Kailua's Koolau Gaspar hauls in an 18-yard pass from Noah Auld for a second quarter touchdown. Johnny Wilson | Special to SL

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Mon, Aug 24, 2015 @ Kailua [ 6:00 pm ]

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Kapolei

6

Kailua

20

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kapolei (6-4-0)	0	0	0	6	6
Kailua (7-3-0)	7	7	6	0	20

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Noah Auld 193 yd 2 TD

Taulia Tagovailoa 189 yd 1 TD

Gabriel LeLesch 54 yd 1 TD

L.J. Esperas 70 yd

Martin Tigilau 51 yd 1 TD

Ty-Noah Williams 89 yd 1 TD

KAILUA — This one was worth the wait for coach Joseph Wong and the Kailua football team.

Quarterback Noah Auld passed for 193 yards and two touchdowns to help Kailua to a 20-6 win over Kapolei before a sparse crowd of about 300 fans at Alex Kane Stadium Monday night.

The Surfriders, who are ranked ninth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Power Rankings, improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Blue Division of the Oahu Interscholastic Association. It is the best start in program history since the 2003 season, when they also started the year 3-0.

The seventh-ranked Hurricanes suffered their second consecutive loss to fall to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in league play.

"It feels good, but not for me," said Wong, a second-year coach at his alma mater. "I always tell (the players) that ‘It's not for me. Don't win for me. Win for yourselves, win for your brother, win for the guy that you bleed and sweat next to day-in and day-out.' "

The game actually began Saturday night, but was suspended midway through the opening quarter (in a scoreless tie) due to lightning in the area, forcing the teams to complete the contest Monday.

There was no lightning Monday night, but heavy rains saturated the field and was likely a factor in the half-dozen fumbles over the course of the game.

"It was nice all day long and then it rained right before we came out and it just wet everything all over again," said Wong, whose team totaled 284 yards of offense.

Kapolei lost three fumbles — all in the first half — two of which were recycled by the Surfriders into touchdowns, but its coach refused to use the wet weather as an excuse.

"That's a cop out, that's an excuse," Hurricanes' coach Darren Hernandez said. "(Kailua) had to play in the same sloppy conditions and we made a lot of mistakes and that's it. I mean, there's nothing more to say. We made a lot of mistakes. They made some, we made more. We made some plays, they made more plays. We had some stops, but they played great. They deserve to win, they outplayed us."

Kailua opened the scoring late in the first quarter on an 8-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal from Auld to Martin Tigilau. The play was set-up by defensive lineman Taylor Tagupa's recovery of a fumble by Kapolei quarterback Ezra Savea just outside the red zone. Jonovan Lee's extra point gave Kailua a 7-0 lead after one quarter of play.

About halfway through the second quarter, Leon Lee picked off Auld to give the Hurricanes possession at their own 39-yard line. However, after a dead ball penalty, they turned it over just one play later when running back L.J. Esperas put the ball on the grass and Isaiah Damo-Agcaoili fell on it for the Surfriders at Kapolei 18.

On the very next play, Auld hit Koolau Gaspar for an 18-yard scoring strike. Gaspar ran a fade pattern to the back left pylon and went up to get the ball in front of the Kapolei defensive back on the touchdown.

"The ball was really slippery, so it kind of slipped out of my hand, but thank God for him," Auld said of Gaspar. "He's an awesome receiver and he just went up and snatched that away from the (defensive back). It was just a great play by him."

Lee tacked on the PAT to give Kailua a 14-0 lead with 3:39 left in the second quarter.

The Surfriders added a score early in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard Gabriel LeLesch plunge into the end zone to cap an 11-play, 60-yard drive. The hold on the ensuing extra point was botched to stretch the Kailua lead to 20-0.

The Hurricanes got their only score on their next possession, which covered 66 yards in seven plays, culminating in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Taulia Tagovailoa to Ty-Noah Williams. The PAT was blocked, but it was too little, too late.

Hernandez said his team struggled to overcome their first-half miscues offensively.

"That's tough. I mean, you know, that's football," Hernandez said. "You've got to make plays and you've got to limit mistakes and we didn't get it done, so we were just in a position where we were playing catch-up the entire game. We were in a position where we were playing from behind and that made it tough on us."

Tagovailoa, a freshman signal-caller, came off the bench to start the second half and finished 14-of-33 passing for 189 yards. Ezra Savea, who played quarterback in the first half, completed just one of his seven pass attempts for 13 yards. He moved to receiver after halftime and caught three passes for 60 yards. Williams finished with game-highs of seven receptions for 89 yards.

Auld, a senior and third-year starter at quarterback, completed 18 of 37 passes. He was intercepted once. LeLesch led the ground game with 54 yards on 14 carries.

"Offensively, we did all right," Auld said. "We have some stuff to sort out. This is an ugly win, but a good win. A win is a win and we'll take it."

Both teams will have to play again in just five days. Kailua visits Aiea (1-2, 1-1) Saturday, while Kapolei visits top-ranked Mililani (2-0, 2-0).