WAIANAE - Waianae's return to Raymond Torii Stadium since 2019 turned out to be a lights-out performance.

The No. 8 Seariders scored in all phases to romp the No. 9 Leilehua Mules, 47-6, Saturday night in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Open Division football game at Raymond Torii Field. Moments after the game, the lights went out at the stadium and in the area because of a downed transformer that blocked Farrington Highway and forced the Leilehua team buses to return to the campus to wait out the traffic situation. 

Quarterback Tarent Moniz-Babb passed for 215 yards and two touchdowns; running back Alvin Quisquirin-Sabagala rushed for 132 yards and two scores; the defense chipped in with  pick-sixes by Alvin Kalahiki IV and Dustin Pave; and the special teams jumped started the rout with an 80-yard kickoff return by Nainoa Nagum.

It was first-year coach Matt Murakawa's first win after his debut was spoiled by No. 4 Mililani last week.

"Feels great," Murakawa said of his team's response to last week's 49-6 loss by the Trojans. "I think we were more aggressive this week than we were last week. That was the good thing. Our defensive coordinator over here (poining to Ryan Lancaster), wee went over the tape. It wasn't that we played badly; I thought we played tentatively. We just told the kids make your reads and make plays. We can live with the consequences. Just play the game, especially defensively, we did that."

The Seariders certainly did make plays. Leilehua took the opening kickoff and drove 70 yards in 11 plays with quarterback Xavier Muyot scoring from a yard out. The PAT was blocked. Seconds later, Nagum returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards and Quisquirin-Sabagala's PAT gave the Seariders a 7-6 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish.

"Nai Nagum is a just one of them dual-threat guys," Murakawa said. "He was solid in the heat. He returned the first kickoff for the touchdown. That really changed the whole momentum."

Indeed it did. The Mules were not heard from the rest of the game. Waianae's defense dominated with five interceptions, two by Kalahiki, and one each by Shayd Borabora, Curtis Jackson and Pave. Kalahiki's TD return was for 37 yards and Pave's was for 40. The Mules were contained to 213 yards of offense and 11 first downs. 

Offensively, the Seadiers were balanced. Moniz-Babb completed 17 of 21 passes for 215 yards, the bulk coming on an 89-yard TD to Emmanuel Carter. Moniz-Babb also had a 32-yard TD strike to Chayce Gomes. Meanwhile, the power-running Quisquirin-Sabagala rushed for 132 yards on 15 carries, scoring from 5 and 48 yards.

"Our line just dominated tonight," Moniz-Babb said. "They played a hell of a game. The run was great, it opened up the pass for us."

The only issue the Seariders had was 15 penalties totaling 155 yards.

"We're going to look at the film, clean that up," Murakawa said.

But it does not mean his team will be less aggessive.

"We want guys to be edgy and aggressive," Murakawa explained. "This is the Open Division. If you're not playing at a high, edgy level, guys going run you over. I thought that's what happened last week (against Mililani). We got little bit tentative and we started to wait for the game to come to us. We talked about that this week and we didn't want that to happen again."

The Seariders will visit Campbell Friday night, while the Mules will play host to Kahuku on Saturday.