Kaiser defender Zeno Choi (9) charges through the line to take down Moanalua quarterback Kawika Keama-Jacobe (15) for one of his 2 sacks on the night. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kaiser running back Jensen McDaniel, left, slips past a Moanalua defender for more yardage in the second quarter. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Fri, Oct 10, 2014 @ Kaiser [ 7:30 pm ]

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Moanalua

48

Kaiser

54

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Moanalua (3-5-0)	14	7	0	27	48
Kaiser (5-4-0)	21	13	20	0	54

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Kalawaia Judd 204 yd 3 TD

Kawika Keama-Jacobe 515 yd 5 TD

Jensen McDaniel 242 yd 3 TD

Kawika Keama-Jacobe 69 yd 2 TD

Destin Moss 106 yd 1 TD

Jason Sharsh 295 yd 1 TD

HAWAII KAI — No. 10 Kaiser (4-3, 5-3 overall) held off a furious Moanalua rally late in the fourth quarter to prevail, 54-48 in the opening round of the Oahu Intersholastic Association Division I playoffs at Kaiser Stadium on Friday night. The Cougars advance and will play top-seeded Mililani at John Kauinana Stadium, while the Na Menehune end their season at 3-5. Many anticipated a high scoring game and fans weren't disappointed as both teams combined for 102 points and 1,201 yards of total offense for the game. 

"Tonight they (Kaiser) had a better offense and out battled us and was a better ball team and out executed us. The great thing about our team is we never give up and we always fight and I'm so proud of the boys for that. I just wished they would be like for all four quarters," said Moanalua coach Jason Cauley.

"With a team like Moanalua you can't fall asleep and can never stop. I'm happy we won, we live to fight another day and got a great team ahead of us and we're looking forward to it," said Kaiser coach Cameron Higgins. 

Jensen McDaniel rushed for 242 yards and three touchdowns and Kalawaia Judd threw three touchdowns on 16-of-24 passing for 204 yards and Destin Moss caught seven passes for 107 yards and a touchdown.  

"Jensen, with the intensity he brings, is able to shed arm tackles and brings a second gear and is multi-faceted and we can use him outside and spread it out," said Higgins, on McDaniel. 

"We were getting good push up front and when we were passing the ball, we did a good job in protection. We learned from this game never to let up, keep your foot on the gas pedal and keep pushing," said McDaniel.   

With both scoring drives starting at the Moanalua 38-yard line, the Cougars took advantage of the short field position. Kaiser scored first after Cody Kim took the reverse hand off and threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kalawaia Judd and later, McDaniel rushed for an 8-yard touchdown. 

Moanalua answered with two touchdowns to tie the game. Kawika Keama-Jacobe rushed for a 23-yard touchdown and he threw a 66-yard touchdown to Karson Cruz with 1:35 left in the first. 

The Cougars added three more touchdowns in the second to go up, 34-14. Judd threw two touchdowns, a 23-yarder to Jordan Kannys and 30-yard pass to Destin Moss and McDaniel added a 29-yard touchdown with 4:00 remaining. 

Moanalua trailed 34-21 at halftime after Keama-Jacobe threw a 16-yard pass to Jason Sharsh. 

Defensively, Zeno Choi accounted for two of the Cougars' five sacks for the game and Cody Kim had an interception. 

"We knew they were a passing team and we had to shut down the pass and tried to forced them to run. We as d-linemen we had to stay in our lanes and it was assignment and alignment football," said Choi. 

Kaiser added three touchdowns in the third as Judd threw a 26-yard pass to Nicolas Tom. After Moanalua went three-and-out, on the next series, McDaniel rushed for an 87-yard touchdown and Justin Ikei added a 2-yard touchdown to make it, 54-21 with a little over a minute remaining. 

The Cougars had two red zone opportunities to score to put the game away, but fumbled the ball inside the 5-yard line. 

"Those two red zone turnovers, we're going to look at that and see what we could've done better. That could've sealed the game," lamented Higgins. 

"Our offense did pretty good until the fourth quarter and we couldn't move or hold onto the ball," said McDaniel. 

With a little over 4:30 remaining in the game was delayed after Nicolas Tom went down with an injury and was taken away in an ambulance. 

There was no quit in Moanalua as they rallied and scored 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Keama-Jacobe ran it in for his second touchdown and his pass to Sharsh made it, 54-29. Following a Kaiser fumble deep in the red zone, Moanalua turned it into points as Keama-Jacobe threw a 20-yard pass to Michael Feliciano, but the run failed. Keama-Jacobe threw a 10-yard touchdown to pass to Rodson Kealohi with 2:23 remaining and the Na Menehune trailed by two scores. 

"That's all you can do, you can't fully contain that guy and you don't expect to. We scored more than the other team and sometimes the game comes down to that. We just helped each other out and offense and defense do their jobs," said Higgins.

"We came out really good and confident and toward the end we got complacent and we lost it. We have to watch lots of film and it's fixable and we got to be disciplined and move on," said Choi. 

"That's just that fighting spirit they got, I can't take credit for that and that's in their blood. I'm going to miss a lot of these seniors, but tomorrow, I start looking at next year," said Cauley.  

After recovering a Kaiser fumble, the Na Menehune went 97 yards on six plays as Brandon Bender caught a tipped pass in the end zone with 22.3 seconds remaining. However, the Cougars recovered the onside kick and were able to take a knee to run out the clock. 

Keama-Jacobe finished 29 of 55 for 515 passing yards, five touchdowns and a interception. Jason Sharsh caught 13 passes for 295 yards and a touchdown. 

"In spring we thought it was going to be rough and we had a lot of spots we need to work on and still do, but we all came together as a team and see the camaraderie around the guys was nice," said Cauley, on the growth and resiliency of his team from beginning to end. 

"I think we can play with them. I believe in our guys and what we're doing on offense and defense and it's all about heart and whoever wants it more that's it comes down. We scrimmaged them before, both of us have changed and grown and I'm looking forward to it," said Higgins, on the impending matchup against Mililani.