Waianae's Rico Rosario celebrates after crossing the goal line for a score against Kapolei. Rosario had 117 yards rushing on 16 carries and also added a 23-yard touchdown reception in the Seariders' win over the Hurricanes. Jim Lebeau | SL

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

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Waianae

35

Kapolei

14

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Waianae (9-5-0)	0	15	13	7	35
Kapolei (10-3-0)	0	14	0	0	14

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Taulia Tagovailoa 233 yd 2 TD

Jaren Ulu 106 yd 1 TD

Dreyden-Steele Kawewehi 2 yd

Rico Rosario 117 yd 1 TD

Jaymin Sarono 85 yd 2 TD

Rico Rosario 23 yd 1 TD

KAPOLEI — Power beat out finesse in a meeting of Leeward coast rivals Saturday night.

The duo of Rico Rosario and Kade Ambrocio, behind a punishing offensive line, scored two touchdowns apiece to help Waianae grind out a 35-14 win over host Kapolei in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I opener for both teams.

Rosario and Ambrocio combined for 267 all-purpose yards and the Seariders (2-0 overall, 1-0 OIA D1 Blue) churned out 308 of their 414 yards of total offense on the ground.

Waianae, the fourth-ranked team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, averaged 5.6 yards per rush and ate up large chunks of clock with long, sustained drives, which in turn, kept Kapolei's high-powered offense on the sidelines.

"It was a team effort — offense, defense, special teams — they all contributed to the win, so that's all you can ask," Seariders coach Walter Young said. "It feels good. I'm proud of the kids. They came out here and played."

The fifth-ranked Hurricanes (1-1 overall, 0-1 OIA D1 Red) were held to 213 yards of total offense, but largely struggled to find their rhythm. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa completed 22 of 47 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns, but was sacked three times.

"I thought we did a pretty good job of stopping them at times, but we were victimized by our own mistakes also, but you've got to give credit to Waianae. They had a great game plan. They were going to come out and be physical and milk the clock and keep the ball away from our offense. I thought they did that, they did a great job of that. Our defense was on the field way too long," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said.

Waianae ran 71 plays and held the ball for 30 minutes and 14 seconds to 54 plays and 17:46 for Kapolei.

The Seariders were 8 of 14 on third downs, while the Hurricanes were a mere 4 of 13.

"I thought offensively we just didn't make plays," Hernandez lamented. "I thought our offensive line did a great job of protecting, I thought Taulia had time … we had some uncharacteristic drops and uncharacteristic poor missed assignments on offense, but it is what it is."

Rosario rushed for a game-high 117 yards on 16 carries, including an 8-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter. The junior running back also scored on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Jaren Ulu midway through the third quarter.

Ambrocio, a senior running back, ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns on just seven attempts. He opened the scoring with his 3-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter and a 57-yard run in the third.

Seniors Javen Towne added 53 yards on 11 carries and Jorell Pontes-Borje chipped in with nine rushes for 34 yards.

"The running backs did a real good job. We hand them the ball and they do their thing," Young said. "Kade has the ability to make somebody miss. Rico is a little stronger and then you've got Javen. We rotate them and they're able to stay fresh. They were cramping up today so we had to use more guys than just a couple of guys."

Kapolei surged ahead early in the second quarter, when they scored 14 points in a span of 66 seconds.

Tagovailoa hit Jaymin Sarono for a 7-yard touchdown that was set-up by a 53-yard pick-up on a Tagovailoa-to-Wyatt Perez connection three plays prior. On the PAT, however, Waianae was hit with 15-yard penalties that moved allowed Kapolei to kickoff from the Seariders' 30-yard line.

The Hurricanes successfully executed an onside kick, which was recovered by Christian Broome. Three plays later — on third-and-17 — Tagovailoa found Sarono for a 26-yard touchdown. Meyer booted the go-ahead extra point to give his team a 15-14 lead with 8:57 left in the first half.

It was all Seariders from there, however.

Tagovailoa was flagged for intentional grounding in his own end zone later in the quarter, resulting in a Waianae safety. The Seariders took the ensuing free kick and marched 54 yards in eight plays, capped by Rosario's 8-yard TD run behind a full-house backfield.

Rosario's touchdown reception came on a screen pass on a third-and-12 with 5:50 left in the third.

Ambrocio's long TD run that capped Waianae's next possession was wild in itself. Ulu initially ran with the ball to his left before leaping to toss an overhand lateral to Ambrocio, who turned on the jets down the left sideline.

Ulu was 8-of-10 passing for 106 yards with a pair of interceptions. He closed out the scoring with his 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Sarono finished with 11 catches for 85 yards — both game-high marks. Omar Mareko had 10 tackles and an interception for the Hurricanes.

The teams combined for 28 penalties for 287 yards.