Waialua wins first league title since 1955

Lincoln Barit, fresh off a thrilling 36-35 win over Waipahu, looked toward the sea of red that shook the mauka side of Aloha Stadium.

“What can I say? I’m getting choked up,” said the 14-year head coach. “Just trying to soak it all in.”

Caught up in the moment and drenched after getting doused with water by his players, one thing was clear to him: The 61-year drought is over.

With the victory, Waialua claimed the OIA Division II championship. It is the school’s first league championship title since 1955, back when it competed in the now-defunct Rural Oahu Interscholastic Association. Additionally, the Bulldogs won their seventh game of the season, their most since 1979.

“We got over the hump. Actually, it was a hill for me,” Barit said. “These are special boys. We thank the community for everything that they’ve done for us and our families.”

Waialua came out firing as quarterback Tevesi Toia ran for one touchdown and threw for another, giving the Bulldogs a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. The rest of the half was a back-and-forth affair, with Waialua leading 29-20 at halftime.

Waipahu took its only lead of the game when quarterback Braden Amorozo tossed a 55-yard prayer to Alika Ahsing for a touchdown with 3:19 to go in the third quarter, giving the Marauders a 35-29 advantage.

Toia answered with his third passing touchdown of the game, an 8-yard strike to Risein Campbell with 11:43 to go in the fourth quarter that proved to be the game’s last score. Toia was a dual threat all game, going 24-for-36 with 256 yards from the air along with 80 yards on 14 rushes.

“We’re just gonna keep fighting through everything,” Toia said. “We just watched film and studied them all day.”

A quiet fourth quarter was intensified as the Marauders were setting up for a game-winning field goal. At fourth-and-1 with 43 seconds remaining on the Waialua 34, Amorozo turned the ball over after fumbling the snap.

“We just wanted to get that ball back,” Waialua linebacker Dayton Lee said, “All we had to do was get that ball back.”

“Man, it was crazy. It was pretty 50-50, but our defense pulled it off and fought through it,” Toia added.

Amorozo paced the Waipahu passing attack, throwing for 327 yards after going 20-for-27.

The 5-foot-7, 170-pound Lee led the Waialua defense with a Rudy-like performance, logging a game-high seven tackles, three of them for a loss, a sack, a forced fumble and an interception.

“It feels very good to represent our small town in Waialua and just making our community proud,” Lee said. “Playing in the stadium is unreal because some of the boys on our team, their goal was to play in the stadium just once.”

The Bulldogs next play in the HHSAA Division II state tournament, drawing ILH champion Damien in a matchup at Campbell on Friday.

“We just gotta keep doing what we’re doing,” Lee said. “We won’t focus on the past and we’ll put this behind us because our goals are really big.”

Waipahu faces Lahainaluna in the state tournament, also on Friday.