Waika Crawford threw four first-half touchdown passes, including strikes of 6, 54 and 35 yards to Kealoha Kaio, as No. 1 Kahuku overwhelmed No. 5 Campbell 49-23 on Saturday night at the Sabers’ field.
Kahuku clinched first place in the regular season and earned a first-round bye in the OIA Open Division playoffs. Campbell dropped to 4-2 and third place, behind Kahuku and Mililani.
Kaio, who finished with five catches for 128 yards, almost seemed embarrassed to score so often.
“I’ve just to to make the most of my opportunities. My mom and dad get on me for celebrating so I just stopped that,” he said.
Kainoa Carvalho had seven catches for 108 yards, one touchdown and a punt return for a TD., He was 7-for-7 on PAT kicks.
Kahuku was officially the home team, playing on the road again due to renovations to Carleton Weimer Field on its home campus.
Clyde Taulapapa’s blast between the tackles turned into a 42-yard touchdown to open the scoring in the game’s first series.
After a Campbell three-and-out, Kainoa Carvalho returned a punt 40 yards down the right sideline for a 14-0 Kahuku lead with 10:21 left in the opening quarter.
Kahuku’s third scoring march was methodical but pass-heavy. Crawford found Kaio open for a 6-yard TD, and it was a 21-point margin with 3:01 to play in the first quarter.
Campbell’s defense then came up with three consecutive stops. Dominick Espinda’s interception thwarted Kahuku’s next series.
After two possessions ended with punts, Crawford connected with Carvalho on a 35-yard touchdown pass for a 28-0 lead with 4:35 before halftime.
Crawford delivered a 54-yard bomb to Kaio to open the lead to 35-0 with 1:53 left in the first half. The two connected on a 35-yard TD with Kaio wide open down the seam with 1:05 to go before the break.
The Sabers got on the scoreboard on a 16-yard fumble return by Diego Betancourt. After Taulapapa’s second TD, a 19-yard run, Jonah Togafau-Tavui filled in for starting quarterback Chayne Kuboyama-Hayashi, who suffered an injury on a scramble.
Togafau-Tavui scored on a weaving 33-yard run, providing a big spark with his arm and legs against Kahuku’s reserves.
Sehutha Maka-Mailei hit a 43-yard field goal with 4:35 remaining.
Aiea 38, Waipahu 7
With so much going on before the season began, longtime Aiea coach Wendell Say didn’t know what to expect.
He did see the potential that was there.
That potential has quickly been realized as Na Alii will play in an OIA championship game for the first time since 2009 after beating Waipahu 38-7 on Saturday night at John Velasco Stadium.
Aiea (3-1) will play Moanalua (4-1) in two weeks for the OIA Division I title after earning its first win over the Marauders (2-2) since 2006.
>> PHOTOS: Aiea vs. Waipahu
“When we played Moanalua the first time, after the game I told Coach (Vincent Nihipali) that we’ll play them again,” Say said. “We should have won that first game, but what happens happens.”
Since losing to Na Menehune 28-25, Aiea has rattled off three straight wins for the first time since that 2009 season when it lost to Moanalua in the OIA Division II final.
Aiea’s three wins this year already matches its most in a season since 2011.
“It’s something special because two years back in 2019 with (junior varsity), we had the same opportunity and lost (to Leilehua in the Division I final),” said junior defensive end Logan Rouse, who had three sacks and blocked a punt. “We knew we had something when we went to champs. We lost, but we knew we had some special and to be able to come out here and put Aiea on the map is something special.”
Sophomore quarterback Ezekiel Olie threw for a career-high 378 yards and five touchdowns. Junior Geronimo Ulgaran had 10 catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns and sophomore Jayden Chanel had four catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns.
“It’s my first time playing high school, so I’m really excited,” Chanel said. “I think this is the best we’ve played. We kind of started of slow in the first quarter but bounced back and executed well.”
Waipahu took advantage of an Aiea fumble on the first play from scrimmage and scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from JJ Manu to Joseph Mckenzie less than 2 minutes into the game.
The Marauders, who won the previous four meetings in the series, wouldn’t score the rest of the game.
Aiea had six sacks and held Waipahu to minus-9 rushing yards for the entire game.
