Leilehua's Selau Aiava seals the win with his interception with 0:58 left in game. CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 1 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 2 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 3 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 4 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 5 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 6 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 7 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 8 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 9 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 10 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 11 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 12 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 13 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 14 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 15 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 16 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 17 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 18 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 19 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 20 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 21 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 22 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 23 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 24 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 25 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 26 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 27 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 28 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 29 of 30

CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase image 30 of 30

Fri, Oct 18, 2019 @ Leilehua [ 7:30 pm ]

---

Waipahu

7

Leilehua

13

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Waipahu (4-6-0)	0	0	0	7	7
Leilehua (10-3-0)	0	0	3	10	13

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kekoa Turangan 218 yd 1 TD

Cody Marques 106 yd

Jamil Vereen 50 yd

Alfred Failauga 100 yd 1 TD

Kalei Akagi 108 yd

Aston Contado 48 yd

WAHIAWA — The Mighty Mules are moving on.

Selau Aiava's interception with 58 seconds left put the finishing touches on No. 8 Leilehua's 13-7 win over visiting Waipahu in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I semifinal at Hugh Yoshida Stadium Friday night.

The win puts the second-seeded Mules (9-1) into both next Saturday's league title game and next month's First Hawaiian Bank State Championships.

The third-seeded Marauders (4-6) were seeking to defend both their OIA and state crowns, but saw their season come to an end with the loss.

As it has done all season, Leilehua's defense paved the way in this one. The unit collected five sacks, eight tackles for losses and four takeaways. Waipahu was held to 192 yards of total offense in the loss, well below their per-game average of 373.9 yards entering the game.

"This group of guys have been in so many big games," Mules coach Mark Kurisu said. "They've been in some tight nail-biters, but one thing they always do, they turn to each other in those moments and they just talk — what do they see and how to stop it — so I'm just proud of these boys."

Kurisu noted that in last week's regular-season finale at Radford, the defense was without several key standouts — including defensive end Kiaka Pio and linebacker Cy Acohido — but both returned to some extent for Friday's playoff game.

"When we played Radford we had only 14 defensive players — 11 starters and three subs — we had so many guys out, down, sick, whatever it may be, so it was good to have everybody back. Just that presence gives everybody confidence," Kurisu said.

Linebacker Ashton Raquino finished with a game-high 11 tackles and a pass break-up. He also had one of three fumble recoveries for the Mules, along with Junior Jay Peter and Ethan Kuth.

"A lot of stuff wouldn't have happened if we didn't have everybody else on the line," said sophomore defensive lineman Gabriel Araki, who registered two sacks. "Everybody did their job, that led to one person making the play and so on, so I just give props to my teammates."

Linebacker Vitale Afoa added eight tackles in the win.

The teams played a scoreless first half before Leilehua got on the board with a 22-yard field goal by Konapiliahi Raymond with just under eight minutes left in the third quarter.

The Mules caught a break on the final play of the third quarter, when a Jonathan Vasquez punt took a low trajectory and bounced off of an unsuspecting Waipahu player. It was recovered by Peter, who was filling in at long snapper for Acohido, at the Marauders' 30-yard line.

"We hustled down there like crazy. (Vasquez) kicks a great ball, (Waipahu) started calling ‘poison,' and just so happened it hit the guy on the head and (Peters) was Johnny-on-the-spot and made that recovery for us and we had great field position," Kurisu said.

The offense capitalized on the Waipahu miscue four plays later, when quarterback Kekoa Turangan threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jayzon Ramos on a third-and-5. On the scoring play, Ramos aligned in the left slot — as he did for much of the night — and ran a wheel route toward the left sideline to get behind his defender and Turangan hit him in stride as he crossed the goal line.

Raymond added the PAT to make it a 10-0 lead for the Mules. A few minutes later, he made it 13-0 with his 20-yard field goal with 7:18 left to play.

Waipahu got on the board with a 3-yard TD run by Alfred Failauga with 3:02 left to play and got the ball back with just over a minute remaining. However, on the very first play of the drive, Aiava ripped away a Cody Marques pass from its intended receiver, Solofa Setu, to get the Leilehua offense the ball back with just under a minute remaining.

"I just trusted my brothers and I knew there was only a few seconds left in the game, so I knew they were just trying to go for a deep pass and I saw the quarterback just looking at my side and I knew the ball was coming so I just read the receiver and the ball and just made a great play," Aiava said.

Turangan took two kneel-downs to run out the clock. He completed 16 of his 27 passes for 218 yards with one interception.

Kalei Akagi hauled in 10 receptions for 108 yards and Ramos finished with three grabs for 85 yards.  

"It was like a chess match," Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said. "Just going into halftime just figuring out what they like to do, stuff we saw on film and stuff that they're actually putting together on the field and yeah, it was just a chess match and at the end of the day we just kinda didn't make plays when we needed to."

Failauga ran for 100 yards on 32 carries in the final game of his decorated prep career.

Manuele Pulusila posted a team-high 10 tackles and a fumble recovery. Fuafiva Tulafale added 7 1/2 tackles, two TFLs, one fumble recovery and a pass break-up in the loss.

Leilehua finished with 280 yards of total offense.

The teams also faced off in the league semifinals last year. Waipahu came away with a 29-6 win over Leilehua at Yoshida Stadium.

"I can't be more overjoyed for our boys because they've just come a long way," Kurisu said.

It was the second win over the Marauders this year for the Mules, who came away with a 23-13 win in the regular season meeting on Aug. 16.

Leilehua will face top-seeded Moanalua — a 21-14 winner over Kailua in the other semifinal Friday night — at 5 p.m. next Saturday in the OIA D1 championship at Aloha Stadium.