OIA Football
No. 8 Moanalua holds off Waipahu


  



Sat, Sep 21, 2019 @ Waipahu [ 6:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Moanalua (10-2-0) 7 3 21 031
Waipahu (4-6-0) 7 0 14 728
Cody Marques 108 yd
RJ Javar 416 yd 4 TD
Alfred Failauga 188 yd 2 TD
Rudy Kealohi 54 yd
Jansen York 177 yd 2 TD

WAIPAHU — Close games? That's Moanalua's jam.

RJ Javar passed for 416 yards and four touchdowns, two of them to Jansen York, to help No. 8 Na Menehune hold off Waipahu in a 31-28 win at the Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex Saturday night.

Na Menehune (6-0 overall, 4-0 league) held on to sole possession of first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I standings with three weeks left in the regular season. It was their fourth win by four-or-fewer points this season and came a week after a 42-0 drubbing of Aiea and two weeks since a 21-6 win in the Silver State over Sierra Vista (Las Vegas).

"It was really big just to prove like we're the up-and-coming team," York said of the win over the defending league and state champion Marauders (2-5, 2-2).

York, a 5-foot-7, 155-pound slotback, played a productive role in the victory with season-highs of 10 receptions for 177 yards. He had touchdown catches of 53 and 7 yards that were part of a fast and frantic third quarter that saw the teams combine for 35 points.

Javar, a 5-foot-9, 150-pound quarterback, overcame an early pick-6 to complete 27 of 42 passes. He also notched season-highs in both passing yards and touchdowns.

"Amazing," Moanalua coach Savaii Eselu said the senior duo.

"Nothing short of amazing, actually, and it's a strong testament of their work ethic in the offseason, but it's good, I mean, with guys like these the Air Raid (offense) can flourish and that makes it fun, you know, share the aloha."

Moanalua's RJ Javar overcame an early pick-6 to complete 27 of 42 passes. He also notched season-highs in both passing yards and touchdowns in a win over Waipahu Peter Caldwell | SL    Purchase image

Javar had lots of aloha Saturday night and most of it was for York. The pair of Mililani-transfers connected for five pass completions in each half. Eight of those passes went for first downs, two converted third downs and one moved the chains on fourth down.

After Waipahu cut Moanalua's lead to 24-21 midway through the third quarter with Alfred Failauga's 6-yard touchdown run off right tackle — which came one play after his 67-yard burst on third-and-3 — Javar orchestrated a 12-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by his 7-yard TD pass to York on third-and-goal.

On the scoring play, Javar floated a pass toward the left side of the end zone and York tracked it out of his break on the out route and made a diving catch.

"That was a big one. The pass in the corner that was pretty big. He was big," Javar said.

Griffin Motas tacked on the extra point to make it a 31-21 Moanalua lead with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.

The score held until Failauga finished off a 11-play, 80-yard drive for the Marauders with his second trip to the end zone with a 3-yard TD run with 4:03 left to play. The PAT by Brycen Amorozo was good and cut it to a three-point game.

Moanalua went three-and-out and punted away on its next drive to give Waipahu the ball back with 2:55 to play. However, quarterback Cody Marques threw across his body and was intercepted by Aukai Grace on the first play of the possession.

"They came out in the clutch," Eselu said of his defense. "We were showing spurts of losing our cool and once we kind of reset the whole thing, then we got everything in order and typical Aukai fashion, Aukai to the rescue with the pick."

Grace's interception was his third of the season. Moanalua regained possession at its own 39-yard line and ran out the final minutes of clock.

Javar tossed a 17-yard TD pass to Lawsen Lee on just his second pass of the night to give Moanalua an early lead. However, after an incompletion on his next throw, Javar was intercepted by Logan Lauti, whose 10-yard return for a score represented Waipahu's only points of the first half.

"You just gotta keep your head up. All these boys like Jansen, all my offensive line were saying, ‘Just flush it already.,' " Javar said. "What my coach says is — because sometimes I get salty because I (throw) a pick-6 or I get picked — he says, ‘Don't let the last play stop you from making the next,' so I kept that in my head for the whole game."

Moanalua reclaimed the lead for good with 2:52 left in the second quarter with a 30-yard field goal by Motas and held a 10-7 lead at halftime.

On the first play from scrimmage after the break, Javar launched a deep pass for Dacyres Domingo, who had one-on-one man coverage down the left sideline. Domingo got past the corner and secured the catch, then sidestepped a safety a before outracing the rest of the defense on the 80-yard score.

"I had a feeling (the Marauders) were going to stay in man (defense), so we just took a shot and (Javar's) deep balls on passes were hitting, so I was like, ‘OK, perfect, we'll just keep it going then,' " Eselu said.

Waipahu responded by driving 80 yards in nine plays, which culminated with a 3-yard TD run by Marques on third-and-1. However, Javar answered in just three plays with his 53-yard TD pass to York, who shook two defenders after the catch along the left sideline on the scoring play.

"I was just doing a shallow cross coming right behind the d-linemen and the middle linebacker passed me off, but no one was on the opposite side of the field and I just caught the ball and there was pretty much only one guy to beat and I juked in and Dacyres got that good block for me and they were kind of just trying to get the ball, not really try to tackle and I just kept pushing through and ended up getting out of there," said York, whose score gave his team a 24-14 lead with 7:29 left in the third quarter.

Failauga rushed for 188 yards to lead the Marauders, who finished with 356 yards of total offense. Marques finished 13-of-21 passing for 108 yards and two interceptions.

Waipahu recorded four of its five sacks in the first half; Mathius Aleaga had one in each half.

Domingo finished with 115 yards on four receptions, Lee added six grabs for 47 yards and Rudy Kealohi had seven catches for 77 yards in addition to 54 rushing yards for Moanalua, which posted a season-high 458 yards of total offense.

Christian Sison and Aukai Grace each came down with an interception and Mauga Tauiliili recovered a fumble for Na Menehune, who host Castle Friday.

The Marauders were saddled with their fourth loss in five games and are in a three-way tie with Kailua and Castle for third place in the league standings. They will look to snap a two-game losing streak when they host Aiea Friday.

It was the first meeting between the teams since Moanalua's 29-5 win over Waipahu on Oct. 5, 2018.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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