Na Alii trailed 7-6 late in the second quarter when Chanel caught touchdown passes of 9 and 30 yards in a span of 88 seconds to put Aiea ahead 19-7 at the break.
Rouse, who is 6-foot-5, blocked a punt to set up Chanel’s second score and then had back-to-back sacks to force a three-and-out on Waipahu’s next drive.
“We have a strong front four and they’re more like a hybrid team, so they pass and they run,” Rouse said. “We shut down the run so we could bring our backers out and we just adjusted to what they were doing and shut it down.”
Aiea scored all 38 of its points in the second and third quarters. Windsor Asing forced a fumble and returned it 9 yards for a touchdown, and then Chanel did his best Randy Moss impression, leaping over a defender to catch a jump ball and then turning around and racing the rest of the way to the end zone for a 95-yard touchdown and a 32-7 lead.
“I knew that was going to be a 1-on-1 ball and it was a streak, so I knew it was coming to me,” Chanel said. “I jumped up and grabbed it.”
Aiea ends its regular season next week against Kailua before moving on to the OIA final.
“We’re very young. Only one senior starts on offense and four start on defense,” Say said. “The COVID threw everything off because we lost a lot of kids. We have the younger kids we’ve had to fall back on and they’re good kids.
“I knew there was talent. Now it’s just a matter of keeping them grounded.”
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Billy Hull, Star-Advertiser
Kaimuki 55, McKinley 34
Ofa Vehikite and Sionepaongo Taufa ran wild as the Bulldogs (2-4) lit up the Tigers (0-6).
Kaimuki’s 55 points matched a school record set in 1999.
Vehikite rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, while Taufa covered 115 yards on 10 carries for two touchdowns.
That set up Avin Tanioka to score three touchdowns of his own, covering 60 yards on six carries.
Taufa missed only two of his nine passes, hitting Jeremiah White from 44 yards out for the big play. White also returned a punt for a score.
Dustin Chow led McKinley with 379 yards passing and five touchdowns, the fourth-highest passing total in school history.
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Star-Advertiser
Radford 42, Kalaheo 0
Kalob Victorino-Avilla threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns and the balanced Rams shut out the Mustangs.
Michael Hayslett ran for 135 yards and a touchdown for Radford, while Jack Carlson was Victorino-Avilla’s favorite target with five catches for 121 yards and a score.
Radford’s defense held Kalaheo to just 51 yards of offense, 84 in the air and minus-33 on the ground. Radford compiled 450 yards in the rout.
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Star-Advertiser
Farrington-Mililani, canceled
The varsity football contest between Farrington and host Mililani was canceled after the lights at John Kauinana Stadium went out during the JV game and couldn’t be restored.
Mililani principal Fred Murphy said he was told by OIA director Ray Fujino that the game between Farrington (0-5) and No. 3 Mililani (4-1) would have been made up if Campbell had beaten Kahuku on Saturday.
The No. 1 Red Raiders beat the No. 5 Sabers 49-23.
With that, the OIA Open Division playoffs are set: Kahuku (6-0) will play Waianae (3-3) and Mililani will face Campbell (4-2). The Trojans would have held the tiebreaker over the Sabers by virtue of their 48-14 victory last week.
As for Saturday’s canceled game, Mililani coach Rod York said: “Disappointed and frustrating because this all could have been avoided if we had gotten these lights fixed.”
He added they have been malfunctioning since former Mililani quarterback McKenzie Milton (graduated 2016) and ex-Saint Louis signal-caller Tua Tagovailoa (second year in the NFL) were playing in high school.
“We’re in the process of changing out the lights for our stadium. We’ve had electricians out,” Murphy said.
Immediately after the JV contest, Murphy, while standing on the field, announced to the crowd that the varsity game wouldn’t be played.
He said the external circuit breaker for the lower part of the campus was tripping, and it was turned off and on with no success.
The scoreboard at the stadium was out prior to the power outage, but Murphy said the two issues “are seemingly not related.”
It was supposed to be the final regular-season game for both teams, who already had to go through not playing last season because of COVID safety issues.
