Alfred Failauga rushed for 238 yards and three touchdowns as Waipahu overpowered Pearl City 37-6 on Friday night to seize sole possession of first place in the OIA Division II standings.
A packed house at Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex on homecoming night — many spectators were turned away at the gate — saw a scoreless first half turn into a runaway by the Marauders (6-0, 5-0 OIA D-II) in the second half.
Senior Branden Amorozo passed for 255 yards and two TDs, but Pearl City’s defense worked extremely hard to keep the game tied into halftime. Linebacker Alihikaua Rodrigues and defensive lineman Zion Tupuola-Fetui led the charge for Pearl City’s defense.
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>> 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
Failauga had seven carries for 45 yards by intermission, but with the Chargers in coverage, the sophomore found open paths. He finished with a relatively light 23 carries.
“Once they started to bite on our passes, maybe the run’s going to be open. We saw them not step up to the run, so we started gaining yards,” Failauga said. “It really means a lot to be in first place. It’s really great to be 6-0. I used to see my family play for Waipahu and they never got to 6-0.”
Amorozo found Thomas King for a 24-yard TD pass to give the Marauders a 7-0 lead with 11:18 left in the third quarter.
Pearl City (5-2, 5-1) responded with a scoring drive, pulling within 7-6 on a miraculous scramble by quarterback Isaiah Asinsin, who avoided three tackles and tossed a 17-yard TD pass to Micah Quillopo-Jamile. The Chargers’ PAT run was stopped short.
From there, Waipahu dominated. The Marauders defense came up with a safety when Asinsin’s lateral in the end zone went out of bounds.
Moments later, with the offensive line pounding away, Failauga burst up the middle for a 17-yard TD, giving Waipahu a 15-6 lead with 2:31 left.
The Marauders put the game out of reach with a 3-yard TD run by Failauga, a 20-yard TD pass from Amorozo to Ezekiel-Kai Kapanui-Reyes, and a final 53-yard TD run by Failauga on a draw play.
“I’m glad we fixed our mistakes after the first half,” Marauders coach Bryson Carvalho said of his team’s 12 flags for 100 penalty yards.
“I knew once we fixed that we could do what we wanted to do. This is a good bunch of kids. They’re special. The seniors, we have great leaders like Braden. I can’t be more proud of these guys.”
