Kaiser's Nic Tom had a hand in four Kaiser touchdowns to lead the Cougars over the relentless Knights. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Fri, Sep 18, 2015 @ Kaiser [ 7:30 pm ]

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Castle

32

Kaiser

48

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Castle (3-6-0)	0	12	12	8	32
Kaiser (4-5-0)	28	6	7	7	48

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Nicolas Tom 36 yd 2 TD

Willie Ewaliko 254 yd 4 TD

Parker Higgins 138 yd 1 TD

Blayzen Napoleon 64 yd

Jonny Hanawaihine 7 yd 1 TD

Jeremy McGoldrick 129 yd 3 TD

HAWAII KAI - Kaiser's Mr. Slash - as in quarterback/cornerback/punter/kick returner Nicholas Tom - had a hand in four touchdowns to help the Cougars fend off relentless Castle, 48-32, Friday night at Kaiser Stadium.

Tom, expected to be primarily a cornerback this season, was pressed into playing quarterback when Justin Uahinui transfered to Farrington just before the season started.  He passed for two touchdowns, rushed for another and returned a kickoff 86 yards for yet another TD to help the Cougars win their third consecutive game. Kaiser improved to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Red Division, while Castle fell to 2-5 and 2-4.

The Cougars needed such an effort from Tom, a senior, as his counterpart, Castle QB Willie Ewaliko, was extraordinary himself, passing for 254 yards and four TDs and rushing for another.

"We came out strong," Tom said. "But they're a good team, so they fought back. We just had to keep with our game plan and grind it out."

Tom was all guts. Twice he had to leave the game with a calf injury, only to return each time. He was pleased with how his team responded since an 0-3 start.

"It means a lot," Tom said of the win. "We started off 0-3 and now we've won three straight. Still have a lot more to do, but it feels good to get on the right track now."

Tom's most important play might have been on special teams. Kaiser was forced to punt from its 8 on its first series of the game. Tom's punt took favorable bounces into Castle territory, eventually being downed by Kaiser at the Castle 10 - an 82-yard punt. The punt wasn't only impressive, the officials ruled the ball touched a Castle player; the muff, when downed by the Kaiser player turned into a turnover and the Cougars took over first-and-10 from the Castle 10. The Cougars scored on first down on a run by running back Jensen McDaniel, two minutes, 34 seconds into the game, to give Kaiser a 7-0 lead after Makana Srivongsana's PAT.

"That was was huge," Kaiser coach Cameron Higgins admitted. "I'm not going to argue with the refs if they call that. I thought that was a huge momentum-builder for us because that first drive didn't go the way we wanted to, then we get that. We end up scoring and we just picked up steam after that."

What seemed odd was the Kaiser players weren't showing any excitement upon downing the ball, thinking it was a turnover. The Cougars were thrilled that the punt pinned the Knights deep, then Kaiser was elated that it got the ball back.

"It just changed the momentum," Castle coach Nelson Maeda said. "From having the ball to them having it in the red zone and punching it in…"

The Cougars would score on their next three series en route to a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

A sack by Ewaliko - another slash player - pinned Castle to its 10, forcing another punt that put Kaiser in great field position at Castle' 49. Eight plays later, McDaniel scores from the 1 to make it 14-0.

Castle's next series ended in disaster when the Knights rushed the ball from punt formation from their 5 with a three-yard gain, turning the ball over on downs at the Castle 8. Two plays later, Tom connected with Jalen Pinks on an eight-yard TD pass to make it 21-0.

An interception by Kaiser's Noah Cambra set up the fourth TD, Tom's seven-yard TD pass to Jonny Hanawahine to make it 28-0 at 2:34 in the first quarter.

Castle finally caught its breath and put together and 82-yard scoring drive that included completions by Ewaliko of 36 yards to Jeremy McGoldrick and 25 yards to Kainalu Moya that ended with the QB scoring on a two-yard run. The Knights' PAT failed, but they got on the board at 28-6.

Whatever momentum the Knights might have gathered disappeared quickly on Tom's 86-yard return for a TD on the ensuing kickoff. The PAT missed, but Kaiser increased its lead to 34-6.

The Knights took a bite out of the lead before the half on Ewaliko's 15-yard TD pass to Makana Smith. The 2-point try failed to keep it 34-12 with 8:32 in the half and stayed that way until the break.

"Special teams just hurt us," Maeda said. "We had three blunders that gave them a short field. It made it tough."

The Knights opened the second half by scoring on their first series with Ewaliko's 18-yard TD pass to McGoldrick, but they missed another 2-point try to make it 34-18.

But Kaiser doused Castle's momentum again. Kamalu Simeona's 24-yard kickoff return to midfield set up another short scoring drive for the Cougars, who enveutally scored on Tom's option keeper up the middle for 36 yards to make it 41-18.

Later in the third period, the Knights scored on Ewaliko's 16-yard TD pass to McGoldrick, but again failed on a 2-point try, but pulling to 41-24 with 1:45 left in the quarter.

Kaiser then turned over the ball deep in Castle territory when the punter fumbled the snap, giving Castle possession at the Kaiser 12 early in the fourth quarter. Two plays later, McGoldrick hauled in a seven-yard pass from Ewaliko with 9:49 in the game. Running back Blayzen Napoleon rushed for the 2-point conversion to pull Castle to 41-32 with 9:49 in the game.

Kaiser's defense stepped up the fourth quarter. Castle had to punt after Mike Eletise's first of two sacks put the Knights in a fourth-and-27 at their own 32. Against a worn-down Castle defense, the Knights needed only five plays to move 49 yards with RB Parker Higgins scoring from 31 yards out to seal the game at 48-32 with 3:27 left.

Eletise's second sack on fourth-and-8 at the Kaiser 20 put the exclaimation mark on the night on Castle's last series of the game.