“You just have to control what you can control,” said Farrington coach Daniel Sanchez. “Unfortunately, the lights … nobody has control over this. It’s something that will be addressed soon, hopefully. It’s just one of those things for us as far as COVID. We had to deal with a lot of things.”
It was especially disappointing for the teams’ seniors.
“It kind of sucks. I was looking forward to this game, playing Farrington, and also after that with my parents,” said Mililani senior slotback Kapono Hookano-Sallas.
Murphy said the Mililani football team had a ceremony on the field, and the cheerleaders and band members had ceremonies indoors on campus.
During the fourth quarter of the JV game, at 6:41 p.m., the lights on both sides of the stadium went out.
The lights on one side of the stadium came on briefly about 15 minutes later, which drew applause from the fans. They went out about 30 seconds later, which drew jeers.
The JV game continued in partial darkness with Mililani defeating Farrington 27-0.
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Kyle Sakamoto, Star-Advertiser
Kahuku 49, Campbell 23
At Campbell
Campbell (4-2, 4-2) 0 0 13 10 — 23
Kahuku (6-0, 6-0) 21 21 7 0 — 49
KAH—Clyde Taulapapa 42 run (Kainoa Carvalho kick)
KAH—Carvalho 40 punt return (Carvalho kick)
KAH—Kealoha Kaio 6 pass from Waika Crawford (Carvalho kick)
KAH—Carvalho 35 pass from Crawford (Carvalho kick)
KAH—Kaio 54 pass from Crawford (Carvalho kick)
KAH—Kaio 35 pass from Crawford (Carvalho kick)
CAMP—Diego Betancourt 16 fumble return (run failed)
KAH—Taulapapa 21 run (Carvalho kick)
CAMP—Jonah Togafau-Tavui 33 run (Sehutha Maka-Mailei kick)
CAMP—Maka-Mailei FG 43
CAMP—Togafau-Tavui 1 run (Maka-Mailei kick)
RUSHING—Campbell: Togafau-Tavui 9-72, Chayne Kuboyama-Hayashi 8-28, Chauncee Lopez 8-9, Rowan-Ray Bucao 1-4. Kahuku: Taulapapa 7-89, Crawford 4-19, Kelsyn Tangaro-Kanoa 3-11, Kana Loa Kaluna 2-6, Carvalho 1-4, Oleao Graycochea 1-1, Keona Poouahi-Macpherson 1-(minus 1), Kingsley Ah You 2-(minus 1).
PASSING—Campbell: Kuboyama-Hayashi 11-32-2-116, Togafau-Tavui 5-9-0-76. Kahuku: Crawford 15-27-1-260.
RECEIVING—Campbell: Togafau-Tavui 5-43, Bucao 4-46, Dallas Fonseca-Juan 3-61,
Dominick Espinda 2-34, Jourdain Berinobis-Pyne 2-8. Kah: Carvalho 7-108, Kealoha Kaio 5-128, Kingsley Ah You 1-16, Liona Lefau 1-10, Tangaro-Kanoa 1-(minus 2).
JV—Kahuku 42, Campbell 0.
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Aiea 38, Waipahu 7
At John Velasco Stadium
Waipahu (2-2, 2-2) 7 0 0 0 — 7
Aiea (3-1, 3-1) 0 19 19 0 — 38
WAIP—Joseph Mckenzie 16 pass from JJ Manu (Conner Wittig kick)
AIEA—Geronimo Ulgaran 7 pass from Eziekiel Ollie (kick failed)
AIEA—Jayden Chanel 30 pass from Ollie (run failed)
AIEA—Chanel 9 pass from Ollie (Bryson Boyea Quiton kick)
AIEA—Windsor Asing 9 fumble return (kick failed)
AIEA—Chanel 95 pass from Ollie (Quiton kick)
AIEA—Ulgaran 75 pass from Ollie (kick blocked)
RUSHING—Waipahu: Braeden Togafau 3-17, Michael Iaulualo 8-11, Manu 8-(minus 37). Aiea: Kaimana Lale-Saole 7-9. Kane Lorenzana 5-4, Olie 4-4, Ulgaran 2-(minus 1), team 2-(minus 2).
PASSING—Waipahu: Manu 23-45–0-192. Aiea: Olie 23-35-0-378.
