Peter Caldwell | SL

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Sat, Aug 13, 2016 @ Kailua [ 6:30 pm ]

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Moanalua

13

Kailua

16

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Moanalua (5-7-0)	0	0	6	7	13
Kailua (3-5-0)	0	2	7	7	16

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Paul Serikawa, Jr. 101 yd

Alakai Yuen 109 yd 2 TD

Mark Lagazo 109 yd 1 TD

Roland Rodrigues 0 yd

Mark Lagazo 78 yd

Ryan Ramones 76 yd 1 TD

Kailua outlasted visiting Moanalua in a defensive slugfest for a 16-13 season-opening win at Alex Kane Stadium Saturday night.

The Surfriders (1-0) dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball and held a red-hot Na Menehune offense to just 99 yards to begin the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I regular season.

Senior Mark Lagazo did it all for the Surfriders with a rushing touchdown and 187 total yards from scrimmage while registering four tackles and a pass breakup.

With many players going both ways for Kailua, coach Joe Wong couldn't have been more proud of his team's performance.

"They fought till the end, that's the true meaning of bleeding blue out there," said Wong, whose team is ranked tenth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Power Rankings. "They gave it for me out there. They gave it for their brother on the side of them and they gave it for the staff, community and school."

All-Hawaii defensive end Christian Mejia was his usual self with three total sacks and two forced fumbles, but he didn't have to do it alone. Leighton Russell, Keiki Kalama and Taylor Tagupa each got to the quarterback at least once to help the Surfriders ground a potent Moanalua aerial attack.

Na Menehune quarterback Alakai Yuen passed for 356 yards and six touchdowns in Moanalua's win over Damien a week ago, but sat in favor of Ezra Grace during the first half due to a team issue. Yuen managed to complete eight of his 14 pass attempts for 109 yards and two scores before the game was over.

"It was a tough deal, we were already behind the eight ball at the start with some administrative things going on," said Moanalua first-year coach Savaii Eselu. "It's just one of those things you got to live and learn (from). It's not just a game, but it's a lesson in life."

Both teams struggled to move the ball early on as the only score of the first half came on a bad Moanalua snap that sailed through the back of the end zone. Neither team was able to get a first down until Lagazo's 22-yard run at the 8:34 mark of the second quarter.

The first actual touchdown of the game came on Moanalua's first possession of the second half. A bad Kailua punt helped set up Yuen's 16-yard TD pass to Ryan Ramones to give Moanalua its only lead of the night. The pass on the 2-point conversion came up empty to make it a 6-2 game with 9:37 to go in the third quarter.

Kailua quarterback Keoni Serikawa Jr. was sacked to begin the Surfriders' next drive, but bought some time in the pocket and found Lagazo out of the backfield two plays later for a 54-yard catch-and-run to give the home team some life. Lagazo capped the drive three plays later when he lined up at quarterback and bulldozed his way around right end for a 2-yard score. Brysen Pedrina was good on the PAT to give the Surfriders a 9-6 lead.

Moanalua drove all the way down to the Kailua 12-yard line on its next series, but turned it over on downs after a holding penalty and a sack pushed them back to the Surfriders' 34-yard line.

After the change of possession, the Surfriders were able to milk precious time off the clock with 13 consecutive run plays before needing to pass. Although Kailua was unable to come up with a score on the drive, a coffin-corner punt by Alika Teramoto pinned Na Menehune on their own 2-yard line to help the Surfriders defense.

Moanalua couldn't do anything with its poor starting position and Kailua was able to get the ball back on the Moanalua 38-yard line. The Surfriders again came up short on the drive, but was able to keep the clock running with eight straight run plays before turning it over on the 1-yard line.

"Honestly we just ran out of gas," Eselu said on his team's inability to stop the run in the second half. "The defense carried us and the offense wasn't really doing much in terms of the first half. Towards the end, they just ran out of gas."

The Kailua defense turned up the pressure with the short field and came away with a strip sack that was recovered in the end zone by Teramoto for a defensive touchdown. Pedrina's kick gave the Surfriders a 16-6 lead with 2:24 left in regulation.

Yuen drove Na Menehune down the field and tossed a 1-yard TD to Rylan-Anthony Miguel with 1:09 left in the contest, but failed to keep the ball in bounds on his onside kick attempt to keep the game going. Kailua ran the rest of the clock down with a couple of kneels and came away with the win, 16-13.