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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveOctober 30, 2021, 1:30am
Fri, Oct 29, 2021 @ Roosevelt [ 7:00 pm ]
MAKIKI — Aiea lost five turnovers for the second straight week. Only this time it won.
Led by a staunch defensive effort with six takeaways of its own, Aiea fended off host Roosevelt for a 14-13 win before a crowd of about 500 fans at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium Friday night.
Na Alii got four interceptions and two fumble recoveries from their defense to improve to 1-1 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I standings.
The Rough Riders were limited to 97 yards of total offense and fell to 0-2. Their two losses have come by a combined five points.
Both teams were coming off tough defeats to open the season a week ago. Roosevelt lost to Castle, 18-14, and Aiea came up short against Moanalua, 28-25.
Na Alii coach Wendell Say called Friday's win — which came in spite of four interceptions thrown by first-year starting quarterback Ezekiel Olie — a big one, to be sure.
"We're very fortunate," Say said.
"It was a big win. Our guys played well, but we still made a lot of mistakes. We've got a lot of cleaning up to do, but defense still played tough, but yeah, we still need a lot of work," he added.
Aiea moved the ball on its first two drives but neither resulted in any points — the first consisted of nine plays, but ended with a punt; the second was 10 plays, but resulted in a turnover on downs.
It wasn't until Aiea's third possession — late in the opening quarter — that it found the end zone. One play after Olie scrambled for a 15-yard pick-up on third-and-6, he connected with slotback Rico Figueroa for a 21-yard scoring strike. Figueroa ran a post pattern and made a diving snag of the Olie toss on the touchdown pass, which came with 1:51 left in the first.
The teams exchanged turnovers on the next two plays from scrimmage — a pick by Aiea defensive back Elijah Nahoopii-Makakona was immediately following by a Na Alii fumble that was forced by Roosevelt's Kaeo Akana and recovered by his teammate, Micaiah Garan.
It was more of the same in the second quarter, when the teams combined for five turnovers — all of them interceptions. The last one — Olie's third — was picked off by Rough Riders' DB Dean Mizukami, who returned 34 yards to the Aiea 34-yard line inside the final minute of the first half.
Three plays later, Porter Ellis recycled the takeaway into his 38-yard field goal from the right hash on the final play of the first half. That score cut Na Alii's lead to 7-3 at the break.
The Rough Riders started the second half how they left off the first: with poor ball security.
And Aiea made them pay.
Freshman defensive lineman Makoa Ah Mook Sang recovered a Silas Kekahuna fumble on the second play from scrimmage after halftime and seven plays later — on fourth-and-6 — Olie hit Jayden Chanel for a 23-yard TD pass on a fourth-and-6.
"Fourth down, we knew we had to score a touchdown," said Chanel, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound sophomore split end. "We had the pressure on, but the quarterback just threw a good ball and I was just there to catch it."
Chanel was aligned wide to the right of the formation. He ran a skinny post route, got inside leverage on his defender and then made a tough diving reception.
"(Olie) placed it perfectly so I could reach out, dive for the ball and it was perfect in the basket," Chanel described.
The point after touchdown by Keoki Stephens was good to stretch Na Alii's lead to 14-3 with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter.
Roosevelt cut into that lead with a 27-yard field goal by Ellis and trailed, 14-6, to start the fourth quarter.
Late in the third, Lewis was intercepted for a fourth time, but Aiea's offense was unable to capitalize on the Tumama Auvaa interception. It gained just one yard in three plays was was resigned to punt from its own 29-yard line, but to make matters worse, the long snap sailed over the head of punter Chaysen Lopez, who was able to pick the ball up in the end zone and get out to the 7-yard line.
Two plays after the 22-yard loss and consequent turnover on downs, Lewis threw a high-arcing pass in the direction of George Matsunaga, who hauled in the over-the-shoulder catch for Roosevelt's lone touchdown of the game. That pulled the Rough Riders to within two point of Aiea at 14-12 with 10:03 to play.
The Rough Riders could have tied the score with a successful two-point conversion, but instead opted to kick the extra point with Ellis; He converted the try to cut it Na Alii's lead to a single point.
Roosevelt got the ball back with 4:48 to go on an interception by Kekahuna, but gave it right back two plays later, when wide receiver Chase Aguinaldo lost a fumble after a short reception. It was Nahoopii-Makakona, a 5-foot-8, 150-pound sophomore, who recovered the loose ball and gave his team possession with 3:53 left.
Roosevelt called timeouts after the first two plays of the Aiea drive, but Olie completed a pass to Geronimo Ulgaran for seven yards to convert on third-and-4 and the visitors were able to take three kneel-downs to run out the clock.
"It was good to come back in the second half strong, but we still got a lot of work to do," Chanel said.
Olie threw for 145 yards on 19-of-39 passing. Fellow-sophomore Kaimana Lale-Saole carried 19 times for 81 yards rushing and Figueroa hauled in eight passes for 62 yards. Chanel had five catches for 44 yards and Ulgaran pulled down six receptions for 39 yards.
"They're young kids — (Olie's) only a sophomore — most of our receivers, you know, one is a freshman, couple sophomores, you know, they'll get better," Say said.
Aiea finished with 260 yards of total offense and 21 first downs, including nine apiece via rush and pass.
Nahoopii-Makakona recorded a pair of interceptions in addition to his fumble recovery. Windsor Asing also had a pick in the win.
Chanel was appreciative of the effort from his teammates on defense for a second straight week. Against Moanalua last week, Na Alii racked up five takeaways, including four interceptions and two pick-6s.
"Defense is doing great, I love it. They're carrying us right now on the offense," Chanel said. "Offense just gotta step up their game."
Na Alii converted on 5 of 14 third downs, while Roosevelt was just 1 of 10 on third downs.
The Rough Riders registered only seven first downs for the game to Aiea's 21.
Lewis completed 13 of his 26 pass attempts for 84 yards; he threw four interceptions for a second consecutive week.
Kekahuna logged a pair of picks off of Olie to lead the Roosevelt defensive effort. Akana and Kolo Kahooilihala each had a sack and Akana also forced a fumble in the loss.
"Roosevelt is a tough team. I think with every team in the league, it's probably going to be the same way; every week is going to be a dog fight," Say said.
"I mean, my hair is white now; might be no hair by the end of the season."
Aiea has a bye next week and will next play on Nov. 12, when it visits Castle.
Roosevelt will host Kailua on Friday before back-to-back weeks on bye.
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