Waianae's Jurick Valdez carries the ball for a big gain against Waipahu. Valdez rushed for a game-high 136 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Sep 18, 2015 @ Waianae [ 8:40 pm ]

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Waipahu

28

Waianae

69

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Waipahu (1-7-0)	7	21	0	0	28
Waianae (9-4-0)	14	20	22	13	69

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Jaren Ulu 115 yd 1 TD

Blaise De Asis 80 yd 1 TD

Jurick Valdez 136 yd 2 TD

Blaise De Asis 51 yd

Kanai Mauga 68 yd

Andrew Simanu 36 yd

WAIANAE — Jurick Valdez rushed for a game-high 136 yards and two touchdowns to lead Waianae to its fifth consecutive victory with a 69-28 win over Waipahu Friday night.

The Seariders, who are ranked seventh in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Division I Power Rankings, pounded out 455 rushing yards before a home crowd of about 1,500 fans at Raymond Torii Field to improve to 5-0 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Red conference and 5-1 overall.

"Our offensive line did well. They blocked well and we were able to score, but Waipahu is a tough team, they came and they scrapped, they're good," Waianae coach Walter Young said. "We had to come out and battle to win the game."

Waipahu found itself within a score at halftime, trailing 34-28, but was shutout offensively in the second half, while Waianae scored the final 35 points of the game.

"We just made plays," Young said. "In the first half we had a lot of little mistakes. After the half, we came out, made more plays and minimized the mistakes and I think that's what helped us the most."

Javen Towne took a sweep play 39 yards for a touchdown — stiff arming a defender en route to the end zone — just four plays into the third quarter. It was his third rushing score of the game on as many carries. He also scored on a 2-yard plunge in the first quarter and a 7-yard scamper in the second.

Waianae stretched its lead to 42-28 after Valdez ran in the ensuing two-point conversion.

On the first play of Waipahu's next drive, quarterback Blaise De Asis was picked off by linebacker Noah Kealoha, who had his 45-yard interception return for a touchdown wiped away due to a block in the back after the change of possession. The turnover set-up Royce Carrick's 13-yard touchdown run three plays later.

The Marauders turned it over again — this time on a fumble by fullback Braydon Kepaa — just three plays later. Joey Nuuanu-Kuhiiki punched the ball loose and Kealoha scooped it up to give his team the ball back.

On the very next play, quarterback Jaren Ulu threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Freeney. Tate Ebel tacked on the extra point to quickly extend the Seariders' lead to 56-28.

"I felt like if we kept scoring, our momentum was only going to keep going and we just had to push forward," said Kealoha, a senior linebacker. "We were disappointed in the way we performed in the first half, so we had to come back strong and hold them down."

Waianae added a pair of fourth-quarter scores on Charles Mamala's 4-yard run with 11:40 to play and — following Chavison Kalamau's interception off Blaise De Asis — Valdez's 74-yard run less than two minutes later.

Defensive back Mosiah Brame had a pick in the first half off De Asis, leading to Towne's second touchdown, which made the Seariders' lead, 28-14, with 4:42 left untl halftime. De Asis finished 8-of-19 passing for 80 yards.

Waipahu answered with a 11-play, 67-yard drive that culminated with De Asis' 19-yard touchdown pass to his brother, Storm. Towne returned the ensuing kickoff 69 yards to set-up a 4-yard Kade Ambrocio TD run. The PAT was blocked to make it 34-21.

Ikaika Benjamin pulled the Marauders back within a score with his 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Waipahu held an early 7-0 lead following Gavin Marques' 1-yard quarterback keeper into the end zone early in the opening quarter. The game was tied at 7 late in the first quarter and at 14 early in the second.

The Marauders (1-5) turned it over four times and managed just 157 yards of total offense to drop their fifth consecutive game. Wide receiver Andrew Simanu, who entered the game with 604 receiving yards to lead the state, was limited to four catches for 35 yards in the loss.

Waianae, which was coming off a bye week and had not played since a 90-0 rout of McKinley, used 10 different ball carries and averaged a 9.9 yards per rush.

"It's super, super tough to defend against them," Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said of the Seariders' wing-T rushing attack. "They can go up the middle, on the outside … They've just got so many weapons, so it was a nightmare for us all night."

Ulu attempted just nine passes and completed three of them to finish with 115 yards. Waianae did not turn the ball over, but was penalized 21 times for 215 yards.