Ground game helps Pearl City top Nanakuli, 35-12

Pearl City's Kristian Vaana-Kikuyama celebrates after a play against Nanakuli Jon Bello | ExpressionsHawaii.net

It was a tale of two halves in this OIA White contest with playoff implications for both teams as the Nanakuli Golden Hawks faced off against the Pearl City Chargers Friday night at Nanakuli High School.

The Chargers defeated the Golden Hawks 35-12, extending their winning streak to five after losing their first two games of the season. The Chargers, No. 10 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Division II Power Rankings improved to 5-2 overall, 5-1 in the OIA White while Nanakuli dropped to 2-5 overall, 2-4 in the OIA White.

The Chargers got it done on the ground in their victory over the Golden Hawks racking up 201 yards led by running backs Reno Abero who carried the ball 10 times for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns and Justin Dupio who carried the ball 10 times for 56 yards and 1 touchdown.

"The running backs did good, we rotate our running backs in and both of them did a good job tonight." Kami said of his running backs performances.

Pearl City quarterback Jordan Taamau gave the offense some balance completing 9-of-15 pass attempts for 122 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Kierren McGhee caught 4 passes for 79 yards and 1 touchdown and Timothy Rivera also caught 4 passes for 41 yards.

Nanakuli's Chazz Troutman finished the night completing 11-of-25 pass attempts for 123 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Naliko Kea lead the Golden Hawks in receiving hauling in 5 passes for 66 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The first half of this game was a back and forth battle between the two offenses. Pearl City would get on the scoreboard first on a 5 yard touchdown run by Reno Abero which was setup by the Chargers defense intercepting Nanakuli quaterback Chazz Troutman's first pass attempt of the game. On the Chargers' next drive quarterback Jordan Taamau would connect with receiver Kierren McGhee for a 65 yard touchdown.

Nanakuli responded with Makaila Haina-Horswill returning the ensuing kickoff 60 yards to Pearl City's 35-yard line setting up the Golden Hawks first touchdown of the game, a 10 yard touchdown pass from Troutman to Naliko Kea on the last play of the first quarter.

Pearl City started the second quarter by marching the ball down the field going 50 yards in 7 plays capped off by a 1 yard touchdown run by Justin Dupio to put the Chargers up 21-6 on the Golden Hawks, however Nanakuli answered right back on their next drive going 66 yards in 5 plays scoring on a 31 yard touchdown pass from Troutman to Kea pulling the Golden Hawks to within 9 of the Chargers going into halftime.

The second half of this game was a completely different story from the first half as both defenses took over. Pearl City's defense forced 2 punts, and 2 turnover on downs but the biggest moment for the Charger defense in the second half was their goal line stand. Nanakuli's offense looked ready to score with first and goal on Pearl City's 4-yard line, but the Chargers' defense stepped up, intercepting Troutman's pass in the end zone on fourth down.

"The Defense played a heck of a game, we put them in a bad situation couple times but they held their ground for us," said Kami, "the red zone was real real big, the momentum was swinging and we just held them down."

On Pearl City's first three drives of the second half Nanakuli's defense intercepted a pass, forced a punt, and forced a turnover on downs. Pearl City finally broke through Nanakuli's defense with 39 seconds left in the game on a 44 yard touchdown run by Abero. The Chargers' defense capped off the scoring for the night by forcing a fumble which was scooped up by Blake Cooper and returned 20 yards for a touchdown putting Pearl City up 35-12.

"This was a big win for this team and for the Pearl City community." said Pearl City head coach Robin Kami.

With the win tonight Pearl City clinched a playoff spot and now plays for seeding in their next two games against Kaiser and Radford. Nanakuli is eliminated from the playoffs with the loss and finishes out their season with their next two games against Kalaheo and Anuenue.