Behind two stops in the final eight seconds, Kailua withstood a late Aiea rally to win 17-14.
After Aiea quarterback Kayson Castillo threw an interception at the Kailua 1 with eight seconds left, the Seariders gave the ball right back after fumbling a quarterback sneak on their own 10 with three seconds to go.
Castillo’s next pass sailed out of the end zone as time expired.
“There’s a lot of points and plays we left out there on the field, but these guys continue to plug away and play,” Kailua coach Joseph Wong said. “Our defense has been stellar the whole year. They played an unreal game and they played together.”
Castillo finished with 242 passing yards but was picked off three times. Kaniala Williams only passed for 68 yards, but the Kailua ground attack grinded out 179 net yards to tire out Na Alii’s defense.
Aiea responded quickly when Castillo and Babu Capanang connected for a 68-yard gain, followed by Castillo’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Fabian Bautista to extend Na Alii’s lead to 14-3 with 4:31 left in the second period.
Brian-Allen Kamanu gave the Surfriders their first lead of the game after a 6-yard rushing touchdown with 1:24 left in the third quarter, which proved to be the final score of the game.
GAME SUMMARY
Kailua 17, Aiea 14
At Kailua
>> Aiea (2-5-1, 2-5) 0 14 0 0 — 14
>> Kailua (2-7, 2-4) 0 10 7 0 — 17
Aiea — Dylan Soberano 65 pass from Kayson Castillo (Thomas Hulett kick)
Kailua — FG Maka Roberts 33
Aiea — Fabian Bautista 2 pass from Castillo (Hulett kick)
Kailua — Kaniala Williams 4 rush (Roberts kick)
Kailua — Brian-Allen Kamanu 6 rush (Roberts kick)
RUSHING — Aiea: Bautista 3-8, LJ Vongsy 1-(minus-1), Austin Mogote 1-(minus-3), Team 1-(minus-5). Kailua: Brian-Allen Kamanu 16-77, Samson Rasay 17-67, Williams 13-35, Lahaina Kane 1-6, Team 1-(minus-6).
PASSING — Aiea: Castillo 15-28-3-242. Kailua: Williams 8-21-0-68.
RECEIVING — Aiea: Zach Kalahiki-Basque 7-74, Babu Capanang 3-90, Bautista 3-10, Soberano 1-65, LJ Vongsy 1-3. Kailua: Raynen Ho-Mook 2-23, Solomon Farley 2-15, Lahaina Kane 2-15, Isaiah Hopson 1-10, John Sniffen 1-5.
* JV —Kailua 35, Aiea 6
