Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Fri, Sep 16, 2016 @ Kaiser [ 7:30 pm ]

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Aiea

36

Kaiser

20

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Aiea (3-6-0)	10	13	7	6	36
Kaiser (2-7-0)	0	0	13	7	20

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kainoa Torres 112 yd

Ty Matsunami 238 yd 3 TD

Kainoa Craig 36 yd

Ryan Panuelo 41 yd

Keoni Pangan 68 yd

Kame Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo 107 yd 2 TD

Aiea's 36-20 win over Kaiser was a tale of two halves, and neither were necessarily things of beauty.

Na Alii converted four first-half Cougars' turnovers into 23 points, then surrendered 20 points back to Kaiser on three turnovers of its own in the second, before putting the game just out of reach with a touchdown pass from quarterback Ty Matsunami to wide receiver Kame Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo at the midway point of the fourth quarter.

"We still had a lot of mistakes. It was a sloppy game on both sides," said Aiea head coach Wendell Say. "Defense I think we played okay but we have to be more consistent."

With both teams fairly close in the points off turnovers department, the key to the win ultimately came down to sheer offensive production, where Aiea outgained Kaiser 340 to 155.

Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo had five receptions for 107 yards and two scores and Matsunami came off the bench to throw for 236 and three touchdowns in the win.

"We needed to give him competition," said Say when asked about opting to bring Matsunami off the bench in favor of Kato. "With Z (Zeus Maae-Liupaono) out we had to move Ty. Ty was a quarterback in pop warner so trying to get him reps, just in case."

Demeiko Hill got the scoring started for Na Alii with 4:59 in the first quarter, picking off a Kainoa Torres pass and returning it back the other way 66 yards. He left following the scoring play with an apparent collarbone injury and did not return.

Kobe Kato knocked through a 27 yard field goal at the 3:13 mark to extend the margin to 10, and following a fumble on the next Cougars' drive that gave the ball back to Aiea deep in Kaiser territory, Kato called his own number from about five yards out to make the score 17-0.

Aiea's final score of the half came with just 21 ticks left, when Matsunami hooked up with Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo on a beautiful 24 yard spiral to push the lead to 23.

"It was just good ball placement, I just couldn't have gotten a better ball (thrown from Matsunami)," said Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo.

Matsunami picked up right where he left off in the first half, increasing the margin to 30 on a 47 yard find of Babu Capanang in stride down the seam, and it looked as if the rout was on.

Not so fast.

With Aiea back on offense after a Kaiser punt, an exchange on a handoff ended up was blown up by the Cougars' Tyson Creekmur and scooped up by Andrew Choi, who took ball back 40 yards to put Kaiser on the board.

Then, on what would be the final play of the third quarter, Keoni Pangan stepped in front of a Matsunami pass and returned the intercepted ball back 80 yards to trim the Aiea advantage to 17 with one quarter left in regulation.

What was a blowout in the making got even more interesting when Kaiser's Kainoa Craig picked off a pass in the left flat and raced 53 yards into the end zone to trim the lead to just 10 with 8:10 to play.

But with 6:20 left in regulation, Aiea pushed the margin back to 16 with the second connection of the evening between Matsunami and Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo, this one from 14 yards out, to seal it.

"We prepared well during the week. We were working on our passing a lot, and we just tried to prepare for what they came out with," said Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo.