Waipahu stuffs short-handed Kalani

OIA Division II-leading Waipahu still has not been challenged this season.

Saturday night, in the first varsity game played at refurbished Kaiser Stadium in Hawaii Kai, the Marauders took advantage of a Kalani team without its starting quarterback to cruise to a 49-0 victory.

Sophomore running back Alfred Failauga rushed for 147 yards and four touchdowns and the Marauders defense feasted on a Kalani offense without Seth Tina-Soberano — a third-year starter behind center — to post just the second shutout by a Waipahu team since 2011.

“That kid is amazing and we spent so much time this week preparing for him,” Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said of Tina-Soberano, who suffered a rib injury in the Falcons’ win against Mt. Tahoma (Wash.) last week on the mainland. “Our whole game plan was to make him uncomfortable.”

Tina-Soberano, who threw for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in the Falcons’ first four league games, could be back for next week’s meeting against Roosevelt.

Kalani (3-3 overall) dropped to 2-3 in the division and is tied with the Rough Riders for fourth place in the league. Only the top four teams make the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Waipahu (5-0, 4-0) continued to steamroll through its league slate.

After starting the year with a 51-14 win over Division I Nanakuli, the Marauders have won their last three OIA D-II games by a combined score of 147-15.

Senior quarterback Braden Amorozo rushed for a touchdown and was 10-for-18 passing for 240 yards with two TD throws to Alika Ahsing.

Ahsing had three catches for 124 yards and scored on passes of 70 and 23 yards.

“(Both) of them were nice,” Ahsing said.

Failauga scored the first two Waipahu touchdowns on short runs in the first quarter and added both of the Marauders’ scores in the second half.

Waipahu threw the ball only once after taking a 35-0 lead into intermission.

“We’re looking forward to seeing new teams coming up,” Failauga said.

Waipahu will host the other undefeated team in the league, Pearl City, on Friday. The Chargers beat Kaimuki 17-15 on Saturday, handing the Bulldogs their first loss in league play.

“There’s a lot of missed assignments at every position we have to work on,” Carvalho said. “We had a hard time with the snap for some reason tonight and we’ve got to clean that up, because it ruins the whole play.”

Kalani quarterback Justin Gatewood, filling in for Tina-Soberano, finished 10-for-23 for 120 yards and was intercepted twice by Zeondre Benjamin.

The Falcons have lost 11 straight against Waipahu dating back to 1972.

More photos of the game between Waipahu and Kalani.