Waialua's Howard Nahooikaika gets by a handful of Kalani defenders. The sophomore running back accounted for two scores in the Bulldogs' win. Mycah Yokotake | Special to SL

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Sat, Aug 27, 2016 @ Waialua [ 5:00 pm ]

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Kalani

14

Waialua

16

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kalani (4-3-0)	0	0	7	7	14
Waialua (7-3-0)	0	7	0	9	16

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Tevesi Toia 159 yd 1 TD

Seth Tina-Soberano 203 yd

Howard Nahooikaika 44 yd 1 TD

Jaemi Harris 95 yd 1 TD

Howard Nahooikaika 42 yd 1 TD

Randy Daligon 70 yd

WAIALUA — The script was flipped for Waialua's first win of the season Saturday night.

Howard Nahooikaika accounted for two touchdowns to help the Bulldogs fend off visiting Kalani, 16-14, in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II contest at Toshiyuki Nakasone Field.

Waialua (1-1) was coming off a bye, but had dropped its season-opener two weeks ago to Kaimuki in overtime, 22-20. A bad Kalani snap that rolled out of the back of the end zone early in the fourth quarter would prove to be the deciding score for the Bulldogs.

"I'm happy that we got the two points on our side this time," Waialua coach Lincoln Barit said. "Hats off to Kalani, they didn't give up. They came back and scored, it was just that bad snap over there that hurt them, other than that both sides played good."

Defense set the tone for the Bulldogs as they were able to score all of their points off of turnovers. Although the Falcons (1-2) outgained Waialua offensively, 333 to 280, the Bulldogs' defense held them to an 0-for-4 conversion rate on fourth down.

"We try to bend but don't break," said Barit. "I'm a defensive-minded guy, so I teach the boys to have no fear, come out and play hard, give a 110 percent no matter what position you play."

Senior linebacker Dayton Kaopua-Lee led the Bulldogs' defense with a game-high nine and a half tackles. Lancen Kuni was a playmaker in the secondary with an interception and two pass breakups and Kymani Ayonon had a fumble recovery to jumpstart Waialua's first scoring drive.

Xier Kekauoha forced a fumble on Kalani quarterback Seth Tina-Sobarano after a nine-yard run and Ayonon was able to recover it at the Falcons' 24-yard line. Nahooikaika ran it four straight times before Kuni took a wide receiver reverse to take it down to the 1-yard line. Nahooikaika followed Risein Campbell off of right guard on the very next play to give Waialua the first lead of the game with 8:32 left in the second quarter.

With many players going both ways, a run-first approach for the Bulldogs helped to keep the defense off the field and shorten the game.

"We kept the chains moving," said Nahooikaika. "Sometimes it wasn't too good, but we kept the chains moving when we needed to. That's how we won the game."

The Falcons knotted things up late in the third quarter on Jaemi Harris' 81-yard scamper. Harris emerged from a scrum at the line of scrimmage before making a spin move to outrun the Waialua secondary.

Waialua took the lead for good on a bad snap on fourth down early in the final period of play. The ball rolled out of the back of the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 9-7 lead with 10:19 left in regulation.

Kuni returned the ensuing kick 27 yards to the Kalani 33-yard line to set up the Bulldogs' final score. On the very next play Campbell took Waialua into the red zone with a 19-yard run. The Bulldogs' struggled a bit on the next batch of plays, but got a key fourth down conversion when quarterback Tevesi Toia found Nahooikaika in the flat for a first down.

The next play on the drive saw the Bulldogs use a little flair to get the touchdown. Toia faked the handoff to Nahooikaika out of the I-formation, then faked a reverse to Kuni before rolling to his right and finding Nahooikaika for a four-yard TD pass. Kuni booted the PAT to give Waialua a 16-7 lead with 7:06 left in regulation.

"We got cut off guard with a couple of guys," said Kalani first-year coach Scott Melemai. "That left some little mismatches and guys were open for them."

Kalani got an 11-yard TD run from Seth Tina-Sobarano with 1:02 left to make it a one-score game, but the ensuing onside kick attempt went out of bounds and the Bulldogs were able to hold on for the win.

"This feels really great," said Kaopua-Lee. "Our defense came out to play today. We were slacking a little bit, but we put it all out there tonight."