Waianae running back Jemery Willes finds some running room against Castle. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 1 of 5

Waianae's Joshua Searle hauls in a pass against Castle. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 2 of 5

Castle's Kaleo Kanekoa returned a Waianae fumble 80 yards for a score. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 3 of 5

Castle's Ikaika Urasaki carries the ball against Waianae. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 4 of 5

Waianae quarterback Kekoa Kaluhiokalani rushed for 65 yards and 2 touchdowns against Castle. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 5 of 5

Sat, Oct 12, 2013 @ Waianae [ 6:00 pm ]

---

Castle

7

Waianae

37

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Castle (3-6-0)	0	0	0	7	7
Waianae (6-3-0)	7	14	14	2	37

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kekoa Kaluhiokalani Jr. 31 yd

Stephen Lee 142 yd

Jemery Willes 80 yd 1 TD

Ryan Mohika 6 yd

Joshua Searle 30 yd

Kyle Urasaki 85 yd

WAI'ANAE - If it wasn't one Kaluhiokalani it was another doing in the Castle Knights.

Quarterback Kekoa Kaluhiokalani and his cousin, backup Ioane Kaluhiokalani, helped Wai'anae in its 37-7 win against the Knights in Saturday's O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red tournament first-round game at Raymond Torii Field.

The Seariders (7-2) advance to Friday's quarterfinals at East runner-up Kahuku. This will be their third meeting in the quarterfinals in as many years. Each time, the Seariders gave the Red Raiders a battle, but came up short. Kahuku won 20-16 in 2011 and 14-10 in 2012.

"I still feel we have to get better," Wai'anae fullback Mahvan Tau said. "The playoffs are different from the beginning of the year, so we have to push harder at practice."

Kekoa rushed for two touchdowns, including the first score of the game on a 50-yard run, and a second from 15 yards.

Ioane, though, had an adventurous game. He was the holder on a 39-yard field goal attempt for Stanton Spencer. But Ioane got out of his crouch and rolled right to pass. Castle linebacker Taylor Malina was just about in Ioane's face and intercepted the pass, which might have traveled a foot or less.

But Ioane had a chance to redeem himself to set up the Seariders' second TD. The Seariders were in punt formation on fourth-and-7 from their own 6. But as he had done three weeks ago against Kapolei, Ioane noticed his right gunner uncovered. The 30-yard pass play to Joshua Searle kept alive the eventual drive that would cover 97 yards in 12 plays that ended with Matautia's 1-yard TD run.

"When we line up, we try to line up quick," Ioane explained of catching Castle off guard. "Whoever is on the outside, I make that decision. The defender tried to jump the route, but when he came for me, I just popped the ball over (to Searle)."

It was a gutsy decision because he had to confident he'd make the play or had to have faith that his defense would make the stop if the play didn't work.

"If it's open, it's open," he said. "We have to execute that play."

"That was a very crucial play," Castle coach Nelson Maeda said. "Big turning point in the game."

The Seariders inflicted most of their damage on the Knights with the ground game. Wai'anae amassed 253 yards rushing that was pretty balanced. Tailback Willes led with 80 yards on 12 carries, Tau had 69 yards on nine carries and Kekoa had 65 yards on 12 carries. The bulk came on his 50-yard TD run because he also was sacked four times. Twelve of Wai'anae's 15 first downs were by rushing.

Wai'anae's rushers looked crisp. Willes and Tau had gone through the regular season with an assortment of aches and pains. But Wai'anae had a bye last week and the rest appeared to help.

"That was the main thing," Tau said. "We got everybody out (on the field) this week."

The Knights (3-6), who are done for the season, were hampered by turnovers, two of which led to Wai'anae scores. One of their lost fumbles came after an 18-yard gain on a pass play.

"Even as important as this game is when there's no tomorrow, we just didn't do as well as we would have liked to," Maeda said. "That's a tribute to Wai'anae. They played well. They looked very crisp and sharp."

Wai'anae took a 21-0 lead at the half and scored twice in the third to put the game in the mercy-rule mode with the running clock with 3:58 in the third quarter. The Seariders opened the fourth quarter with a safety when a high snap from center in punt formation sailed out of the end zone for Castle to make it 37-0.

But with 8:05 left in the game with Wai'anae's reserves in, Castle's Kaleo Kanekoa ripped the ball out of Wai'anae ball carrier's arms and returned the fumble 80 yards for the Knights' only score.