OIA Football
Kaimuki downs Pearl City to clinch top seed


  



Sat, Oct 13, 2018 @ Farrington [ 6:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Pearl City (7-4-0) 3 0 0 03
Kaimuki (10-3-0) 6 0 0 612

KALIHI — Led by a suffocating performance by its defense, Kaimuki wrapped up an undefeated regular season with a 12-3 win over Pearl City before a crowd of about 600 fans at Farrington's Edward ‘Skippa' Diaz Stadium at Kusunoki Field Saturday night.

The Bulldogs rallied from an early deficit to win their third consecutive game and improved to 7-2 overall, 7-0 league. In the process they clinched the top seed in the four-team Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II tournament and will meet fourth-seed Kaiser in next weekend's semifinals.

The Chargers dropped their second game in as many weeks to fall to 6-4 overall and 5-2 in league play. They will be the third seed and face second-seeded Roosevelt in the other semifinal.

The teams were engaged in a defensive struggle for much of the night, but Kaimuki's physicality eventually wore Pearl City down.

Kaimuki rushed for 151 of its 167 yards of total offense — including 105 rush yards after halftime — while defensively, it held Pearl City to only 105 total yards, including minus-6 rushing.

"The defense has always been our strength and its been our identity since I've been here the last three years," Bulldogs coach David Tautofi said. "This year it's been great to be able to be a little bit better this year as a unit and with some of the guys that we have on defense, we'd be playing less to our ability with the capability of players like Sama (Paama) and those guys."

The Bulldogs posted seven sacks — three apiece by Paama, a 6-foot-4, 355-pound two-way lineman, and Quynton Brackens — and forced the Chargers to go 0 of 12 on third downs.

"I think we played really good," said Jonah Stephens, a senior safety and running back. "We knew they had a good offense, so we had to come out and hit them in the mouth first."

Kyle Hyun's 30-yard field goal from the right hash with 5:43 left in the first quarter gave Pearl City a brief lead.

Kaimuki then went three-and-out on offense, but the Chargers' next possession came to an abrupt halt when Stephens took the football out of the hands of Shayden Mcmoore and returned it 89 yards the other way for defensive touchdown.

"I just went for the strip and it came out. I was running my fastest because we needed that score," Stephens said.

Tautofi praised the heads-up play by Stephens.

"You know, you don't teach that. That's just awareness and that just showed how intelligent he is and how quick he is to think about all that stuff," Tautofi said. "We've been trying to practice that and sometimes in the thick of the game — especially in the beginning of the game — you forget some of these things, but Jonah is a seasoned veteran — he's a senior this year — so it's just good to see that he was able to come out and to pull something off like that for us."

The extra point was no good and the Bulldogs clung to a 6-3 lead until the 3:48 mark of the fourth quarter, when Naomas Asuega-Fualaau ran through a big hole on the right side for a 14-yard TD run on third down to cap a 76-yard drive.

Kaimuki ran the ball on nine plays of the drive — most of the time out of the wildcat formation with three blockers in the backfield behind a double-tight end formation.

"I feel like we wore them down," Stephens said. "We were just kind of closing the game out in the fourth quarter."

Kaimuki went for the two-point conversion, but Stephens was stopped short of the end zone on the rush attempt.

The Bulldogs exacted a bit of revenge with the win. They fell to Pearl City twice last season, including a 17-15 regular-season loss and a 7-0 defeat in the league semifinals to end their season.

"We definitely wanted to win after losing twice in a row. We weren't trying to lose a third time," Stephens said.

Tautofi did not forget the past, either.

"It's good to lock up the No. 1 seed; it's always a good thing. It's humbling just remembering what (Pearl City) did to us last year, but the kids worked hard enough and we did just enough. We left a lot of plays on that field, but we did enough to win today," Tautofi said.

Asuega-Fualaau rushed a game-high 19 times for 82 yards and Stephens added 82 yards on nine carries.

The Bulldogs did not pass for a first down. They were 0 of 11 on third downs and were penalized 17 times for 148 yards.

Kody Kikuyama and Shane Barry each recorded a sack in the loss for the Chargers. Kikuyama also intercepted a pass in the second half.

With about five minutes left in the first half, the Bulldogs appeared to score on a double-pass play. Quarterback Jonah Faasoa threw to Alex Lemalu, who then hit a wide-open Stephens along the right sideline for a would-be 43-yard TD pass, but an illegal forward pass penalty negated the score and Kaimuki was forced to punt away two plays later.

Kaimuki led at halftime, 6-3.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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