Even with his right leg in a walking boot, David Tautofi finished the handshake line, jumped onto one of the football benches on the Aloha Stadium field and encouraged the Bulldogs faithful to keep cheering.
The heartache Kaimuki has endured over its last four trips to the OIA playoffs made Saturday’s 27-24 last-second victory over Roosevelt feel so much sweeter.
Sophomore Kurt Kawamoto’s 22-yard field goal as time expired handed the Bulldogs (10-2) their third OIA Division II title ever and first in nine years.
For Tautofi, who has made the OIA playoffs in all five seasons coaching at his alma mater, the breakthrough win couldn’t have felt any better.
>> Click here to see photos of the game between Kaimuki and Roosevelt.
“It’s just been a long time coming, especially for me and these coaches,” Tautofi said. “Even with the most disappointing upsets that we’ve had in the last few seasons, it makes it all sweeter, especially with everything we face with the numbers and all that stuff. Those things make our boys stronger.”
Standing in the hot sun for a 2 p.m. kickoff with 26 players in uniform, Kaimuki didn’t wilt after giving up a 10-point lead.
A 17-point third quarter for the Rough Riders (9-2) gave Roosevelt a 24-17 lead entering the final 12 minutes.
Senior Kaulana Kaluna Jr. tied the game at 24-all on a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jayden Maiava with 10:47 remaining.
The teams traded interceptions and then Roosevelt drove inside the Kaimuki 30 where it was stopped on fourth down.
Kaimuki had to punt with 2:36 remaining, but recovered it after the ball hit a Roosevelt returner and ended up in the hands of Avin Tanioka at the Roosevelt 14 with 2:27 remaining.
The Bulldogs ran the clock down to four seconds with the ball at the 5-yard line, and then sent in Kawamoto to win it. Roosevelt used its final timeout to try to ice the sophomore, who calmly made the field goal to send the visitors sideline spewing onto the field in a wild celebration that has been years in the making.
“We’ve always been dreaming of it,” junior Koby Moananu said through tears after catching two TD passes. “Coach T has never doubted us. He’s been here since that Radford game in the stadium and I was on the sideline for that. I teared up at halftime (against Roosevelt) because it was so emotional.”
That Radford game was the OIA title game in 2015 in Tautofi’s first year. The Bulldogs lost that game and then were bounced in the OIA semifinals in consecutive seasons before last year’s loss to this same Roosevelt team in the OIA final.
“We’ve been together since we were super young, like elementary school days,” said Kaluna Jr., who caught six passes, including a couple of critical third-down efforts to move the chains in the fourth quarter. “We consider each other blood brothers. We’re one family. I came to Kaimuki to play with my boys and it feels so amazing.”
Kawamoto, who made a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter to put Kaimuki ahead 10-0, conceded the final kick was a different feeling from any other one he has made.
“I just felt very nervous (and) when (Roosevelt) called the timeout, it made it worse,” Kawamoto said. “In the past this season I was pretty inaccurate, but I just had to focus on my form.”
The kick kept Roosevelt from becoming the first team since the formation of Division II in 2003 to repeat as OIA champion. Both of its losses this season are to Kaimuki by a total of five points.
“Same old story. We’ve got to do a better job. Ball security, man,” Roosevelt coach Kui Kahooilihala said. “Kids did a helluva job tonight. Played a great game. Can’t take anything away from the boys.”
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Kaimuki 27, Roosevelt 24
At Aloha Stadium
>> Kaimuki (10-2) 0 10 7 10 — 27
>> Roosevelt (9-2) 0 7 17 0 — 24
Kaimuki — Koby Moananu 58 pass from Jayden Maiava (Kurt Kawamoto kick)
Kaimuki — FG Kawamoto 33
Roosevelt — Scott Chung 24 pass from Sky Ogata (Isaac Segawa kick)
Roosevelt — FG Segawa 27
Roosevelt — Isaac Kaleikau 23 pass from Kolea Pa-Macalino (Segawa kick)
Kaimuki — Moananu 35 pass from Maiava (Kawamoto kick)
Roosevelt — Kaleikau 10 pass from Pa-Macalino (Segawa kick)
Kaimuki — Kaulana Kaluna Jr. 13 pass from Maiava (Kawamoto kick)
Kaimuki — FG Kawamoto 22
RUSHING — Kaimuki: Naomas Asuega-Fualaau 25-102, Maiava 5-0. Roosevelt: Kalei Wahilani 6-31, Sky Ogata 10-31, Mitchell Camacho 5-16, Shepherd Kekahuna 5-11, Myka Kukahiwa 1-8, Pa-Macalino 3-0.
PASSING — Kaimuki: Maiava 12-31-1-181. Roosevelt: Ogata 13-21–2-172, Pa-Macalino 3-4–0-41.
RECEIVING — Kaimuki: Kaluna Jr. 6-40, Moananu 3-97, Jonah Fa’asoa 2-35, Sione Taufa 1-9. Roosevelt: Akana 5-93, Kaleikaiu 4-52, Chung 3-53, Kekahuna 1-9, Pa-Macalino 1-3, Camacho 1-2, Brandon Teixeira 1-1.
