Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Waialua bests Waipahu for 1st OIA title in 61 years, 36-35


   



Fri, Oct 28, 2016 @ Aloha Stadium [ 5:00 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Waialua (7-3-0) 21 8 0 736
Waipahu (8-3-0) 7 13 15 035
Braden Amorozo 327 yd 4 TD
Tevesi Toia 257 yd 4 TD
Tevesi Toia 81 yd 1 TD
Alika Ahsing 104 yd 1 TD
Lancen Kuni 50 yd 1 TD

HALAWA — Bulldogs will be howling all weekend on the North Shore.

In the second-highest scoring Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II championship, Waialua edged Waipahu, 36-35, Friday night at Aloha Stadium to win its first league title since 1955.

Quarterback Tevesi Toia had a hand in all of Waialua's scoring. He passed for 257 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 81 yards and another TD for the No. 7 Bulldogs (7-2).

Both teams will represent the OIA for the Division II state tournament.

"It's great to bring the title to Waialua and make history," Toia said.

Back in the day, Waialua's 1955 title was its fourth in a row and sixth overall, when the league was called the Rural Oahu Interscholastic Association, when the league just increased from five to six teams with the addition of Kailua.  Waialua would win a Blue division title in 1992 when the OIA was segregated by Red (top), White (middle) and Blue (light). Back then, all levels advanced to the same league tournament.

For one, the title hasn't sunk in yet.

"It just doesn't seem real," Waialua defensive lineman Matthan Hatchie said. "We're feeling good, we're feeling confident. We know we can make it far now."

The Marauders (8-2), who beat the Bulldogs, 26-7, during the regular season, did not go down without a fight. They erased a 29-20 halftime deficit with two quick TD passes by Braden Amorozo in the third period to put the Marauders up 35-29 entering the fourth quarter.

Waialua regained the lead with 11:34 left in the game on Toia's 8-yard TD pass to Risein Campbell. Dylan Hardin's PAT put the Bulldogs ahead by 1.

Despite the high scoring, it was defense and special teams that made the difference. Hatchie blocked PAT after Waipahu's third TD of the game in the second quarter.

"We rely on our defense for the most part," Waialua coach Lincoln Barit said. "Our offense is coming around."

Lancen Kuni, Julian Fely-Menor and Kymani Ayonon each had interceptions. Fely-Menor's came after Waialua regained the lead; Kuni's came on the next series. Both picks kept the Marauders offense off the field. Kuni also had a near interception on Waipahu's ensuing series, which the Marauders lost the ball on downs when QB Braden Amorozo fumbled the snap and the ball fell inches short of the first down at the Bulldogs' 33 with less than 43 seconds left.

"In the first half, we put ourselves in some bad situations, forcing second-and-long, third-and-long," Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said. "We had a bad snap; luckily we scored on that drive we had a bad snap. Second half, (we played) a little bit better, but those two picks really hurt us."

Waialua struck first when the Bulldogs moved 45 yards in seven plays with Toia scoring after rolling right and sprinting to the end zone make it 7-0.

Ayonon's interception return to the Marauders' 7 on Waipahu ensuing series set up Toia's 6-yd TD pass to Caleb Apau with 4:25 in the first period, but the PAT missed to keep it 13-0.

Waipahu, though, answered back on its next series with a 71-yard TD pass from Amorozo to Isaac Yamashita on a slant to pull the Marauders to 13-7 with 2:59 in the first quarter.

Waialua reacted quickly, moving 80 yards in six plays with Toia's 14-yard TD pass to Kuni. Toia then hit Darin Valmoja-Khleang on a pass for the 2-point conversion to make it 20-7.

Waipahu started the second quarter with two TDs to pull to 21-20. Amorozo tossed a 25-yard TD pass to Cody Andres-Paguirigan before Centennial Kulikefu blocked a punt in the end zone that Jeremy Eda recovered for a TD to pull Waipahu to 21-20. But Hatchie squeezed his 6-foot-3, 250-pound body through Waipahu's line and blocked the PAT.

"I just squeezed my way in," Hatchie said. "I just made sure to push myself in. I put my hands up and just caught the ball."

The Bulldogs added a score just before the half on Toia's 5-yard TD pass to Campbell with 1:22 left in the half to make it 29-20.

Waipahu commanded the early part of the second half, scoring on its first two possessions. Amorozo hit Ezekiel Kapanui Reyes on a slant for a 30-yard TD to cut the Marauders deficit to 29-27. The Marauders then took the lead when Alika Ahsing hauled in a high-arcing pass from Amorozo for a 55-yard TD. Alfred Failauga ran in the 2-point conversion to put Waipahu up 35-29 with 3:19 left in the third quarter.

But the Bulldogs marched 80 yards in nine plays before Toia's 8-yard TD pass to Campbell. Dylan Hardin's PAT was the tiebreaker.

Interceptions by Fely-Menor and Kuni denied the Marauders' next to series. Kuni also had a near pick on Waipahu's final series of the game.

"We thank our coaches for pushing us all week," Kuni said of the victory. "We prepared for this game. We got redemption.

"Everybody from the North Shore came out to support us. I want to thank them. It feels so surreal right now."

The highest scoring OIA D2 title game was in 2014, when Nanakuli beat Pearl City, 37-36, in overtime.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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