Kalawai’a Judd gave his classmates a senior night they will never forget.
The Kaiser quarterback scored on a 1-yard run with 16 seconds remaining to give the Cougars a shocking 20-19 victory over No. 3 Kahuku on Friday night at Kaiser Stadium.
Matt Sai, who missed an extra point and two short field goals earlier in the game, converted the game’s final point to complete the upset. The Red Raiders (4-1, 4-1 OIA Red) had won 44 of their past 46 OIA regular-season games.
Kaiser (3-2, 3-2) had been shut out in its past three meetings against Kahuku and beat the Red Raiders for the first time since 1989.
"We beat the legends — the titans," said Judd, who threw for a career-high 325 yards. "Once the clock hit zero, it was the best feeling in the world."
Kahuku turned the ball over seven times, the last fumble coming with 1:59 left.
Kaiser took over on its own 44 and ran the ball 10 straight times against a Kahuku defense that had held the Cougars’ running game in check.
Kaiser was stuffed from the 1-yard line twice with less than 30 seconds left before Judd took the shotgun snap and just snuck over the goal line with the winning score.
"The defense came up huge for us today," Judd said. "I really didn’t think we were going to run. I thought we were going to pass, but Coach (Cameron Higgins) gave us the call to run it. We ran the same play about 10 times and they didn’t really stop us."
Kahuku got the ball back on its own 20 but couldn’t do much. Alohi Gilman caught a 7-yard pass from quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi but was tackled inbounds and the clock ran out, giving Higgins a huge win in his first year as head coach.
"I’m getting choked up just trying to talk about (this win)," Higgins said. "These kids believed and didn’t get down when adversity struck and now it’s going to be key to keep that intensity up."
The Cougars led 13-12 at halftime, but the Red Raiders took the lead on a 65-yard touchdown scamper by Wily-Matagi.
Kahuku turned the ball over on its last three drives, fumbling each time.
Cougars defensive coordinator Richard Torres is the son of Reggie Torres, who was Kahuku’s head coach from 2006 to 2013.
"Give them credit — they came out and played their tails off here and we came out flat obviously," Kahuku coach Lee Leslie said. "I don’t think we were ready to roll. It was a bad day travel-wise and we gave up one we should have never given up."
Kickoff was delayed 61 minutes as Kahuku didn’t arrive at Kaiser until 6 p.m., which was the scheduled kickoff time.
The game was filled with big plays, as Wily-Matagi threw a 70-yard TD pass to Chance Maghanoy and Kesi Ah-Hoy hit Keala Santiago with a 56-yard score on a fake punt. Kaiser answered with an 87-yard TD pass from Judd to Jensen McDaniel and a 99-yard touchdown pass to Destin Moss, who had 173 yards receiving.
"It feels amazing to be a part of history," Moss said. "I was thinking nobody was going to catch me (on the touchdown). That’s my mentality when I get the ball. I feel like nobody can catch me."
McDaniel, who leads the OIA in rushing, finished with 197 total yards, including 98 rushing yards on 28 carries.
| At Kaiser Stadium |
| Kahuku (4-1, 4-1) |
6 |
6 |
7 |
0 |
— |
19 |
| Kaiser (3-2, 3-2) |
7 |
6 |
0 |
7 |
— |
20 |
Kah–Chance Maghanoy 70 pass from Tuli Wily-Matagi (run failed)
Kais–Jensen McDaniel 87 pass from Kalawai’a Judd (Matt Sai kick)
Kah–Keala Santiago 56 pass from Kesi Ah-Hoy (kick failed)
Kais–Destin Moss 99 pass from Judd (kick failed)
Kah–Wily-Matagi 65 run (Gabriel Pinheiro-Alves kick)
Kais–Judd 1 run (Matt Sai kick)
RUSHING–Kahuku: Wily-Matagi 7-81, Ah-Hoy 16-74, Salanoa Alo-Wily 9-45, Pena Fitisemanu 5-15, Soli Afalava 2-3. Kaiser: McDaniel 28-98, Keith Jones II 1-19, Judd 13-16, Moss 1-4.
PASSING–Kahuku: Wily-Matagi 6-13-3-157, Ah-Hoy 1-1-0-56. Kaiser: Judd 10-20-0-325.
RECEIVER–Kahuku: Alohi Gilman 4-71, Maghanoy 1-70, Santiago 1-56, Alo-Wily 1-16. Kaiser: Moss 3-173, McDaniel 3-99, Isaiah Pongasi-Adric 3-47, Andrew Kaufusi 1-6.
