Kailua's Koolauloa Gaspar heads downfield after a pass reception in a win over Leilehua. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Fri, Aug 14, 2015 @ Kailua [ 7:30 pm ]

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Leilehua

14

Kailua

27

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Leilehua (3-6-0)	0	0	14	0	14
Kailua (7-3-0)	7	20	0	0	27

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Noah Auld 164 yd 2 TD

Konapiliahi Andres 270 yd 2 TD

Dalton Kalama 72 yd 1 TD

Zach Kamalani 9 yd

Martin Tigilau 95 yd 1 TD

Tre Barnes 155 yd 2 TD

KAILUA — Kailua built an early lead and held off a late offensive charge to defeat Leilehua, 27-14 in both team's Oahu Interscholastic Association opener at Alex Kane Stadium Friday night.

Quarterback Noah Auld accounted for three scores to lead the Surfriders (2-0 overall, 1-0 league) to their first win over the Mules since 2000. Leilehua, ranked ninth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Football Power Rankings, suffered its second straight loss in as many weeks and dropped to 0-2 and 0-1.

"Leilehua is really good team, they fought to the end," said Auld. The senior quarterback was 13-for-23 passing with 164 yards for two touchdowns and had 46 yards and a touchdown on the ground. "This win is right up there, but this isn't going to make our season. This is just another win under our belt and we're going to keep on working to get as far as we can."

Defensively the Surfriders held Leilehua to 2-for-7 on fourth down conversions and also recorded four turnovers, two of which were recycled into scores.

"Defense wins championships, that's what everybody says," exclaimed cornerback Kalei Kealoha-Machado, who finished with six tackles and one interception. "We stepped it up big time today."

With receiver Tyreek Keough (concussion) out for the contest, the Mules moved quarterback Kaleoaloha Piceno to slotback and started Kona Andres in his stead. Andres completed 19 of his 49 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the loss.

"We just tried to get guys who had experience from last year on the field," explained Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda. "(Piceno) was a pretty effective slot for us last year, that's what made way for us to start Kona."

Kailua drew first blood on its opening series with Auld's 67-yard touchdown pass to Martin Tigilau on his first past attempt of the game. Jonovan Lee's PAT gave the Surfriders a 7-0 lead with 10:16 to play in the first quarter.

The Surfriders' next score of the game would not occur until the second quarter. After a running into the kicker penalty gave Kailua a fresh set of downs, the Surfriders strung together a nine-play, 66-yard drive to go up by two scores. Auld capped the drive with a 16-yard read-option keeper around right end.

Kealoha-Machado's interception would help set up Kailua's third touchdown of the night. The Surfriders got the ball back on their own 37-yard line and marched it down the field in seven plays. Dalton Kalama's one-yard plunge and Lee's PAT gave Kailua a 21-0 lead with 1:26 remaining in the first half.

"We really was just on a good rhythm," said Auld. "We were all on the same page. We knew what we were doing and the communication was really well."

Kailua's final score of the night came after the Mules fumbled the ball inside their own 10-yard line. Following the change of possession, Auld tossed a strike to Koolau Gaspar in the back left corner of the end zone for a six-yard touchdown pass. This gave Kailua a 27-0 lead at the break.

"When you don't do anything on offense and you put your defense in that situation, that's tough," said Tokuda. "They've been on the field so long. That's been our achilles heel with the guys that we have this year."

Leilehua would not go down without a fight however. A 75-yard bomb to Tre Barnes put the Mules on the scoreboard 30 seconds into the second half. Barnes was also able to pluck away a deflected ball for a 70-yard score later in the third quarter.

The Mules were also able to shutout the Kailua defense in the second half. Linebacker Devin Griffiths spearheaded the effort with a sack and a game-high 13 tackles.

"Hats off to Nolan, they adjusted to what we were doing," said Kailua coach Joseph Wong. "We still marched the ball, we just couldn't punched it in when we needed to."

But the Mules themselves could not punch anything into the end zone. Leilehua had several opportunities in the red zone — and even recovered a fumble at the Kailua three-yard line — but turned it over on downs on repetitively.

"We have to make sure that we finish our drives," said Tokuda. "We got in the red zone a couple of times — and it's been like that in our scrimmages — but now we don't finish. We need to spend more time in the red zone and work on executing."