Perfection doesn’t come easy.
The Pearl City Chargers made the plays late and topped the Kalani Falcons 26-21 at Bino Neves Stadium on Friday night, completing a perfect regular season in OIA Division II at 7-0. The victory runs the program’s winning streak to eight, one off the nine in a row the Chargers won in 2011 for the longest since the school started playing football 50 years ago.
“That was exciting,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. “We just believed and trusted each other that we were going to go down there and score. We don’t care about perfect, we just wanted the top four (in the league). Division II is a tough conference and nobody knows it.”
Trailing 21-20, Chargers quarterback Trey Dacoscos found Lennon Elder on the goal line in the middle of the field for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute, 44 seconds left and the Chargers held on for the win. Kalani defensive lineman Chainton Saldebar got a mitt on the scrambling Dacoscos before the quarterback broke free to throw his laser to Elder. Dacoscos’ 2-point conversion pass failed and Kalani got the ball at its own 39 after the kickoff.
The Falcons immediately started moving backward, being whistled for two false starts before moving forward. Silas Soberano nearly made a miracle catch on third down to move the chains, but it was ruled incomplete. Quarterback Kynan McCartney’s pass along his own sideline was a little too wide for Kai Kobayashi on fourth-and-4 and the thriller of a contest effectively ended with 51 seconds left.
“We knew we were slacking a little bit in the second half, so we knew we had to go out and lock in that W,” Dacoscos said. “It was a team effort. It’s a blessing to go 8-0, but the job isn’t over. We want the championship.”
After trailing 20-7 at halftime, Kalani made it a game in the second half when Kobayashi collected an 11-yard score from McCartney and survived a missed field goal by Pearl City with 5:14 left.
The Chargers got the benefit of a pass interference call on fourth-and-4 from midfield before the miss from 30 yards away. Three plays later, Kalani running back Jordan Amalato somehow wedged himself between two defenders and took off from there, celebrating a 73-yard touchdown run and a 21-20 lead with 4:26 left. Amalato finished with 197 yards on 23 carries, 3 yards short of becoming just the fourth Kalani running back to hit 200 yards in a game.
Pearl City was far from perfect from the outset, going three-and-out on its first drive and allowing Kalani to respond with a 13-play drive — with only one pass — capped by Amalato’s plunge from a yard out. The Chargers turned it on from there, with Dacoscos hitting a wide-open Koalii Torres from 17 yards out for the tying score, Elder on a 29-yard pass for the go-ahead tally and Derek Kusano on a 21-yard effort to make it 20-7 at the half.
Dacoscos only missed on two passes on those three successive scoring drives, and one of them drew a pass interference call. His three touchdown passes before the Pearl City band took the field raised his season number to 24 after firing 22 scoring strikes a year ago. Jordan Ta’amu holds the single-season school record with 27 and Dacoscos has already exceeded the professional passer’s career prep mark of 39.
Dacoscos finished the game with 304 yards on 36 attempts, targeting nine receivers and hitting seven of them.
“We have weapons,” Dacoscos said. “I don’t have any favoritism toward anyone, if they are open I throw them the ball. We have weapons all over.”
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at Bino Neves Stadium
Kalani 7 0 0 14 — 21
Pearl City 7 13 0 6 — 26
Kaln: Jordan Amalato 1 rush (Duke Corso kick)
PC: Koalii Torres 17 pass from Trey Dacoscos (Kahai Chang kick)
PC: Lennon Elder 29 pass from Dacoscos (kick blocked)
PC: Derek Kusano 21 pass from Dacoscos (Chang kick)
Kaln: Kai Kobayashi 11 pass from Kynan\ McCartney (Corso kick)
Kaln: Amalato 73 rush (Casco kick)
PC: Elder 9 pass from Dacoscos (pass failed)
RUSHING—Kalani: Jordan Amalato 23-197, Sonny Iaea 17-79, McCartney 4-18, Kotaro Aizawa 1 (-3). Pearl City: Shaedyn Quemado 7-28, Shayden Talo 7-23, Tret Dacoscos 7-18, Bobby Best 3-18.
PASSING—Kalani: McCartney 12-20-0-151. Pearl City: Dacoscos 25-36-0-304.
RECEIVING—Kalani: Silas Soberano 6-99, Kai Kobayashi 3-29, Aiden Trinidad 2-12, Amalato 1-11. Pearl City: Koalii Torres 6-95, Elder 6-76, Derek Kusano 4-50, Tobias Vazquez 3-49, Javian Mizuno 2-16, Tayvon Ching-Harrell 1-11, Shayden Talo 3-7.
Other scores
Kaimuki 28, McKinley 0
At Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium
Kaimuki (4-5, 4-3) 7 14 7 0 — 28
McKinley (0-8, 0-7) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Kaim — Lukela Hicks 1 run (Hinano Kahawai kick)
Kaim — Jeremiah White 25 pass from Iosefa Letuli (Kahawai kick)
Kaim — Hicks 24 pass from Letuli (Kahawai kick)
Kaim — White 82 pass from Letuli (Kahawai kick)
RUSHING—Kaimuki: Iosua Letuli 7-23, Iose. Letuli 8-13, Hicks 13-12, Inao Kintin 1-0. McKinley: Mana Lale-Saole 15-59, Temana Palimoo 1-16, Fabien Pudja 5-(minus-6), Iosua Sefo 1-(minus-6), Samisoni Mafi 3-(minus-9).
PASSING—Kaimuki: Iose. Letuli 19-31-0-294. McKinley: Lale-Saole 1-5-0-10, Sefo 1-5-0-9, Pudja 3-10-0-5.
RECEIVING—Kaimuki: White 9-178, Peter Maulolo 3-33, Ezekiel Kuiee-Matias 3-26, Hicks 1-24, Niutupuivaha Uluave 3-33. McKinley: Lale-Saole 4-14, Christoff Roy 1-10.
Roosevelt 35, Waialua 14
At Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium
Waialua (3-6, 2-5) 7 0 7 0 — 14
Roosevelt (6-3, 5-2) 7 14 14 0 — 35
Wail — Jayvie Arellano 29 pass from Emery Abilla (Makoakai Fierro kick)
Roos — Keawe Davis 39 pass from Ioane Kamanao (Journey DePeralta kick)
Roos — Davis 39 pass from Kamanao (DePeralta kick)
Roos — Taimane Souza-Fautanu 3 pass from Kamanao (DePeralta kick)
Roos — Kalei Akiona 1 run (DePeralta kick)
Wail — Arellano 19 pass from Abilla (Fierro kick)
Roos — Souza-Fautanu 33 punt return (DePeralta kick)
RUSHING—Waialua: Fierro 16-58, Taylor Calaro 1-2, Abilla 11-(minus-29). Roosevelt: Akiona 15-81, Zion Kalauawa-Haupu 7-16, Jerry Wu 2-0, Eddrick Brown 1-0, Souza-Fautanu 2-(minus-1), Kamanao 3-(minus-3).
PASSING—Waialua: Abilla 19-42-3-149. Roosevelt: Kamanao 17-22-0-225, Wu 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Waialua: Arellano 8-92, Dayton Gaboya 3-36, Germaine Bagasol 2-12, Jack Amancio 3-12, Fierro 2-12, Elden Myer 1-9. Roosevelt: Davis 3-105, Souza-Fautanu 4-47, Jahsiah Souza-Armstead 6-37, Akiona 2-28, Wiliama Aarona 1-5, Givenson Haruo 1-2.
