The debut of Waipahu’s new football field didn’t involve any grand celebrations, but the Marauders provided plenty of fireworks offensively to make up for it in a 63-7 rout of visiting Waialua.
Faced with a 7-6 deficit midway through the first quarter, Waipahu erupted for 50 unanswered points to close the half. The Marauders’ 63 points is a school record, breaking the previous mark of 56 against Kalani in 2007.
Not a bad way to break in the new field for Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho.
“Whenever we play for something more, I think it just makes it more special and meaningful,” he said. “For me, I dedicated this game to every head coach that had the opportunity to coach here. It laid the foundation for our school and for our football program.”
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* Hawaii high school football scoreboard, Sept. 8
>> Pac-Five vs. Damien, 3 p.m., Aloha Stadium
>> Kahuku vs. Bingham, 4 p.m., at Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas
>> Campbell vs. Moanalua, 5:30 p.m., at Roosevelt
>> Punahou vs. KS, 6 p.m., Aloha Stadium
>> Kapolei at Kailua, 6:30 p.m.
>> Waianae at Radford, 6:30 p.m.
The fresh turf field and blue eight-lane track was accompanied by a nearly sold-out crowd, which watched the home team improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in OIA Division II.
“I’m blessed with the opportunity to coach at my alma mater and I love my community. I couldn’t be more proud of how the kids played tonight and represented the school,” Carvalho said. “I love the fact that we had a lot of people here, a lot of alumni and former players and coaches. I’m just real proud that our kids could play to their potential tonight.”
Playing to said potential was quarterback Braden Amorozo, who torched the Bulldogs in a rematch of last year’s OIA championship game, a game the Bulldogs won 36-35. Amorozo finished 19-for-29 with five touchdowns and 340 yards with no interceptions.
“We just came out here and wanted to give this game to the community. We didn’t have a game for two years on this field and it’s just a blessing to get back on here,” the senior signal-caller said. “Just go all out every play. We didn’t want to slow down, but we didn’t want anyone injured in the second half, but we’re still going all out.”
Waialua scored its only touchdown in the first quarter, when Hunter Apau and Kyler Dicion connected on a 79-yard slant route. The Bulldogs fell to 0-5 overall and 0-4 in conference play and have not won since last season’s matchup at Aloha Stadium. They’ll look to enter the win column next week against winless McKinley.
Meanwhile, Waipahu hopes to keep its momentum as one of three undefeated OIA D-II teams next week against Kalani.
“Every team is a key matchup,” Amorozo said. “We got film tomorrow. We’re gonna study, work out the kinks and we’re gonna get back to practice on Monday and get back to work.”
More photos of the game between Waipahu and Waialua.
