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Brandon Ching | ScoringLiveOctober 22, 2022, 1:34am
Fri, Oct 21, 2022 @ Pearl City [ 7:00 pm ]
PEARL CITY — Easton Yoshino would not let Kaiser's season come to an end.
The senior quarterback threw the winning touchdown pass to Makana Naleieha in overtime to lift the Cougars (6-3 overall, 6-2 OIA) past Pearl City, 31-24 at Edwin "Bino" Neves Stadium.
The defending Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II champions have an opportunity to defend its crown and will take on Nanakuli (8-1 overall, 8-0 OIA) for the league title at Mililani's John Kauinana Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 29.
Both teams clinched spots in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships in November.
"Nobody wants to go out without states their senior year. I was stressing to the guys this whole week, ‘I don't really want to go home this week, I want to play two more weeks and I think they got the message," Yoshino said.
The Chargers end their season with a 7-3 overall record and finished 6-2 in the OIA.
Yoshino threw for 329 yards on 33-of-60 passing, distributed four touchdowns to four different receivers and was picked off once.
Yoshino found Naleieha for a 1-yard gain and threw an 11-yard pass to Jesse Shinagawa (7 catches, 56 yards) to the Pearl City 10 to start the overtime period. After two straight incompletions, Naleieha caught the touchdown pass from 10 yards out by the front left corner pylon.
Bobby Best rushed for 110 yards on 16 carries and gained two yards on the Chargers' first play from scrimmage. A penalty on the Cougars placed the ball on the 9 yard line. Two plays later, Best moved it to the 5. Trey Dacoscos was pressured and threw it to the end zone on fourth-and-goal but it fell incomplete to end the game.
"We were able to speed up our defensive calls and our coaches were able to do a good job. As players, we knew what our assignments were, DBs were locking it down and our d-line was able to get to the quarterback and that's what we needed to do and that's what we did," Donovan Reis said.
Dacoscos threw three touchdowns in the first half and finished with 122 passing yards on 16-of-27 passing.
The Chargers took the lead on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dacoscos to Triton Taimanao that capped a seven play, 72-yard drive to start the first quarter.
Following Donovan Reis' interception, the Cougars got down to the Charger 11 with a 14-play drive but Ian Shearer missed a 28-yard attempt.
Kaiser forced a Pearl City punt that landed on the 30-yard line. The Cougars scored in six plays after Yoshino connected with Shinagawa for a 5-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7.
After Kaiser punted, Pearl City started on their own 39 and found the end zone seven plays later. Dacoscos' second touchdown pass from 14 yards out went to Lennon Elder for a 14-7 lead.
The Chargers defense forced another Cougar punt went up by 10 after Marcus Rodriguez hit a 43-yard field goal.
Pearl City added another touchdown before halftime with a 55-yard drive that resulted in Elder catching his second touchdown pass from Dacoscos to take a 24-7 lead at intermission.
Kaiser started the second half with four offensive drives that ended in two punts and two turnover on downs.
The Cougar defense did its part and the offense rewarded them with points. Yoshino completed passes of 13, 16, and 24 yards to Keagan Lime (five catches, 74 yards) and Kai Blackston (9 catches, 55 yards) respectively before tossing a 22-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Reis to spark the 17-point comeback in the fourth.
"We've been in this situation the last time we played them and we knew we were able to do it. Coming into this game, we had to keep our heads up and play our own ball and all stayed determined to win this game," Donovan Reis said.
Reis, who is also the team's punter, finished with a team-high 85 receiving yards on four catches and on defense chipped in 4 1/2 tackles and an interception.
Alex Delgado blocked the punt and Jadsen Dias recovered the ball on the 11. Yoshino hit Lime down to the 1 and two plays later found Blackston for a 3-yard touchdown to get within three, 24-21 with 4:52 left in the fourth.
"These boys were executing and the line was doing great in the second half so it gave me more time to see the field," Yoshino said, crediting the line for helping him get into a rhythm.
Kaiser's defense stepped up to the challenge as Dias broke up a pass and Teanu Ramos-Robertson intercepted Dacoscos.
"I think it was a team win. Nothing happens without the o-line and the defense stepped up huge. I feel like the team deserves it, we work hard, we're a bunch of young cats. I think we deserved it tonight," Yoshino said.
Yoshino completed an 11-yard pass to Blackston but Taohi-John Williams was injured and had to be taken off the field in an ambulance that delayed the game for over 30 minutes.
Following the injury, Lime hauled in a 28-yard pass and Kaiser got as far as the 8-yard line before settling on a 25-yard field goal from Shearer to tie the game at 24 with 58.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Bradley Kansou gained only 4 yards before punting it back to Kaiser. On the next play, Tiger Ader picked off Yoshino to get the ball back for the Chargers. Rodriguez took Dacoscos' pass 36 yards before being tackled by Reis to send the game into overtime.
JT Daniels had 9 1/2 tackles to lead the Cougar defense and Dias had eight tackles, including a sack to go with his fumble recovery.
Josiah Calderon had 10 tackles and broke up a pass, Shane Kimura-Relacion had seven, Dorian Payton-Sherman had four tackles, two went for losses in the defeat.
Pearl City won the regular season matchup on Sept. 16, 27-21.
The Chargers were looking for their first state tournament appearance since 2014.
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