Campbell puts the clamps on Aiea, 12-7

Campbell's Iosua Sevao celebrates after a 29 yard interception return for touchdown in a win against Aiea. Greg Yamamoto | SL

AIEA — There was a strict no-fly zone at Aiea Stadium Friday night.

Visiting Campbell recorded six total interceptions to defeat Aiea, 12-7, in an Oahu Interscholastic Division I Blue contest for its second straight win of the season (2-2, 2-1 OIA D1). Na Alii dropped to 1-2.

Freshman safety Pokii Adkins-Kupukaa led the day with two picks and senior linebacker Iosua Sevao had a 29-yard interception return late in the second quarter for the Sabers' final score of the game. Other Campbell players with interceptions include: Jeremiah Tauai, Jaylen Ignatowski and Noah Empron.

"Our defense was key tonight. I truly believe they are the heart and soul of our team," said Campbell coach Amosa Amosa.

The Campbell offense complemented the defensive effort with a run-first mentality, totaling 40 carries to 26 pass attempts despite using a spread formation for most of the night. The Sabers didn't get huge gains in the rushing department (87 yards, 2.2 yards per carry), but were able to milk precious time off the clock.

"Our running game has improved a lot from last year," said quarterback Kawika Ulufale. "We're trying to get the running game going so we can do a lot more stuff with the passing game and everything else."

Ulufale was the beneficiary of the run-first approach, having rushed for a game-high 62 yards on 15 carries, most of which were on designed quarterback runs.

The senior quarterback's biggest run of the night jumpstarted the Sabers' first scoring drive. Ulufale kept the ball on a midline play around left end and ran down the sideline for a 28-yard gain on third down. Three plays later he found Markus Ramos for a 44-yard catch-and-run to bring the Sabers into the red zone. The duo hooked up again four plays later on a 10-yard TD pass with 3:14 to go in the opening period.

Ulufale finished the night completing 12 of his 26 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted twice. His favorite target, Ramos, caught five passes for 112 yards and a score.

For Aiea, the Sabers were just the more physical team that night. Without good pass protection, quarterbacks Zelius Maae-Liupaono and Kobe Kato had to resort to making errant throws to avoid getting punished in the pocket.

"Our line wasn't getting a proper block," said Aiea coach Wendell Say. "We wasn't able to give our quarterbacks time and we were making them force some passes. There was some passes that we could have completed out there, but our quarterbacks over threw some. Campbell is a really good team."

The home team got on the board with 8:06 left in regulation thanks to Ryan Panuelo's one-yard TD run, but could not stop the Sabers' running game and suffered its second straight loss of the year.

"In the beginning we seemed OK, but they kind of wore us down with their running game," said Say. "We ran out of time. Campbell did a good job of ball control and we just have to regroup."

A bright spot for Aiea was senior Teejay Tome, who had eight tackles, one sack and a forced fumble.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].