Late push helps Waianae pull away from Kaiser

Judge Waianae by the two fourth quarters it has played and the Seariders look like a top-five team.

Coach Daniel Matsumoto’s top priority now is to get his team to play that way for four straight quarters.

Waianae won a dogfight against Kaiser in an OIA Red showdown on Friday night, scoring 19 unanswered points in the second half to pull away for a 26-7 victory at Kaiser Stadium that ended the Cougars’ 14-game win streak.

John Barbieto scored the go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-down run late in the third quarter and the Seariders outscored the Cougars 12-0 in the fourth to pull away for their first win of the season.

"The boys knew how key this game was and I’m glad they fought through it," Matsumoto said. "If we can be consistent like (the fourth quarter), we can be pretty good."

Waianae outscored Moanalua 16-0 in the fourth quarter last week but still lost by seven.

In danger of dropping to 0-2, the Seariders forced four turnovers and came up big on multiple fourth-down plays.

With the score tied 7-7 in the third quarter, Waianae missed a 34-yard field goal, but Kaiser was called for a penalty after roughing the kicker.

With a new set of downs, the Seariders had the ball  fourth-and-goal at the 3 when Barbieto took the handoff and was met at the goal line before just barely getting the ball to cross the plane.

"All of the coaches were telling me just to run hard, and so all I could do is do what they asked for," Barbieto said. "It was a rough first week, but we got through a lot of struggles and pulled through today."

Barbieto finished with 68 rushing yards on 17 of Waianae’s 53 rushing attempts.

Four different running backs had at least eight carries as the Seariders dominated the time of possession.

"I think the wind was a big factor because that helped us a lot with field position," Matsumoto said. "Kaiser is a mean team. They are explosive, they can run, they can pass and if they had good field position from the get-go, it would have been a different story."

Junior Jensen McDonald rushed for 159 yards and scored Kaiser’s only touchdown on a 76-yard scamper midway through the second quarter.

Kaiser had only three first downs through the first 19 minutes before McDonald took a read-option handoff from quarterback Kalawaia Judd. He got lost in a pile of linemen before escaping out of the other end and beating the safety to the sideline for the score.

Judd struggled through the air, completing only four of his 15 throws. Cornerback Ezekiel Moniz-Hopeau had two of the Seariders’ three interceptions and defensive lineman Nayton Kuresa turned Kaiser back with a sack on the first play of the fourth quarter to thwart any comeback attempt.

"Our defense did what we were told to do," Kuresa said. "I think we came together as a team (in the second half) to bring that ‘W’ back."

Kaiser managed to rush for 216 yards but made too many mistakes. A bad snap on a punt resulted in a safety that put Waianae up 19-7.

Waianae faced a three-and-out on its next drive, but a roughing the punter call against Kaiser gave the Seariders a chance on fourth-and-1.

Barbieto picked up the first down and then quarterback Ioane Kaluhiokalani found Stanton Spencer on a 45-yard touchdown pass for the final margin.

Kaluhiokalani, who sat out the loss to Moanalua, was 5-for-14 for 82 yards and a score and rushed 13 times for 54 yards.

Wain–Niko Kala-Mahiai 2 run (Stanton Spencer kick)

Kais–Jensen McDaniel 76 run (Matt Sai kick)

Wain–John Barbieto 3 run (Spencer kick)

Wain–FG Spencer 29

Wain–Safety, ball snapped out of end zone

Wain–Spencer 45 pass from Ioane Kaluhiokalani (Spencer kick)

RUSHING–Waianae: Barbieto 17-68, Kaluhiokalani 13-54, Kala-Mahiai 8-28, Jurick Valdez 10-18, Javen Towne 3-8, Mosiah Brame 1-4, TEAM 1-(-2). Kaiser: McDaniel 22-159, Kalawaia Judd 10-43, Keith Jones II 1-9, Justin Ikei 1-5.

PASSING–Waianae: Kaluhiokalani 5-14-0-82. Kaiser: Judd 4-15-3-20.

RECEIVING–Waianae: Spencer 1-45, Tyler Stone 1-13, Robert Delenia 1-12, Barbieto 1-6, Towne 1-6. Kaiser: Destin Moss 3-12, McDaniel 1-8.