Leilehua's Tyreek Keough gets set to haul in one of his three touchdown receptions against Kaiser. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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WAHIAWA — Kalanimoku Pauole threw for 190 yards and four touchdowns as Leilehua beat Kaiser in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Red regular-season finale for both teams at Hugh Yoshida Stadium Friday night.

All four of Pauole's touchdown passes came in the first half, including three to wide receiver Tyreek Keough, as the Mules improved to 6-1. Lauriano Lucas also caught a touchdown pass, Austin Molina scored on a 99-yard kickoff return and Ikaika Piceno closed out the scoring with a late touchdown run.

"We played a very good team, good tempo, well coached and we gave up some big plays early, but our guys hung in there and they made plays at the end," Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda said.

Jensen McDaniel scored on a pair of touchdown runs and Kalawaia Judd threw two scoring strikes for the Cougars, who saw their four-game win streak snapped and fell to 4-3.

With the win Leilehua assures itself at least a No. 2 seed — and accompanying first-round bye — in the 12-team OIA Tournament, which starts next week.

"It's nice to get that bye because definitely we need to rest up and go back to the film and see all the things that we need to fix," Tokuda said.

Kaiser held a 14-0 first-quarter lead after Judd tossed 25-yard touchdown passes to Destin Moss and Jordan Kannys to cap consecutive possessions. However, Molina answered for Leilehua with his 99-yard kickoff return. The extra point was no good and the Cougars' lead was cut to 14-6 with 5:36 left in the opening quarter.

Keough hauled in his first touchdown pass from Pauole a few minutes later on a fourth-and-14 on an 18-yard corner route. The same two hooked up on the ensuing two-point conversion try to tie it at 14 with 2:44 to play in the first.

Two drives later, McDaniel capped a nine-play, 79-yard scoring drive with a 26-yard touchdown run. Matt Sai's PAT cut Leilehua's lead to 21-14. Three plays later, Keough and Pauole were back at; this time connecting for an 11-yard touchdown on a third-down. The score was set-up by a 64-yard kickoff return by Piceno.

Kaiser turned it over on downs at the Leilehua 17-yard line where Leilehua took over. The Mules drove 75 yards in 11 plays, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Pauole to Keough. The drive included three third-down conversions, including the scoring play.

After a Cougars' three-and-out, Leilehua got the ball back at midfield and needed just 35 seconds to capitalize with a 36-yard Pauole-to-Lucas touchdown pass. Jadan Gilliland's extra point gave the Mules a 35-21 lead at the intermission.

"We just prepared throughout the week after a hard loss against Kahuku, but we just came out for a dogfight and we knew they were going to play hard so we just stayed focused," Keough said.

Levi Richards tackled Pauole in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter for a Kaiser safety, which made the score 35-23, and McDaniel punched in a 1-yard touchdown run with 3:34 to play. Following Sai's PAT, Leilehua's lead was cut to 35-30. However, Piceno put it out of hand with a 2-yard touchdown run to culminate the Mules' ensuing drive.

"Our defense made some stops for us and gave us some opportunities on special teams, which is what hurt us last week and they helped us tonight, got a spark going with that big kickoff return by Austin Molina and the other big kickoff return by Ikaika Piceno, which really got us going and that kind of got the offense in gear," Tokuda said.

Pauole, a senior quarterback, completed 12 of his 22 pass attempts and did not throw an interception. Keough caught four passes for 78 yards and Lucas finished with game-highs of six receptions for 93 yards. Piceno rushed 17 times for 81 a team-high 81 yards. the Mules lost five fumbles in the game, including four after halftime.

Leilehua played without running back Randy Neverson, who suffered an MCL sprain in the loss at Kahuku last week.

"It definitely starts with the O-line and we moved guys around, guys like Toma Savea, who was being unselfish by moving from a starting wideout position to a running back position," Tokuda said of the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Savea. "He gives us a solid protector back there and kind of a bruising back lead blocking for (Piceno) and that helped seal the deal for us."

Judd finished with 138 yards through the air on 10-of-27 passing with one interception to go along with a team-high 119 rushing yards on 25 carries. The Cougars rushed for 234 yards as a team, including 116 on 21 carries from McDaniel, who entered the game ranked second in the state in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.

"We kind of became more one-dimensional with the rain and the elements, but we had it there, it was just big momentum plays that did us in," Kaiser coach Cameron Higgins said. "We score and then they get a big kick return to the house that killed our momentum and we just can't have those kinds of mistakes in a game of this magnitude."

Depending on the outcome of Saturday's game between Waianae and Kahuku, the Mules will draw either the D1 Red's first or second seed. Kaiser, which could have clinched a first-round bye with a win over Leilehua, will be the division's fourth seed and host the fifth seed out of the Blue next weekend.