Kailua's Noah Auld has a career-high 309 passing yards with three scores in a win over Aiea. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Aug 29, 2015 @ Aiea [ 6:00 pm ]

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Kailua

34

Aiea

21

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kailua (7-3-0)	7	14	0	13	34
Aiea (1-7-0)	0	0	7	14	21

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kobe Kato 275 yd 2 TD

Noah Auld 309 yd 3 TD

Ariq Vergado-Duclayan 9 yd 1 TD

Noah Auld 61 yd

Pohaku Kealoha-Cambe 138 yd

Martin Tigilau 117 yd 2 TD

AIEA — Kailua built an early 21-0 lead to help stave off host Aiea for a 34-21 Oahu Interscholastic Association Blue Division Saturday night.

Noah Auld passed for a career-high 309 yards with three scores and the defense recorded seven sacks and four turnovers to help the Surfriders remain undefeated (4-0, 3-0 OIA Blue). Na Alii suffered their second straight loss and dropped to 1-3 and 1-2.

"They're a good team," Aiea coach Wendell Say said. "They got athletes all around and they did a heck of a job tonight. It's not surprising that they are undefeated. I think (Kailua coach) Joseph Wong has them going in the right direction."

Auld, a four-year varsity member, displayed composure in the pocket and was able to make plays with his arm and feet in the clutch. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound quarterback tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Damo-Agocaoili on fourth down early in the final period and converted another fourth down with a scramble up the middle to set up the Surfriders' final score of the night. He added a 61 yards on the ground in the win.

"Noah did great today," receiver Martin Tigilau said on Auld. "He's definitely one of the leaders we look up to."

The Surfriders were able to jump out to an early 7-0 lead on Auld's 85-yard touchdown pass to Tigilau on a slant pattern on Kailua's first play from scrimmage. The duo also hooked up just before the end of the first half on a 1-yard quick hitter to give the Surfriders a 21-0 lead at the break.

Defensively the Surfriders were able to get into Aiea's backfield at will and held Na Alii to no total yards rushing on the night. Christian Mejia led the effort with three sacks. 

Kailua's secondary was also aggressive and had nine total pass breakups along with two interceptions, one each by twins Marlo and Mark Lagazo.

The Surfriders looked prime to record their first shutout win of the year, but gave Na Alii life returner when Koolau Gaspar touched a live punt after a couple of hops. Aiea's Brian Taamalemalo-Nasau was able to fall on the loose ball to give Na Alii a fresh set of downs at the Kailua 23-yard line. Four plays later Kobe Kato tossed a 11-yard strike to Kame Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo to get the home team on the board.

Even though Kailua pushed its lead back to three touchdowns early in the fourth period, Kato and the rest of the Na Alii offense were able to find creases against an aggressive Kailua defense. Kato finished with 275 yards passing on the night.

"We cannot start in the second half every game, we got to start in the beginning," said Say. "The game is 48 minutes, we cannot just play the last 24. We're getting better, we're trying to get our kids to play start to finish."

After Kailua took a 28-7 lead on Auld's final touchdown pass of the game, Kato hooked up with Pohaku Kealoha-Cambe for a 65-yard catch and run. This set up Ariq Vergado-Duclayan 7-yard touchdown run a play later.

Na Alii failed on the ensuing onside kick attempt, but was able to force a three-and-out on Kailua's next possession. Aiea got the ball back at its 17-yard line and was able to drive down the field thanks to a 21-yard completion to Vergado-Duclayan, a 32-yard catch and run by Armon Mogote and two personal fouls against Kailua. Na Alii capped the drive with Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo's 7-yard grab over Kailua cornerback Kalei Kealoha-Machado. This made the score 28-21 with 8:43 left in regulation.

"We had a few breakdowns," said Kailua coach Joseph Wong. "We have to hem some things up so the game is not so exciting in the end. Even though people want that, we try to get off the field and get the game over early."

Mark Lagazo gave Kailua an insurance score with 3:42 remaining in regulation and the defense had two sacks and three pass breakups on Na Alii's final drive of the contest.

Aiea hosts Farrington for its homecoming game next week while Kailua returns home to take on Campbell. Both games are slated for Friday.