No. 10 Aiea rebounds to rout Roosevelt in OIA opener


Greg Yamamoto | SL

ALIAMANU—Ezekiel Olie threw four first half touchdowns to help lead No. 10 Aiea in their Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I opener by routing Roosevelt, 57-7 at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium Saturday.

The junior finished with 241 yards on 15-of-21 passing with no picks in three quarters of work as Na Alii improved to 2-1 overall, 1-0 in OIA play.

Jayden Chanel, caught two of Olie's TD passes and finished with 84 yards. Rico Figueroa led the team with 86 receiving yards.

"It was like any other week. A whole lot of game planning and our mindset was winning in general," Olie said after the team came up just short against Kapolei the week before.

The Rough Riders, who played for the first time since Aug. 6, dropped to 1-1 overall, 0-1 OIA.

Geronimo Ulgaran's 70-yard punt return set up Kaimana Lale-Saole's 6-yard touchdown for Aiea's first points.

Na Alii redeemed Eric Saau's fumble recovery on the Roosevelt 36 with a five-play scoring drive capped by Ulgaran's 1-yard run.

Romeo Simpson picked off Kayman Lewis, who threw for 125 yards on 17-of-35 passing. On the next play, Olie hooked up with Jayden Chanel with a 50-yard bomb to go up, 21-0.

"Our defense capitalizing on those moments, it was a plus one for us. Our defense is just as physical as any other team on the island and smart as well," Olie said, giving credit where it was due.

After Na Alii forced a Rough Rider punt, Lale-Saole broke out for a 22-yard run and Olie finished it off with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Figueroa for a 28-0 lead after the first quarter.

Roosevelt scored their only touchdown of the game after Lewis found Jayden Montgomery-Gaopoa for a 1-yard touchdown with 11:10 to go in the second quarter.

After multiple penalties on both teams, Chanel hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Olie to make it, 35-7.

The Rough Riders went three-and-out and Aiea went on an 11-play, 85-yard scoring drive that resulted in Olie's fourth touchdown pass to Ezra Nahoopii-Makakona for a 35-point lead going into halftime.

Ulgaran opened the third quarter with an 89-yard kick off return.

"There's no way to describe it. Having these guys and playing with these guys since youth football, nothing but love and blessings," Olie said.

Noah Spencer, a transfer from Kamehameha-Kapalama, led Na Alii with 72 rushing yards, took reps at quarterback in the fourth quarter and threw a 4-yard touchdown to Jheremie Cacpal. Bryson Boyea Quiton, who was 7 for 7 on PATs, ran it in for two after a botched snap.

Emilio Aguilar had four solo tackles, Aizik Mahuka added 3 1/2 tackles and Sila Unutoa had two tackle for losses for Na Alii's defense.

Kingston Kekauoha-Contemplo led the Rough Rider defense with 6 1/2 tackles and Kainalu Davis with 4 1/2 tackles.

Aiea goes to Washington state to take on Woodinville on Thursday, Sept. 1 and returns to OIA league play against Kailua on Saturday, Sept. 10.

Roosevelt hopes to get back on track and hosts Radford on Friday, Sept. 9.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].