Lincoln Barit has seen his team overcome its mistakes before.
This time, he didn’t quite expect his Waialua Bulldogs to bulldoze on the ground like this. Waialua rushed for 259 yards behind the potent 1-2 combo of Risein Campbell and Howard Nahooikaika for a 14-12 win over Pearl City on Friday night.
The Bulldogs stopped Pearl City’s final drive near midfield with 2:15 to play.
“We were concerned, especially with their kicker (Zameer Khan),” Barit said. “Our defense controlled the trenches and our offensive line gave us a push when we needed that push, and our running backs did good. I didn’t know we would run the ball like that.”
Waialua’s win knocked Pearl City, which was 5-0 in OIA Division II before last weekend’s games, to 5-2. Pearl City finished regular-season play as the fourth seed and will meet first-place Waipahu at Aiea High School field next week. Waialua (5-2) will meet second-place Kaimuki (5-2) next week at Kaiser Stadium. Next week’s winners will qualify for the D-II state tourney. The losers will be done for the year.
“It’s the little mistakes, the holding, the offsides, those drive you crazy,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. “Waialua came to play. They’re well coached. We had opportunities and just didn’t capitalize.”
A robust crowd of about 1,500 at Tosh Nakasone Field saw the Bulldogs’ offensive line do much of the work, pounding and carving gaps in Pearl City’s defense. Campbell finished with 153 yards on 23 carries, and Nahooikaika had 96 yards and a TD on 11 attempts.
The Bulldogs took a 7-0 lead on Nahooikaika’s 31-yard blast in the second quarter, but they squandered multiple opportunities despite positive field position.
Waialua took the opening series of the second half and marched 70 yards in six plays. Campbell’s 29-yard run off left tackle set up a 7-yard scoring pass from Tevesi Toia to Lance Kuni. It was a dart that evaded the coverage, with Kuni diving into the end zone to snatch the bullet pass.
Down 14-0, the Chargers answered almost immediately. Robert Yamasaki returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but an illegal block reduced it to a 71-yard return. That set up quarterback Kekainalu Simon’s 1-yard sneak over the goal line.
Multi-position standout Matthan Hatchie then came up with possibly the key play of the game, gashing through the A-gap to block the extra-point attempt. Hatchie, who rarely leaves the field, blocked a punt last week against McKinley.
Pearl City closed the gap in the fourth quarter when Brody Padilla returned a punt 34 yards to the Waialua 10. Three plays later, Kami called a gadget play, an option pass by Patrick Nunez, who had lined up at running back, to Padilla. The 5-yard TD pass to a wide-open Padilla cut the score to 14-12 with 7:55 left.
But the 2-point conversion try, a reverse option pass by Padilla, was defended in the end zone by Waialua’s Kymani Ayonon and Dayton Supebedia.
Pearl City’s final series began at its 46-yard line with 3:30 to go. After a 10-yard completion, Isaiah Asinsin scrambled out of the pocket and lost the ball, which was eventually knocked out of bounds by Waialua for a 14-yard loss. On fourth down, Pearl City’s fake punt, a pass by Zion Tupuola-Fetui, fell incomplete as the Chargers asked for a pass interference penalty.
Kalani 41, McKinley 18
Ikaika Andaya caught five passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns, and Jaemi Harris ran for 121 yards and two scores, as the Falcons scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to rout the Tigers.
Frank Steffany rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns for McKinley.
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Jeremy Nitta, Star-Advertiser
