Leilehua's Moku Watson did not record a tackle played in the contest, but played a critical role in the win by playing man coverage against the Marauders' Andrew Simanu, the state's leading receiver. CJ Caraang | SL

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The high-scoring offense of the Waipahu Marauders failed to take off against a fundamentally sound Leilehua defense last Friday night.

The Mules picked up their second win of the season with a shutout performance over the visiting Marauders on homecoming, 38-0. Waipahu came into the contest having scored five touchdowns in its last three games.

"We feel good," said Leilehua defensive back Moku Watson. "The first win against Castle sparked us and now I think we're going to go on a roll."

Watson did not record a tackle played in the contest, but played a critical role in the win by playing man coverage against the Marauders' Andrew Simanu, the state's leading receiver. Simanu was held without a catch until the fourth quarter, when the Mules' backups were in the game.

"No. 11 (Simanu) has been making plays against everybody, so they wanted me to matchup agains the best guy on their offense," Watson said. "I just had to handle my business and play man on him."

With Watson locking up Simanu for most of the night, the Mules were able to focus on shutting down other parts of the Marauders' offense. Waipahu quarterback Gavin Marques had a rough night in his first start of the year, completing just nine of his 24 pass attempts for 74 yards and two interceptions, and was sacked twice. Kainoa Pantil led the way with a sack and an interception apiece.

"The coaches put together a solid game plan and said ‘this is what we want to do. Let's just play our assignments, play fast and play for one another,'" said Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda. "The kids just executed and you can see the results."

As impressive as the Mules' pass defense were, their run defense was an iron curtain. Waipahu only mustered four net yards rushing and faced third-and-long on nearly every drive. This helped Leilehua hold the Marauders to 1-for-9 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth down.

Watson was quick to credit the defensive line for the shutout victory.

"There's was a lot of pressure by the guys up front," he said. "If it wasn't for those guys, I think there would be more pass completions and rushing yards."

The Mules also recovered two Waipahu fumbles, one each by Pookela Banis Chun and another by Kendrick Beitzel.

"We've been working on takeaways," said Watson. "Whenever the ball falls on the floor, everybody on our defense is hustling to it."

Leilehua will look to continue its winning ways when it host fourth-ranked Kahuku Saturday.