EWA BEACH - Campbell's homecoming is next week, but Radford QB Maika Ulufale celebrated it Saturday night.

Ulufale, who transferred to Radford after playing two seasons with the Campbell varsity, passed for 199 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Rams over the Sabers, 20-13, in O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West football at Campbell's stadium.

"It was weird," Ulufale said of returning to his former school. "I felt nostalgic about the place. I had flashbacks of my days at Campbell."

It was a crucial game for the Rams (3-2 overall, 2-1 Red West) and Sabers (2-4, 1-3), as each win gets a team closer to a playoff berth. The top five teams in the seven-team division advance to the OIA tournament.

Rams' coach Fred Salanoa was aware of the situation and tried to not to play up the relationship Ulufale had with his former teammates.

"I tried my best to get it out of the back of his mind," Salanoa said. "I know there was some jibber-jabber on MySpace and that other thing (Facebook or Tumblr). We just tried to keep him grounded."

If anything, Ulufale had an effect on Sabers' offense. Campbell Amosa Amosa had players deliver the plays to the huddle because he knew Ulufale would be able to intercept hand signals from the bench. But there was no animosity.

"He never was a problem for us," Amosa said. "I'm happy for him. We had him the past two years. We were looking forward to him to play his senior year, have a break-out season. But Fred (Salanoa) is doing a good job mentoring him."

It was a good sign for the Rams that their QB delivered, instead of relying on RB Phil Hogan. The Rams' shifty runner was contained to just seven yards on 15 carries against a Sabers' defense that was without defensive end Kelaiah Fonoti (ankle) and linebacker Giovanni Stevenson (hand). The Rams were held to just eight yards rushing.

"Campbell's defense is super good," Salanoa said. "We knew they were going to us stuff up front."

After a scoreless first, the Sabers squandered a golden opportunity to break the deadlock when they drove to the Rams' 11. But all they managed was six yards on first down and nothing on the next three plays. Yet despite having the Rams backed up a their 5, a 49-yard pass play from Ulufale to Hogan, who had 65 yards receiving, help set up the Rams' first score, a 10-yard TD pass to Zach Tinao-Rabellizsa with one minute, three seconds left in the half. Cayman Conley's PAT gave the Rams a 7-0 lead at the break.

The Sabers opened the second half from their 32, but stalled at the Rams' 35. The Rams increased their lead when Ulufale hit Tinao-Rabellizsa with a seven-yard TD pass 6:00 in the third quarter. But Sau Momoe blocked Conley's PAT to keep it 13-0.

Toward the end of the third quarter, Dorsey Norris' 63-yard interception return to the Campbell 22 set up Ulufale's one-yard TD pass to Norris with 9:40 left in the game to make it 20-0.

The Rams thought they added to their lead when Tevita Baravilala returned an interception 70 yards for an apparent TD. But it was nullified by a roughing the passer penalty. An unsportsmanlike penalty on the play moved the ball to the Rams' 4. Three plays later, RB Aries Pihi scored from the 4 and Jaelan Subia-Etrata's PAT pulled the Sabers to 20-7.

The Sabers pulled to 20-13 on Nilo Agbayani-Omalza's 38-yard TD pass to Keoni Piceno with 3:56 left.

Campbell got the ball back with 38 seconds left, but after holding penalty moved it back to the Sabers' 25, Norris saved the day with an interception to stop the threat.

"We had our chances," Amosa said of his struggling offense, which he said had some wrong personnel in at times. "We gotta do a better job."

The Sabers celebrate homecoming Friday against Kapolei. The Rams will host Leilehua that night.

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