KALIHI — Leilehua's defense answered the bell time and time again Saturday night. 

The Mules scored 21 points off of four defensive takeaways en route to a 38-21 win over Kailua in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament. 

A crowd of about 2,000 fans at Farrington's Edward ‘Skippa' Diaz Stadium at Kusunoki Field was on hand to witness Leilehua's first league title since 2007 and the fifth in program history. 

It is the school's very first OIA championship under Mark Kurisu, who has been head coach at his alma mater since 2017. Kurisu was the defensive coordinator when the Mules last won a league crown. 

"It's just a tremendous feeling just being able to invest in these kids and these kids believing and trusting in us. We learn so much about being resilient, perseverance — they learn about faith and love and it's just an incredible feeling to watch them," Kurisu said. 

The Mules (9-3) extended their winning streak to eight games with their title game triumph. Their last loss came at the hands of the Surfriders (6-6), when the teams faced off in the first week of the regular season back on Sept. 7. 

Kailua won the first meeting, 33-30, in a shootout that saw the teams combine for nearly 800 yards of total offense. This time around, the Mules were opportunistic on the defensive side of the ball. 

Chaystin Senas recorded a pair of interceptions — one in each half — with his second coming at a critical juncture of the game. The Surfriders scored a pair of touchdowns 11 seconds apart, thanks to a takeaway of their own, to cut into Leilehua's lead, 17-14. 

After the Mules failed to add to their lead when Rodel Alano missed a 28-yard field goal wide right, Kailua got the ball back with a chance to tie it or pull ahead, however, Senas picked off an Isaiah Keaunui-Demello pass on third-and-1 and went untouched the other way for a 35-yard pick-six. 

Senas said reading his keys pre-snap led to him being able to jump the short pass to the right flat. 

"They went to a cluster, I saw the RPO read, I went to play the RPO, he threw it out and I was there at the right time to take it to the crib," said Senas, a 5-foot-9, 150-pound senior defensive back. 

It was Senas's second interception of the night. He took his first one back 90 yards for an apparent touchdown, but it was negated by a holding penalty on the return. 

"That was unfortunate. I took it back, but I did talk to the guy who (drew) the flag and I said, ‘There's a lot more game left, so bounce back,' " said Senas, who also registered three tackles and a pass break-up. 

Linebacker Braden Liua, who made two of his team-high 5 ½ tackles behind the line of scrimmage, noted the timeliness of Senas' second-half pick-six. 

"Kailua had the momentum and was moving the ball, but he came through with that pick when we needed to make a play, so that was huge for us," Liua said. 

Surfriders coach Hauoli Wong agreed that the interception came at a most inopportune time for his squad. 

"Yeah, I mean, that was big right there. That was the momentum swing for us If we convert and we keep going through — I mean, I honestly feel we would have scored on that drive — but you can't keep giving back the football to a team like Leilehua," Wong said. "Hats off to them, they played a hell of a game, but there's a lot more football left and we just gotta do a better job taking care of that football."

Liua recorded Leilehua's lone sack and even came up with an interception of his own in the closing minutes. It was his fumble recovery of an errant Kailua shotgun snap with 3:42 left in the second quarter that led to the Mules' first touchdown. 

"I saw it go up in the air and I thought I could maybe pick it up and score, but it was a big turnover for us," Liua said. 

Leilehua recycled the turnover into a 10-yard touchdown pass from Bennett Strobel to Talon Tarpley two plays later. 

The Mules then executed a surprise onside kick, which was recovered by Zaeven Newman near midfield. They cashed in with a 10-play drive that culminated with a 5-yard TD run off right tackle by Keola Seumanutafa-Bryant with just nine seconds left in the first half. 

Leilehua looked to add to its lead out of the intermission. It received the opening kickoff of the second half, but was rebuffed by the Surfriders' defense, which forced a punt after a three-and-out. 

Kailua then drove 57 yards in nine plays, capped off by a 4-yard TD pass from Keaunui-Demello to Benjamin Honebein. Desmond McMaster added the extra point to get his team within 17-7 with 5:05 left in the third quarter. 

On the first play of the Mules' ensuing possession, Strobel was picked off by Kailua defensive back Romeo Ortiz, who made a diving interception on the play. Keaunui-Demello wasted little time in cashing in the takeaway; He found a streaking Isaiah Kaiu with a perfectly-placed pass for a 31-yard touchdown.

The same pair also hooked up for a 23-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter. That score cut Leilehua's lead to 31-21 with 5:04 to play, but Leilehua got some insurance after running back Cameron Keeve broke free for a 62-yard TD run with 1:40 remaining. 

Keeve was a workhorse Saturday night. By halftime he carried the ball 22 times for 98 yards. He finished with 29 rushes for 180 yards. 

"Our goal is to run the ball," Kurisu stated. 

Keeve was dropped for a loss just twice. He averaged 6.2 yards per carry and helped the Mules run for 228 of their 378 yards of total offense. 

Strobel finished 14-of-30 passing for 150 yards. He and Tarpley also connected for a 4-yard TD pass that gave their team a 31-14 advantage at the 7:32 mark of the fourth quarter. 

Kailua posted 292 total yards, including 246 passing by Keaunui-Demello. He completed 22 of his 36 pass attempts and threw three touchdowns, but was intercepted as many times. 

Keoki Cypriano tallied nine tackles, Jabez Lilo had 8 ½ and Shaison Hosino-Marquez seven to lead the Surfriders defensively. 

"I like that my team battled back and kept fighting and hanging in there. I mean, we got knocked down and we kept getting back up, that's all I can ask for," Wong said. 

Kailua was seeking its first OIA championship since 2001, when it shared the league title with Kahuku. Its last outright championship came in 1965. 

Senas's father, Chustin, was a standout reciever and defensive back for Leilehua in the mid-2000s. Kurisu has been around long enough to coach both father and son — although the elder Senas had graduated the year prior to the Mules' last OIA championship before Saturday night. 

"It's great, it's so surreal," Chaystin Senas said. "It's been a long time since we had this much success as a team and coach Mark has been preaching to us just play disciplined and we really wanted to get this win for him and our community."

The Surfriders, who saw their five-game win streak come to an end, will travel to face Kapaa in a state first-round game at the Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex next Saturday. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 2 p.m. 

The Mules will also travel for their first-round matchup Saturday. They play Lahainaluna at Sue D. Cooley Stadium at 7 p.m.

Top-seeded Konawaena and second-seeded Damien drew first-round byes. The Wildcats will meet the winner between the Mules and Lunas, while the Monarchs await the victory between the Surfriders and Warriors.