Kapolei beats Waianae, gets Punahou in states opener

Much of the drama of the OIA third-place game was eliminated this year, with both Waianae and Kapolei already securing berths in the Open Division of the state tournament.

Still, No. 5 Kapolei could celebrate its best finish in the 14-year history of the program in OIA Division I with a 27-15 win over the sixth-ranked Seariders on Saturday night at Mililani’s John Kauinana Stadium.

Sophomore Taulia Tagovailoa threw three touchdown passes in rainy conditions and Kapolei (9-2) avenged a 35-14 loss to Waianae (8-4) early in the season to finish in third place in the OIA.

The Hurricanes’ “reward” for beating the Seariders is a meeting with ILH runner-up Punahou (7-2) in the first round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships on Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Waianae will play Farrington (8-3) in the other game.

“We take every game as a big game and that’s what we did tonight,” said Tagovailoa, who was 27-for-50 for 254 yards. “It’s a good feeling beating a great team like Waianae.”

Jaymin Sarono, who sat out the semifinal loss to Farrington last week, had 12 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. Wyatt Perez added 11 catches for 108 yards and two scores.

Most of Tagovailoa’s throws were short routes due to the rainy conditions that hampered both teams in the game.

“It was a wet ball night, so it wasn’t always easy to execute,” Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said.

Waianae’s Jorell Pontes-Borje started at quarterback for the third straight game with senior Jaren Ulu out with a collarbone injury.

He failed to complete a pass in the first half and his first attempt was intercepted by Leonard Lee and returned 36 yards for a touchdown.

Tagovailoa threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Sarono and added a 28-yard touchdown pass to Perez with 23 seconds remaining in the first half.

Both TD passes were on fourth down.

Waianae running back Rico Rosario scored on a 46-yard touchdown run, but the Seariders were bottled up, gaining just 31 yards on their other 24 plays in the first half.

Pontes-Borje started the second half with his first completion for 9 yards to Isaiah Freeney on fourth-and-3. Rosario followed up an 18-yard run with a 5-yard TD run to cut Kapolei’s lead to 20-15. Waianae was set to kick the extra point but fumbled the snap, only to have Kade Ambrocio throw a 2-point conversion to Kanai Mauga.

Tagovailoa added an 11-yard touchdown pass to Perez in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“It was tough gripping the ball, but no excuses,” Tagovailoa said. “We just kept playing and came out victorious.”

Rosario finished with 134 yards on 20 carries and Pontes-Borje was 8-for-22 for 96 yards with two picks passing.