Kailua struck early on its way to taking a 21-point halftime lead against Aiea on Saturday.
But the Surfriders would have to weather some fourth-quarter tension before celebrating a fourth straight victory to open the season.
Kailua quarterback Noah Auld threw three touchdown passes, starting with an 85-yard completion to Martin Tigilau on the Surfriders’ first play from scrimmage, and held on for a 34-21 win over the host Na Alii.
The eighth-ranked Surfriders improved to 4-0 overall for the first time since 2003, when Kailua got off to a 6-0 start, and 3-0 in the OIA Blue.
"It’s the toughest division in the state," Kailua coach Joseph Wong said. "Aiea’s no slouch. They made some plays in the second half and we made a little bit more. We stiffened up when we needed to on defense and collectively, team effort, can’t ask for anything more."
Auld threw for a career-high 309 yards, 117 going to Tigilau, who caught two touchdown passes in the first half.
But Aiea (1-3, 1-2) rallied behind quarterback Kobe Kato, who threw for 275 yards and two scores. Kame Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo caught both touchdown passes and Pohaku Kealoha-Cambe pulled down four passes for 124 yards.
After Na Alii closed to 28-21 with 8:43 left on Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo’s 7-yard touchdown reception, Kailua answered with a 12-play drive that took 5:31 off the clock. Mark Lagazo, who contributed on both sides of the ball, put the game out of reach with a 14-yard touchdown run with 3:12 left.
"They’ve grown leaps and bounds and they need to continue to grow," Wong said of the Surfriders’ hot start. "Hopefully we keep that going, ride that wave."
After forcing a three-and-out on Aiea’s first possession of the game, Kailua jumped ahead on its first play.
Auld threw a slant to Tigilau, who broke away from the Na Alii secondary for an 85-yard touchdown to give the Surfriders the lead one minute and 15 seconds into the game.
Kailua threatened again early in the second quarter before coming up short at the Aiea 4. But field position helped set up a score after the Surfriders forced Aiea to punt from its end zone.
Kailua took over at the Na Alii 34 and put together an eight-play drive, with Gabe LeLesch scoring on a 1-yard run.
Lagazo sparked Kailua’s next scoring drive on both sides of the ball. He came down with an interception at the Aiea 28, then caught a pass out of the backfield to take the ball to the 1. Auld connected with Tigilau on their second touchdown pass of the game to give Kailua a 21-0 lead going into halftime.
Aiea got on the board on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kato to Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo in the third quarter. But Kailua scored on a 17-yard pass from Auld to Isaiah Damo-Agcaoili on the first play of the fourth quarter to take a 28-7 lead and managed to hold off Aiea’s charge the rest of the way.
| At Aiea |
| Kailua |
(4-0, 3-0) |
7 |
14 |
0 |
13 |
— |
34 |
| Aiea |
(1-3, 1-2) |
0 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
— |
21 |
Kai–Martin Tigilau 85 pass from Noah Auld (Jonovan Lee kick)
Kai–Gabe LeLesch 1 run (Lee kick)
Kai–Tigilau 1 pass from Auld (Lee kick)
Aiea–Kame Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 11 pass from Kobe Kato (Cody Lau kick)
Kai–Isaiah Damo-Agcaoili 17 pass from Auld (Lee kick)
Aiea–Ariq Vergado-Duclayan 7 run (Lau kick)
Aiea–Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 7 pass from Kato (Lau kick)
Kai–Mark Lagazo 14 run (kick blocked)
RUSHING–Kailua: Kana Richardson 7-11, LeLesch 8-4, Lagazo 4-37, Auld 9-60, Kila Thomas 9-22, Team 2-(-4).
Aiea: Vergado-Duclayan 6-9, Kato 7-(-22), Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 1-16, Zelius Maae-Liupaono 6-(-2).
PASSING—Kailua: Auld 18-32-0-309 Aiea: Kato 16-34-2-275, Maae-Liupaono 1-2-0-15.
RECEIVING—Kailua: Tigilau 5-117, Noah Ah Yat 5-32, Hano Kohatsu 1-18, Damo-Agcaoili 4-78, Lagazo 1-23, Noah Vega 1-39, Lawson Faria 1-2.
Aiea: Teron Kitashima 3-21, Pohaku Kealoha-Cambe 3-124,, Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 6-80, Arman Mogote 3-44, Vergado-Duclayan 2-21.
JV–Kailua 47, Aiea 0
