Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Marauders hold off Surfriders on senior night


  



Sat, Oct 12, 2019 @ Waipahu [ 6:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Kailua (4-7-0) 0 0 0 1212
Waipahu (4-6-0) 0 7 0 714

WAIPAHU — It wasn't pretty, but Bryson Carvalho will take it.

Waipahu held off Kailua's quick, two-score spurt in the fourth quarter to win, 14-12, in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I regular season finale at Waipahu's Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex Saturday night.

"It's great to get a ‘W' for our community and our family and friends means a lot to us," Alfred Failauga said of the senior night win.

"It was sloppy, but we'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss. It's what we have to do at this point," Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho added.

The Marauders (4-5 overall, 4-2 OIA D1) clinch the third seed in next week's playoffs and goes to Wahiawa to take on second-seeded Leilehua (8-1 overall, 5-1 OIA D1). The Mules beat Waipahu, 23-13, back on Aug. 16.

"One thing good is we played them before. We have an idea what they did well and what we can counter. The negative is they beat us and they were the better team that night. We have to do whatever it takes whether it's Friday or Saturday to get a ‘W'," Carvalho said.

The Surfriders dropped to 4-6 overall, 3-3 OIA D1 and claimed the fourth seed and will face top-seeded Moanalua (8-1 overall, 6-0 OIA). Kailua lost to Na Menehune earlier in the season, 19-18.

The winners of next week's matchups advance to the title game on Saturday, Oct. 26, and will clinch state tournament berths.

Cody Marques passed for 120 yards on 13-of-24 passing and added 36 yards on the ground and a 10-yard keeper in the second quarter to give the Marauders a 7-0 lead going into halftime.

Waipahu QB Cody Marques avoids a tackle in the backfield in an OIA Division I contest against Kailua. Michael Lasquero | SL    Purchase image

Waipahu had two touchdowns called back due to penalties. Javon Gooman's 60-yard touchdown pass off a lateral to Solofa Setu was called back due to an illegal man downfield penalty on their first play of their first offensive drive.

Setu's 30-yard touchdown pass from Marques was nullified by an offensive pass interference call just before halftime.

Failauga broke loose for a huge run deep that could've had the Marauders in the red zone, but that was called back by a holding penalty on their own 10 yard line in the third quarter.

"Those two touchdowns being called back and Alfred's long run (being called back). Stuff like that hurts the momentum. We have to play disciplined. We have to eliminate the mistakes and penalties and we will be fine," Carvalho said.

Kailua had decent starting position in Waipahu territory in the first and second quarters and turned it over on downs three times and went 0 for 4 on fourth down conversions for the game.

Logan Lauti intercepted Cameron Friel's pass and Waipahu followed up with a 20-play, 57-yard drive that resulted in Alfred Failauga's 1-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal to put Waipahu up, 14-0 with 6:54 to go in the fourth quarter.

"That was the goal coming out of halftime. We have to rely on our best guy and everyone knows it. We put the team on his back," Carvalho said of Failauga's touchdown run.

Failauga finished with 132 yards on 33 carries as the Marauders were three for three on fourth down conversions and benefited from two personal foul penalties on Kailua on that scoring drive that took over seven minutes off the clock.

"That was big. Shout out to the defense for getting the ball back for us. Shout out to our offensive line, they push hard and we run the ball a lot. That's what our offense is about and we're going to punch it in for a touchdown," Failauga said.

Elijah Laufili recovered Marques' fumble and the Surfriders needed three plays to get into the end zone as Friel found Koalii Kohatsu for a 40-yard pass that set up their 6-yard touchdown. Faapala Fualema burst through to block the PAT attempt as Kailua trailed, 14-6.

The Surfriders defense forced Waipahu to punt and two plays later, Friel found a wide-open Landon Clevenger for a 45-yard score. A Waipahu defender knocked the ball out of Friel's hand and a Kailua lineman scooped it up but was stopped short of the goal line.

Clevenger led all receivers with nine receptions for 133 yards and Kohatsu added eight catches for 90 yards.

"That was really concerning," Carvalho said of Kailua's scoring outburst. "That was our downfall this year, our weakness is our secondary. We have to make sure we improve and get pressure on the quarterback and force whatever quarterback we play into bad decisions."

The Marauders got the ball back and kept it on the ground to force Kailua to burn their last timeout. Failauga converted a third-and-1 with a 3-yard run to seal the game.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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