Roosevelt rolls past Castle to reach OIA Division II title game

Cameron Jackson rumbles downfield and scores a long TD run against Castle Saturday night. Jackson scored three total touchdowns for the Rough Riders. Leighland Tagawa | SL

Roosevelt started slowly, but found its groove in the final three quarters, notching a 49-13 win over Castle in the OIA Division II semifinals, securing a spot in the title game and a third straight berth into the state tournament.

Cameron Jackson had 14 carries for 161 yards and two scores and added another score via the pass and Ioane Kamanao added a long touchdown reception and picked off a pass and returned it for a score to pace the Rough Riders, who trailed after the first quarter, but scored 49 unanswered points over the final three quarters.

Ezekiel Soon also had an interception returned for a score, as the Roosevelt defense held the Knights to just 175 yards of total offense.

Castle got on the board first on a pass from Draven Kalawa to Noa Sebay at the 1:09 mark of the opening quarter, but that lead only held for about 3 minutes of game clock, as Jackson broke the scoring seal for the home team with a 25 yard scamper with 10:48 in the second.

Jackson added an 84 yard pass reception for a score to close out the half, then opened the third with a 66 yard jaunt for another.

The Knights final score of the season came with just eight seconds in regulation, a 20 yard pass form Kalawa to Saumahe Haney-Tongotea.