Waipahu’s AJ Contado didn’t know for sure the ball was coming to him. But when it did he made it count.

Time was running down in a deadlocked Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II semifinal game and Marauders teammate Alfred Failauga had just run the ball from the Pearl City 8-yard line to the 1. Instead of calling timeout, Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho didn’t stop his team from hurrying to the line. Sixteen seconds … 15 … the ball was snapped to Braden Amorozo, who instead of giving it up the middle to Failauga like he had all night long, pitched it to the right side to Contado.

“Usually, Alfred our go-to guy gets it, but then I saw Braden pull it and I was like, ‘Here it comes,’ ” Contado said. “He made the decision to pitch it out to me. I felt so blessed at the time.”

Contado took it around right end to give Waipahu a 13-7 lead as the clock ticked to seven seconds left. Isaiah Harris’ extra-point was wide and Pearl City had one more chance, but could not gain any ground and the six-point margin held.

With the win, the Marauders (8-1) qualified for the D-II state tournament and will move on to the OIA D-II championship game against Waialua next week.

When asked what he saw when he got the ball, Contado said, “Nothing at all. There was nothing there. Everybody bit on the inside. I owe it to Alfred. I owe it to the OC. I owe it to everybody. It’s a team effort.”

Both teams scored in the first quarter, but it was a defensive slugfest and puntfest after that.

Pearl City’s promising season came to a halt. The Chargers started their league season 5-0, including a 21-7 victory over Waipahu on Sept. 10, but hit a wall and finished with a 5-4 overall mark.

“That’s how it goes,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. “It was one of our goals to make it to states, so of course it’s disappointing for our program. We had a good season — started off good — but at the end we didn’t finish off what we started.”

Failauga, a freshman who finished with 156 yards rushing on 22 carries, gave Waipahu a 7-0 first-quarter lead by following up his 69-yard run with an 11-yard touchdown run. The Chargers fought back right away for a 7-all tie with an 80-yard drive. Patrick Nunez bolted for 35 yards to set up Charles Freitas’ 3-yard TD run.

The Chargers had two other chances to put points on the board in the first half, but Zameer Khan missed field goals of 33 and 38 yards.

“The outcome wasn’t what we expected to happen, but good luck to them,” Chargers safety Kasey Kikuyama said. “We gotta move on and prepare for next season.”

Kobie Russell’s spectacular interception made the winning drive possible. It came one play after teammate Jeminae Solomua sacked Pearl City quarterback Isaiah Asinsin. Russell wrestled the ball away from a receiver in midair and returned the ball 26 yards to the Chargers 16.

Failauga ran the ball three straight times before Contado’s winning TD.

“It’s amazing,” the Marauders’ Carvalho said. “I can’t even describe it. These kids have battled through this entire season and their entire careers.”

Carvalho said if the winning play hadn’t worked, he would have called timeout and tried a field goal.