Waianae QB Jaren Ulu unleashes a pass around a Kapolei defender. Jim Lebeau | SL

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The Waianae football team passed its second big test in as many weeks with its 35-14 road victory over Kapolei Saturday night.

The game was a showdown of top-5 teams, each with postseason hopes and aspirations. The fifth-ranked Hurricanes hung tough early, but ultimately, the fourth-ranked Seariders proved too tough, pulling away to score the game's final 28 points.

Waianae used a strong running game to wear down the hosts. Eight different players recorded at least one carry, with the duo of Rico Rosario (16 rushes for 117 yards) and Kade Ambrocio (7 for 90) leading the way.

"We just came to do what we always do: play smash-mouth, Waianae football," said Rosario, who ran for an 8-yard touchdown and caught a 23-yard score. "I feel like we did that really good. Our o-line got key blocks and executed on every play."

The Seariders averaged 5.6 yards on their 55 carries and picked up 13 of 22 total first downs by rush. The converted on 57 percent (8 of 14) of their third downs and held the ball for more than 30 minutes.

The defense got the job done, too, limiting the Hurricanes to 213 yards of total offense. They averaged just 3.9 yards per game and picked up just 4 of 13 third downs.

"Our defense did a hell of a job," Waianae coach Walter Young said. "They're a good offense, hands down, but we came out and we did a good job on them, held them to 14 points."

Despite three turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble) by the offense, the Searider defense did their job each time.

The unit forced a three-and-out after quarterback Jaren Ulu's first interception and got a turnover of its own after his second, later in first quarter. Francis Mailo recovered a Kapolei fumble, that the Waianae offense recycled into the game's first score, Ambrocio's 3-yard TD run.

Near the midpoint of the second quarter, Rosario coughed up the pigskin, which was covered up by the Hurricanes' Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. However, on the very next play, linebacker Tytyn Kahooilihala pressured Taulia Tagovailoa into an intentional grounding penalty in his own end zone, resulting in a Waianae safety.

"We just had to play physical," senior linebacker Jaylen Gonzales said. "I know in the first half we came out playing with a lot of emotion and we were giving up a lot of penalties. In the second half we cleaned it up."

The safety gave the Seariders the ball back, which they made use of. They served up a heavy dose of Rosario, who carried five times in the drive, including his 8-yard plunge into the end zone that gave his team the lead for good at 15-14 with 2:33 left in the first half.

It was the second come-from-behind win of the young season for Waianae, which escaped with a narrow 26-20 win at eighth-ranked Kamehameha last week.

The Seariders (2-0 overall, 1-0 league) will host Moanalua Friday before a showdown against top-ranked Kahuku on Aug. 26 in a rematch of a Division I state semifinal last year.