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Kaiser used a miraculous fourth-quarter rally and a 10-yard touchdown pass from Easton Yoshino to Makana Naleieha in overtime Friday to qualify for a second consecutive state Division II tournament for the first time in school history.
Yoshino completed 33 of 60 passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns and the visiting Cougars scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter en route to a 31-24 overtime victory over Pearl City in an OIA Division II semifinal game.
“It could have been to any of those guys, but I saw Makana open and I gave him a shot with the ball and like this whole game and this whole year, he came up clutch,” Yoshino said of the go-ahead touchdown pass in OT.
Kaiser (6-3, 6-2) will face Nanakuli for the title at 4 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Mililani. Both finalists will represent the OIA in the HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank D-II Championships.
“We’re going to be playing for a championship, which is always neat,” said Kaiser coach Tim Seaman. “We qualified for the state tournament, so that’s something that’s important to our team. Nanakuli is a tough opponent and we definitely have our work cut out for us, but we’re going to enjoy today.”
The Cougars got within 24-14 on Yoshino’s 22-yard pass to Donovan Reis with 7:31 remaining in the game.
Kaiser forced a three-and-out on Pearl City’s next possession and Alex Delgado blocked the punt, which gave the Cougars the ball at the 11. Three plays later, Yoshino hit Kai Blackston on a 3-yard touchdown pass to cut Kaiser’s deficit to 24-21 with 4:52 remaining.
The Cougars’ Teanu Ramos-Robertson intercepted a pass at the Kaiser 39 with 3:21 remaining. On the next play, Yoshino hit Blackston over the middle for a 12-yard gain. A Pearl City player was injured on the play and transported to a hospital, which led to a 30-minute delay.
Ian Shearer tied it at 24-24 on a 25-yard field goal with 59 seconds to go.
The Cougars forced a punt and got the ball at the Chargers’ 49 with 20 seconds remaining, but Tiger Ader intercepted the ball on the next play.
After Kaiser’s touchdown in overtime, Pearl City drove 15 yards to the 5 but had incompletions on third and fourth down to end the game.
“The guys fought hard,” Seaman said. “That’s kind of been our thing all year. We have a habit of digging a hole for ourselves and fortunately this time we were able to come back.”
Pearl City (7-3, 6-2) scored on the game’s opening possession on a 15-yard pass from Trey Dacoscos to Triton Taimanao. Marcus Rodriguez’s PAT kick made it 7-0. Bobby Best rushed for 52 yards on the drive.
Kaiser tied it at 7-7 late in the first quarter on Yoshino’s 4-yard pass to Jesse Shinagawa and Shearer’s PAT kick. The Cougars started the drive at the Chargers’ 30-yard line after a 13-yard punt.
The Chargers scored on their final three possessions of the first half to take a 24-7 advantage.
Dacoscos hit Lennon Elder on a 14-yard scoring pass, Rodriguez made a 43-yard field goal and Dacoscos connected with Elder on a 14-yard scoring pass with nine seconds remaining.
Pearl City rushed for 160 yards, including 93 for Best, in the first half. Kaiser’s Yoshino passed for 111 yards before halftime.
Nanakuli 37, Kaimuki 7
Christian Asinsin and Allen Mahoe III each rushed for two touchdowns and the No. 1-seeded Golden Hawks overcame a slow start to advance to the OIA Division II final against Kaiser.
Nanakuli (8-1) finished with 247 rushing yards to secure its first state-tournament berth since 2014, which is also the last time it won eight games in season.
Mahoe III led all Golden Hawks with 97 rushing yards on 10 carries and Hansen Salausa-Kaawa finished 12-for-20 for 134 yards.
Nanakuli held Kaimuki quarterback Iosefa Letuli to just 56 passing yards on 4-for-6 passing with a touchdown and an interception.
Letuli hit Jeremiah White for a 23-yard touchdown just before the end of the first half to cut Nanakuli’s lead to 14-7.
Neither team scored in the first quarter.
Ofa Vehikite returned from injury to lead Kaimuki in rushing with 51 yards on 10 carries. Despite missing three games this season, Vehikite surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark in only six games.
Nanakuli will play Kaiser on Oct. 29 for the OIA D-II title in a rematch of a game won 33-14 by Nanakuli in September.
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KAISER 31, PEARL CITY 24, OT
At Pearl City
Kaiser (6-3) 7 0 0 17 7 — 31
Pearl City (7-3) 7 17 0 0 0 — 24
PC—Triton Taimanao 15 pass from Trey Dacoscos (Marcus Rodriguez kick)
Kais—Jesse Shinagawa 4 pass from Easton Yoshino (Ian Shearer kick)
PC—Lennon Elder 14 pass from Dacoscos (Rodriguez kick)
PC—FG Rodriguez 43
PC—Elder 14 pass from Dacoscos (Rodriguez kick)
Kais—Donovan Reis 22 pass from Yoshino (Shearer kick)
Kais—Kai Blackston 3 pass from Yoshino (Shearer kick)
Kais—FG Shearer 25
Kais— Makana Naleieha 10 pass from Yoshino (Shearer kick)
RUSHING—Kaiser: Blackston 13-26, Reis 2-7, team 1-(minus 1), Yoshino 1-(minus 7). Pearl City: Bobby Best 17-110, Shaedyn Quemado 15-65, Taimanao 2-21, team 1-(minus 6), Dacoscos 5-(minus 8).
PASSING—Kaiser: Yoshino 33-60-1-326. Pearl City: Dacoscos 16-28-2-124.
RECEIVING—Kaiser: Reis 4-85, Keagan Lime 5-73, Blackston 9-56, Naleieha 7-56, Shinagawa 7-48, Rayne Sumida 1-8. Pearl City: Koali’i Torres 4-22, Elder 2-22, Rodriguez 3-48, Taimanao 3-19, Bradley Kansou 3-7, Derek Kusano 1-6.
NANAKULI 37, KAIMUKI 7
At Nanakuli
Kaimuki (4-5) 0 7 0 0 — 7
Nanakuli (8-1) 0 14 8 15 — 37
Nana—Christian Asinsin 8 run (kick blocked)
Nana—David Kalili 26 run (Chr. Asinsin run)
Kaim—Jeremiah White 23 pass from Iosefa Letuli (White kick)
Nana—Allen Mahoe III 1 run (Richard Federico pass from Hansen Salausa-Kaawa)
Nana—Mahoe III 8 run (Kalili run)
Nana—Chr. Asinsin 6 run (Chance Asinsin kick)
RUSHING—Kaimuki: Ofa Vehikite 10-51, Avin Tanioka 11-36, Letuli 6-19, Dante Peltier 1-1, Sonasi Latu 4-1, White 1-1. Nanakuli: Mahoe III 10-97, Kalili 4-54, Nathan Pele-Tukumoeatu 7-35, Chr. Asinsin 5-31, Salausa-Kaawa 6-16, Kainalu Lewis 1-12, Team 1-(minus 2).
PASSING—Kaimuki: Letuli 4-6-1-56, Tanioka 0-1-0-0, White 0-2-0-0. Nanakuli: Salausa-Kaawa 12-20-0-134.
RECEIVING—Kaimuki: White 1-23, Tanioka 2-22, Peltier 1-11. Nanakuli: Pele-Tukumoeatu 5-52, Kalili 3-44, Blaze Baltazar-Conselva 1-12, Chr. Asinsin 1-11, Mahoe III 1-9, Richard Federico 1-6.
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