Waipahu WR Isaac Yamashita heads to the end zone after making a reception. Yamashita caught four passes for 76 yards and a score in the Marauders win. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Sat, Oct 1, 2016 @ Mililani [ 6:30 pm ]

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Kaimuki

28

Waipahu

36

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kaimuki (5-4-0)	0	7	7	14	28
Waipahu (8-3-0)	0	13	8	15	36

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Braden Amorozo 183 yd 2 TD

Jordan Solomon 311 yd 3 TD

Alfred Failauga 138 yd 2 TD

Ieke Seei-Cleveland 21 yd

Isaac Yamashita 76 yd 1 TD

Andriess Toussaint 134 yd 1 TD

MILILANI — Alfred Failauga rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns to help Waipahu fend off pesky Kaimuki, 36-28, before a boisterous homecoming crowd at John Kauinana Stadium Saturday night.

The Marauders, who are ranked seventh in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division II Power Rankings, improved to 6-1 overall and moved into sole possession of second place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association D2 standings at 5-1.

The tenth-ranked Bulldogs fell to 4-3 overall and third place in the league standings at 4-2.

"It feels great," said quarterback Braden Amorozo, who overcame a pair of interceptions and threw for 183 yards with two touchdowns. "It was our biggest win this year."

Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho agreed.

"Oh, definitely with what was on the line with the whole playoff picture" Carvalho said. "It's a one-game-at-a-time mentality, but we definitely want to win out and get that second seed heading into the playoffs."

Kaimuki cut into a 14-point Waipahu lead with a pair of touchdowns just over two minutes apart. Quarterback Jordan Solomon threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ieke Seei-Cleveland with 1:55 left in the third quarter and then found Daniel Nguyen on a 21-yard scoring strike on the first play of the fourth. The ensuing PAT, however, was wide left and Waipahu clung to a 21-20 lead.

That is, until Failauga scored his second touchdown of the night on a 1-yard plunge with 6:45 to play. On the first play of Kaimuki's next possession, Solomon was intercepted by Waipahu's Kobie Russell. The Marauders' offense consequently recycled the turnover into a score on Breden Natividad's 15-yard TD run six plays later with 4:29 remaining on the game clock.

"I think that pick kind of put the game away a little bit. I mean, I know there was a lot of time still left, but it kind of put it out of reach and gave us our last points on the board, so that was huge," Carvalho said of Russell's second pick in as many weeks. "He dropped one (earlier in the game) and when he came off the field, I told him, ‘We've got to get one back,' and he ended up getting one in the fourth, so that was big for us."

The Bulldogs again made it a one-score game following Solomon's 1-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone and his pass to Siah Maiava on the two-point conversion with 2:31 to play. However, Waipahu ran out the clock on its next drive.

After the teams played a scoreless first quarter, Solomon hit Andriess Toussaint on a deep cross for a 67-yard touchdown. It was Kaimuki's only lead of the game.

Waipahu got on the board with 2:06 left in the first half with Failauga's 5-yard run up the middle to cap a nine-play, 76-yard drive that took 4:21 off the clock. It took the lead for good on the final play before halftime, when Amorozo's fourth-down Hail Mary pass was pulled down by a diving Isaac Yamashita after deflecting off teammate Alika Ahsing and Kaimuki's Nguyen.

"We didn't draw it up that way, but it was just a lucky play," said Amorozo, who finished 22-of-31 passing. "Our boys went up for it and we got it. I'm proud of them."

Kaimuki coach Daniel Tautofi said the touchdown was ultimately a costly one for his defense.

"Big time. Now we see how big that was," Tautofi said. "The two touchdowns we gave up in the first half were two big plays. The big run and then the big Hail Mary pass, but we had enough chances, we had enough opportunities that we just didn't capitalize on them."

The ensuing PAT was blocked and Waipahu took a 13-7 lead into the half.

Amorozo marched the Marauders 55 yards in eight plays on their first possession of the second half, which culminated with another big fourth-down conversion for a score. Cody Andres-Paguirigan pulled down Amorozo's 17-yard, over-the-shoulder pass in the back of the end zone for the touchdown. The same two hooked up on the two-point conversion to make it a 21-7 lead with 8:18 left in the third quarter.

Waipahu was 4 of 6 on fourth-down attempts, including the pair of touchdowns.

"I have all the confidence in the world in them," Carvalho said of his offense. "A lot of our offensive system really gives them the system to do what they want and to run an offense like that you have to trust your players, so I definitely trust them and some of them weren't good calls on my part, but a bunch of them were and I'm just glad we came up on the good side of it."

Failauga, a 5-foot-6, 160-pound freshman, had 14 carryes for 107 yards by halftime and finished with 26 rushes for the game. It was his second straight game that he rushed for more than 100 yards and the third of his season. He has 716 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the season.

"All our running backs did great tonight," Amorozo said. "Our line's been making huge holes for us to penetrate through to the secondary and we were able to make huge plays from there and we were able to milk the clock to the end."

Devin Souza, Jeminae Solomua, Centennial Kulikefu, Jared Marcelo and Mariners Nagaseu each recorded a sack on Solomon for the Waipahu defense, which held Kaimuki to just 1 of 10 on third downs and a meager seven rushing yards for the game.

"I cannot say enough about them. They've been playing well all season long for us," Carvalho said. "Siva (Savini), our defensive coordinator, I can't say enough about him. He's only in his first year coordinating, but the schemes he comes up with are amazing and the kids play well with it, so I'm just real proud of them."

Solomon completed 21 of 36 passes for 311 yards. Toussaint finished with six receptions for 134 yards and also had an interception on defense. Seei-Cleveland, a running back/defensive lineman, notched 1 1/2 sacks.

The Bulldogs were their own worst enemy at times. They committed 13 penalties for 100 yards, including six false starts.