With a balanced offense and an unyielding defense, Waianae remained in the chase for a first-round playoff bye with a homecoming victory over Aiea on Friday night.
Rico Rosario rushed for 104 yards and scored twice — on a 52-yard pass from Justin Tacgere and on a 75-yard run. Tacgere, meanwhile, finished with two TD passes and the Seariders (4-3, 4-2 Oahu Interscholastic Association Blue) also got a defensive touchdown.
Waianae will improve to 5-3 and 5-2 when a forfeit win next week against Kaiser becomes official. The Cougars have already announced their intent to skip the game, and the Seariders can clinch a first-round bye if Kahuku beats Campbell next week.
FOLLOW ALONG
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* Hawaii high school football scoreboard, Sept. 22
Here are the bloggers for today’s games:
>> Pac-Five vs. St. Francis, 5 p.m. — Hull
>> Narbonne (Calif.) vs. Saint Louis, 6 p.m. — Honda
>> Radford at Kahuku, 6:30 p.m. — Shimabuku
>> Kailua at Leilehua, 6:30 p.m. — Abramo
>> Nanakuli at Mililani, 6:30 p.m. — Sakamoto
>> Castle at Farrington, 6:30 p.m. — Kaneshiro
“We’re ready,” Rosario said about the upcoming playoffs. “We can’t wait. We just wanna battle with all the top teams.”
Rosario’s touchdown catch came on the team’s first play from scrimmage. Aiea, which finished its regular season and awaits the playoffs, moved the ball most of the night but could not find the end zone. Quarterback Ty Matsunami made some exciting scrambles and pushed Na Alii (2-5, 2-5) into the red zone several times. He passed for 140 yards, including 56 on eight catches by Fabian Bautista.
“It was a good regular season,” said Aiea’s Ferenisi Lualemana, who had two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. “We can build from this. The only way we can do this is to stick together as a family.”
