Kaiser's Diogo Lira celebrates after a goal scored against Roosevelt. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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012014_9scoresgoal_bKaiRooSoc_0165.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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A relentless Kaiser offense took control from the outset against Roosevelt, scoring three goals in the first 17 minutes en route to a 5-0 shutout victory on Senior Night.

Junior Cody Kuge opened up the scoring for the Cougars with a score in the 4th minute, senior Taylor Takada followed with a goal in the 13th minute, and Diogo Lira headed in a third score just minutes later in the 17th to put the Rough Riders in a deep scoring hole from the outset.

"For us, team chemistry has been really awesome. Cody (Kuge) he's normally not a starter, but ends up producing goals after goals," remarked Takada. "And that one (goal) definitely gave us the confidence, settled us down."

"It was important for our seniors cause it was our last game. We wanted to start out strong, possess the ball and just control the tempo," said Lira of the three goal outburst in the first half.

"Once we did those things, the goals started pouring in and we didn't look back after that."

Kaiser (8-2) showed poise and confidence offensively with pinpoint passing and crisp runs, placing what seemed to be constant pressure on Roosevelt's backers.

Despite a large disparity in possession and chances, the Cougars were not able to net any other goals in the final 23 minutes of the first half, which remained 3-0 at the intermission.

Roosevelt (5-5) had their best opportunity at a goal in the 48th minute when Guhn Park found a opening just outside the box and lasered a shot that slammed the top bar, and was followed by a struck ball by Ryan Chun that went just wide left of the goal.

"We had scary moments in the back, where they possessed the ball and broke us down (defensively), remarked Takada. "I think it number 14 (Park), he knows what he's doing and has great vision. He was able to switch the ball, the point of attack, and really hurt us at times."

Senior Christer Fujimoto capped off the scoring for the Cougars in the 77th minute, knocking home a pretty pass from freshman Dakota Papapa, much to the delight of the Cougars' bench.

"It was great for them, they never gave up on the play," said Lira of the connection between Papapa and Fujimoto for the score. "Just the fact that three of our seniors scored today (on Senior Night) was big for us."

The five goal output was the most notched by the Cougars since a 9-0 road win against McKinley.

Kaiser secured the second seed out of the East with the victory, relinquishing the top seed in the OIA Red tournament to Kalani (8-2) due to the head-to-head win the Falcons had over the Cougars on December 18. Both Kaiser and Kalani draw first round byes.

The Rough Riders finished atop the White East standings, and also draw a first round bye.