Roosevelt QB Ioane Kamanao (right) smiles after running in the Rough Riders' final touchdown of the night against Kaimuki. Michael Lasquero | SL

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_23081901_FB-8.18.23-ROOSvsKAIM-2251.jpg - Michael Lasquero | SL

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KALIHI — Roosevelt started the game off with a bang when Nainoa Aguiar took the opening kickoff into the opposing team's end zone.

The play was called back due to a penalty, but it was a sign of things to come for what was a disastrous night by the Kaimuki special teams unit.

The Rough Riders recycled two blocked punts into points and never looked back as they cruised to a 28-13 win over the Bulldogs Friday night in an OIA Division II matchup at Farrington's Skippa Diaz Stadium.

A number of bad snaps and penalties also derailed Kaimuki, who dropped to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in league play while Roosevelt (2-0, 1-0) earned its second straight win.

"Opportunities came our way and we just have to jump on that," said Roosevelt coach Kai Kahooilihala.

The first bad punt came before the end of the first quarter when a low snap was dropped and picked up by the Kaimuki punter. This gave enough time for sophomore linebacker Ezekiel Soon to come up the middle and block the ball backwards before scooping up the loose ball to give the Rough Riders a 12-0 lead.

"It was just not a very good snap and he bobbled the ball and he kicked it right to me," said Soon. "I just picked it up and ran into the end zone."

The next bad punt wasn't blocked by a Roosevelt player. Instead, the punt went off the back of one of Kaimuki's players and sophomore linebacker Izaiah Nakamura was able to recover the live ball and returned it to the Bulldogs' 10-yard line. Senior running back Kaleikaumaka Akiona ran it in one play later to give Roosevelt a 18-0 lead with 5:57 left in the first half.

"Special teams is a third of the game and you want to try win at least two-thirds of the game," Soon said.

The Rough Riders turned it over on downs on their first possession of the second half, but the Bulldogs gave the ball right back when they needed to fall on a bad snap that went 12 yards back into their own end zone for a safety.

After the free kick, Roosevelt used an eight-play, 44-yard drive that culminated in sophomore quarterback Ioane Kamanao's 4-yard touchdown run on a naked bootleg run around right end. Kamanao also scrambled into the end zone on the ensuing 2-point conversion to make it a 28-7 game midway through the third quarter.

The Rough Riders milked the clock the rest of the way with their run game and even converted on fourth-and-15 when punter Kawika "Kana" Thompson-Kapanui ran for a 17-yard gain to extend a series. When the game was over, Roosevelt had 197 yards of rushing to Kaimuki's 78 yards on the ground.

"I think we could have done better executing our plays but I'm really glad for my linemen, they helped me out and they held the blocks they needed to and we got the job done," said Kamanao.

Roosevelt's first score of the game was aided by a costly Kaimuki personal foul that prevented a turnover. A potential 96-yard pick-6 by Jeremiah White for what could have been the first points of the game was wiped away by a roughing-the-passer penalty called against the Bulldogs. Instead, Dayten Tilton got credit for the first TD with a 10-yard run at the 2:42 mark of the first quarter.

Kaimuki quarterback Iosefa Letuli ran in two TDs to prevent a shutout. He scored before halftime to make it an 18-7 game and he ran another one in just as time expired in regulation for the final point total.

The Rough Riders host Pearl City (2-0, 1-0) next Friday in a while the Bulldogs will try to get their first win when they take on Waialua (1-1, 1-1) on Thursday.