Kaiser running back Jensen McDaniel hits the end zone for one of his two scores against Castle. Johnny Wilson | Special to SL

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Fri, Sep 26, 2014 @ Castle [ 7:30 pm ]

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Kaiser

28

Castle

23

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kaiser (5-4-0)	7	14	0	7	28
Castle (2-6-0)	7	7	2	7	23

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Willie Ewaliko 231 yd 3 TD

Kalawaia Judd 128 yd 1 TD

Dane Kamalu 63 yd

Jensen McDaniel 114 yd 2 TD

Chad Figueora 87 yd 1 TD

Destin Moss 82 yd 1 TD

KANEOHE — After upsetting Kahuku last week, No. 10 Kaiser held off a feisty Castle squad, 28-23 at Castle on Friday night to improve to 4-2 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division. The Knights fell to 1-5 in the Red. 

"We were lucky we got out of here with a ‘W', but I take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day. We're no where near where we need to be, Castle really should've won this game, I thought. They played great football, they're well coached and had a great game plan for us. We're going to look back at the film and correct our mistakes and look forward to Leilehua," said Kaiser coach Cameron Higgins.  

Jensen McDaniel ran the ball 24 times for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Kalawaia Judd was 16-of-19 passing for 128 yards and a touchdown. He had nine rushes for 66 yards. McDaniel and Judd combined for 180 of Kaiser's 191 rushing yards for the game. 

"The players we wanted to make sure it didn't happen and the coaches made sure that it didn't happen and they were on us this whole week and we had to make sure we didn't come out a lay an egg. We knew they (Castle) were going to play hard and we expected it," said McDaniel. 

Kaiser recovered an onside kick attempt on the opening kick off on their own 49-yard line and two minutes later, McDaniel rushed for a 2-yard touchdown. 

"That's our foundation of our offense and we have to establish the run game and we were good at some times but we weren't consistent with penalties, missed assignments," said Higgins. 

After the Cougars went three-and-out, Castle marched 76 yards on nine plays as Willie Ewaliko threw a 20-yard touchdown to Royce Simeona-Townsend to tie the game at 7. 

In the second quarter, Nuu Colton blocked the punt and recovered it in the end zone to put the Cougars back up. 

"You have to play all phases at the game and it's equally important," said Higgins.  

Simeona-Townsend returned the ensuing kick off 41-yards to the Kaiser 41-yard line and three plays later, Ewaliko threw a touchdown to a streaking Taylor Bee for 38-yards to tie the game at 14. 

Ewaliko finished 24-of-37 passing for 231 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. 

"Willie has been improving week by week and his play has been consistent. There are still things he needs to work on, his scrambling is a big asset and threw a nice ball and wish he threw a little bit more and we had some receivers open, but overall he's been doing a good job for us," said Castle coach Nelson Maeda. 

Late in the second quarter, Destin Moss' would-be 69-yard touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty. The Cougars made it up as Moss caught a 17-yard touchdown to give Kaiser a 21-14 lead going into halftime.  

"We have it in our grasp and it's 0-0, we have finish and that's what we harp on everyday and finish til the fourth quarter and don't take the foot off the gas pedal," said Higgins, as he reminded his team not to let up in the second half. 

In the third, Castle added a safety as Nicolas Tom was back to punt, but the snap sailed over his head into the end zone. 

In the fourth, Kalawaia Judd converted a fourth-and-short on a 24-yard keeper to eventually set up McDaniel for his second rushing touchdown, this time from 9 yards out. 

"In the second half we kept running and running and wore them down and the holes started opening up and I hit the holes," said McDaniel. 

Figueroa had a 55-yard kick off return and took it to the Kaiser 41-yard line. The Knights got all the way down to the Kaiser 16-yard line and had opportunities to score, but turned it over on downs. 

"Rich (Torres) called a great game, they bent but didn't break and that's our defense being resilient and fighting the whole drive. I'm proud of our D," said Higgins. 

Kaiser turned it over on downs, and Castle went 59-yards on four plays in 58 seconds as Ewaliko threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Chad Figueroa with 1:27 remaining. However, Kaiser recovered the onside kick attempt and took several knees to run out the clock. 

Kaiser takes on No. 4 Leilehua, who fell to Kahuku tonight, 21-14 at Hugh Yoshida Stadium on Oct. 3, while Castle hosts McKinley on the same night. 

"Our goal was to play hard all four quarters and tonight was a better showing. The way that they loss, the mistakes were self-induced, Kaiser is a talented team and well-coached. There is promise and light at the end of the tunnel. We have our last game against McKinley and we need to win," said Maeda.