No. 7 Waianae socks it to Waipahu

If you were looking for a high-flying aerial circus, you came to the wrong place.

No. 7 Waianae and Waipahu socked it out in a blue-collar, smash-mouth OIA Red West football game at the Seariders’ Raymond Torii Field on Friday night, with Waianae rolling to a 39-0 victory.

And it wasn’t at all about aesthetics. It came down to first-half mistakes. Waipahu was guilty of three fumbles in the first 24 minutes, including one that was returned for a touchdown.

"We had a lot of turnovers," Waipahu coach Eric Keola said. "Basically, it comes down to fundamentals. We didn’t handle the snaps or the handoffs. And Waianae’s offense is potent. They run the ball well and they can pass when they need to. Very balanced."

Special teams also contributed in the early going as the Seariders built a 24-0 halftime lead. Early in the second quarter with Waianae up 7-0, Ronald Matautia blocked a Waipahu punt deep in Marauders territory. The ball bounded into the Waipahu end zone and Matautia pounced on it for a 14-0 bulge.

On its next possession, Waipahu fumbled. Waianae’s Justice Jardine recovered and sprinted 20 yards into the end zone to make it 21-0.

Those mistakes were unfortunate for the Marauders, whose defense was having some success containing the Seariders’ prolific option offense.

Take away the mistakes, and a glance at final yards rushing (Waianae 151; Waipahu 117, not including a 36-yard team loss on a fumble that resulted in a safety with a minute left in the game) indicates it was a relatively evenly played contest at the line of scrimmage.

Despite what the final scoreboard read, Waianae coach Daniel Matsumoto felt fortunate with the victory.

"We knew Waipahu was going to be a tough team," Matsumoto said. "We needed this one, especially after (last week’s) hard loss against Campbell. We want to continue to be a running team, and we still have to tighten up our blocking scheme.

"We have to have a better first step and we need to do better carrying out those blocks.

"Our goal is to make the playoffs and we think this win puts us in."

The Seariders drove 65 yards for the only score of the third quarter, getting two 11-yard runs by Jemery Willes and a 17-yard gain on Kekoa Kaluhiokalani’s pass to Pookela Noa-Nakamoto on the way to a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Matautia for a 30-0 lead.

Waianae backup quarterback Ioane Kaluhiokalani directed a fourth-quarter scoring drive with two long passes to Noa-Nakamoto. Emil Muraoka’s 29-yard sweep left for a touchdown made it 37-0 with 9:13 remaining in the game.

The safety at the end for the final two points started at the Waipahu 36. A fumble resulted in a ball being batted by several players on both teams and it rolled all the way into the end zone. Waianae’s Chase Kuamoo-Vincent nearly recovered for a touchdown, but the ball slipped out of his hands and rolled out the side of the end zone.

Waipahu got a big game from quarterback Kai Mercado-Aiona, who rushed for 49 tough yards on 17 carries. Dominick Marshall and Tama Iosefa recovered fumbles for the Marauders.