Taulia Tagovailoa passed for 388 yards and three touchdowns as No. 5 Kapolei fought off Kailua 34-20 on a muggy Friday night at the Hurricanes’ field.

With the key win, Kapolei improved to 4-1 in Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division play (5-1 overall). The ‘Canes will meet Farrington in a pivotal matchup next weekend.

“It was an ugly win,” Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. “We had a lot of yards, maybe 450, but we have to be able to turn those yards into points.”

The home team saw a fairly comfortable lead get chipped to 27-20 after Kailua’s Mark Lagazo scored on a 6-yard keeper with 2:59 left. Kapolei’s sure-handed senior, Jaymin Sarono, recovered the ensuing onside kick, however.

The ‘Canes were in clock management mode with two runs in a row when Tagovailoa surprised the Kailua secondary by launching a bomb to Wyatt Perez. The 51-yard gain set up a 1-yard burst over the goal line by 285-pound running back Antoneo Filipo-Brown. That put the Hurricanes up 34-20 with 1:23 left, icing the win.

Kailua dropped to 2-3 in league play.

“Our boys fought and played their butts off,” Surfriders coach Joe Wong said. “One or two plays here or there, and we are right there. Hats off to Kapolei. They made the least mistakes.”

Kailua came to the West side with a predictable game plan: use long, ground-and-pound drives to chew up the clock and keep Tagovailoa, who leads the state in passing yardage and TD passes, on the sideline.

Early on, Tagovailoa was in his groove. His 5-yard strike to Perez opened the scoring with 2:13 left in the first quarter.

Kailua tied it on a 2-yard run by Lagazo, the running back who moved to QB when Keoni Serikawa Jr. suffered a shoulder injury several weeks back.

Kapolei jumped ahead again when Tagovailoa connected with recently returned Marquis Montgomery for a 30-yard gain, and then Perez for 22 yards. That set up a 3-yard TD run by John Kansana for a 13-7 lead with 2:54 left in the first half.

Kapolei put another TD on the scoreboard just before intermission, driving 81 yards in four plays. A 54-yard catch-and-run by Sarono set up a 6-yard TD pass between the two for a 20-7 lead with 1:07 to go.

The ’Canes got a 7-yard scoring toss from Tagovailoa to Isaiah Ahana early in the third quarter to open a 27-7 lead.

But Chauncy Gonsalves-Bell sparked Kailua’s hopes by returning the ensuing kickoff 89 yards to the end zone.

Kapolei’s offense failed to score in its next four possessions, and Kailua finally pulled within one TD on Lagazo’s final scoring run.