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The Cougars continued their dominance of Division II competition with a rout of the Bulldogs.
After an opening three-and-out by Waialua, a 23-yard punt return by Jesse Stroede put the Cougars in the opponent’s red zone on their first drive. From there, a shifty 16-yard run by Cavin Lime put the home team up 7-0 early and the host Cougars were off and running to a 41-7 victory.
Kaiser’s defense and special teams continued to dominate, holding Bulldogs quarterback Kyler Dicion to negative yardage throughout the first four offensive drives while three out of the first four Cougars punt returns put Kaiser into the red zone. Kaiser capitalized on the short field with two 27-yard field goals by Kyler Haverson and a touchdown run by Hunter Phelps.
A heavy air attack led by quarterback Easton Yoshino confused the Bulldogs defense early, but dropped passes cost the team multiple opportunities, including an open look in the end zone intended for Xavier Kepa. Even with the offense somewhat out of sync, Kaiser went into the half confidently with a 27-0 lead.
Flags plagued Kaiser coming back onto the field. Midway through the third the Cougars special teams showed out again with a 92-yard Stroede punt-return touchdown, only for the play to be called back on a holding call. The very next play Phelps ran for a 62-yard score, only for another holding call to bring the play back. On the defensive side, pass interference infractions by the Cougars secondary gave the struggling Dicion more opportunities to come back.
Going into the fourth with a score of 34-0, backup Kaiser quarterback Brock Perreira came into the game to help run out the clock. He capped his first drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kepa. Just when it seemed like Perreira ended the game for good, Waialua running back Storm Quilinderino broke off an 80-yard outside run to the house on the very next play. With that run, Quilinderino gained more than the entire Bulldogs team up to that point and finished the game by making sure that his team would not go down scoreless.