No. 11 Aiea bombards Castle


Leighland Tagawa | SL

KANEOHE—Ezekiel Olie threw for 392 yards and five touchdowns to lead No. 11 Aiea past Castle, 52-35 at the Knights field Saturday to keep pace in the OIA Division I standings.

For the second week in a row, Na Alii (6-2 overall, 4-1 OIA) rolled up over 500 yards on offense. Aiea posted 508 yards of net offense on the Knights, who dropped their third-straight game to fall to 1-7 overall, 1-4 in the OIA Division I.

After Waipahu clinched the top seed in the playoffs with a 6-0 league record, Aiea looks to clinch the second seed and will take on Farrington (5-4 overall, 3-2 OIA) on Oct. 14.

Olie finished the night completing 28 of his 34 passes and no picks after three quarters. Two of his five touchdown passes went to Jheremie Cacpal, who caught a team-high 11 receptions for 124 yards.

Rico Figueroa caught five passes for 85 yards and hauled in a 12-yard touchdown for Aiea's first points.

After Na Alii turned it over on downs, Castle tied up the game three plays later after Daunte Ching found Coby Tanioka for a 96 yard touchdown.

Ching had an all-around performance throwing for 214 yards on 14-of-24 passing, one pick and two touchdowns. He caught another touchdown and rushed for two more in the second half.

Jayden Chanel caught six passes for 123 yards and brought in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Olie for a 14-7 lead.

After Emilio Aguilar recovered the ensuing kickoff, Figueroa caught a 31-yard pass that set up Cacpal's touchdown from 9 yards out. Aguilar intercepted Ching and returned it 33 yards for a 28-7 lead after the first quarter.

Ching lateraled it to Tanioka, who made like he was going to run, but threw it back to Ching, who walked in to bring the Knights within 14.

Aiea added to its lead after Cacpal snared a 22-yard touchdown pass with three seconds to go before halftime to go up, 35-14.

Bryson Boyea Quiton went 7 for 7 on PATs and was 1 for 2 on field goals and made a 35-yarder with 1:51 left in the third quarter.

Eziekiel Madelo recovered the kickoff and Na Alii found the end zone three plays later and Olie finished his night throwing his fifth touchdown pass to Hiki Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo.

Ching finished with 120 yards on 15 attempts and rushed for a 54-yard touchdown before the end of the third quarter and added a 19-yard touchdown in the fourth.

Kobe Higa scored Aiea's final touchdown of the night with an 11-yard run.

Tanioka finished with 10 catches for 184 receiving yards and brought in a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ching for the final score of the night.

Aizik Mahuka led Na Alii's defense with nine tackles to go with his interception and Aguilar had three tackles and a fumble recovery.

Ryan Figueroa led the Knights with 10 tackles and Ryder Kapuwai-Mapu forced and recovered a fumble and broke up a pass in the loss.

Uilani Shimabukuro was 5 for 5 on her PATs.

Castle ends its season with a home game against Radford (1-6 overall, 0-5 OIA) on Friday, Oct. 14.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].