feeling," Mules coach Nolan Tokuda said of his opponents. "We lost at the very end to Campbell last week. We fell behind (tonight), but our boys are resilient and didn’t panic."

The Mules trailed 14-3 and 20-10 in the game, but continued to move the ball under the guidance of quarterback Justin Jenks, who threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Shai Pulawa with 6:46 left in regulation to make it 20-17.

Alex Beti’s game-tying 20-yard field goal with 2:20 left in regulation was made possible by Leilehua defensive back Malik Morton, who forced a Waipahu fumble, and teammate Andrew Sesepasara recovered to allow the Mules to set up shop at the Waipahu 46.

It was Beti’s second field goal of the game.

In the overtime, Jenks completed a 12-yard pass to Pulawa and, two plays later, Ikaika Piceno went up the middle for a 6-yard score. Beti added the extra point.

Waipahu got the ball and quarterback Kaimi Paredes’ 10-yard scramble led to his own 1-yard sneak for a TD four plays later.

The Leilehua sideline erupted with shouts and jumps for joy when the line held on Lauti’s 2-point try. The disappointment was evident on the Waipahu sideline, but when the Marauders gathered to line up for the end-of-game handshake with Leilehua, the players told each other, "The season’s not over yet."

Touchdowns by Dylan Pakau (on a 7-yard pass from Kai Mercado-Aiona) and Isaiah Alama (62-yard jaunt) allowed Waipahu to go up 14-3 in the first half.

But Leilehua shook off its early rust with a 66-yard march that took up most of the final five minutes of the first half. Levi Castanares, who took over at quarterback for Jenks on the Mules’ previous possession, completed eight passes on the drive and ran three times, and his 12-yard touchdown toss to Tristin Kamaka in the right corner of the end zone allowed Leilehua to cut the deficit to 14-10 just before the half.

The drive was a foreshadowing of things to come for the Mules, who controlled the ball for much of the second half en route to the comeback.