RECEIVING—Waipahu: Aston Contado 8-81, Iaulualo 5-20, Mckenzie 3-39, Triton Nieves 3-32, Kaycie Carroll-Raymondo 3-20, Togafau 1-0. Aiea: Ulgaran 10-187, Jheremie Cacpal 5-27, Chanel 4-157, Bishop Foumai 1-5, Trevyn Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 1-5, Lala-Saole 1-2, Lorenzana 1-(minus 5).
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Radford 42, Kalaheo 0
At Radford
Kalaheo (1-7, 1-7) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Radford (7-1, 7-1) 21 14 7 0 — 42
RAD—Dominic Alejandro 13 Yard Rush TD (Na’aliilaniokekai Nicolas-Mattos kick)
RAD—Nicolas-Matos 3 Interception Return (Nicolas-Mattos kick)
RAD—Michael Hayslett 17 run (Nicolas-Mattos kick)
RAD—Roch Schaefer 23 pass from Kalob Victorino-Avila (Nicolas-Matos kick)
RAD—Olijah Gomez 13 pass from Victorino-Avila (Nicolas-Matos kick)
RAD—Jack Carlson 25 pass from Victorino-Avila (Nicolas-Matos kick)
RUSHING—Kalaheo: Damian Ruano 3-(minus 1), Riis Weber 11-(minus 32). Radford: Hayslett 18-135, Dane Fagaragan 5-46, M. Robinson 2-0, Alejandro 1-12, Victorino-Avilla 1-0.
PASSING—Kalaheo: Weber 9-26-2-70, Isaiah Akiu 2-2-0-14. Radford: Victorino-Avilla 15-29-1-257.
RECEIVING—Kalaheo: Vinny Bandini 4-28, Kamalu Anoba-Jordan 2-23, Gray Brady 2-23, Akiu 2-6, Ruano 1-4. Radford: Carlson 5-121, Schaefer 3-81, Fagaragan 3-27, Gomez 1-13, Joel Gillies 1-12, Hayslett 1-3.
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Kaimuki 55, McKinley 34
At Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium
Kaimuki (2-4, 2-4) 13 21 7 14 — 55
McKinley (0-6, 0-6) 0 7 13 14 — 34
KAIM—Sione Taufa 5 run (Kurt Kawamoto kick)
KAIM—Jeramiah White 73 punt return (kick failed)
MCK—Preston Note 18 pass from Dustin Chow (Luke Fujioka-Silva kick)
KAIM—Ofa Vehikite 5 run (Kawamoto kick)
KAIM—Avin Tanioka 5 run (Kawamoto kick)
KAIM—White 44 pass from Taufa (Kawamoto kick)
KAIM—Tanioka 18 run (Kawamoto kick)
MCK—Nathan Rodriguez 10 pass from Chow (Fujioka-Silva kick)
MCK—Michael Papa 4 pass from Chow (kick failed)
MCK—Ethan Duong 48 pass from Chow (Papa pass from Chow)
KAIM—Taufa 47 run (Kawamoto kick)
MCK—Rodriguez 11 pass from Chow (pass failed)
KAIM—Tanioka 6 run (Kawamoto kick)
RUSHING—Kaimuki: Vehikite 15-146, Taufa 10-115, Tanioka 6-60, Joshua Leota Jr. 8-41. McKinley: Elias Bermudez 6-13, Chow 9-(minus 3).
PASSING—Kaimuki: Taufa 7-9-1-111. McKinley: Chow 18-33-0-379.
RECEIVING—Kaimuki: White 6-110, Vehikite 1-1. McKinley: Papa 8-169, Rodriguez 4-57, Note 3-79, Duong 2-68, Bermudez 1-6.
—
FRIDAY
>> Kapolei 32, Leilehua 13
>> Moanalua 27, Roosevelt 21
>> Kailua 30, Castle 13
>> Pearl City 22, Waialua 17
>> Kalani 34, Nanakuli 21
SATURDAY
>> Kahuku 49, Campbell 23
>> Farrington at Mililani, canceled
>> Aiea 38, Waipahu 7
>> Radford 42, Kalaheo 0
>> Kaimuki 55, McKinley 34
