Kaimuki players celebrate on the sidelines after knocking out Pearl City, 35-28, and advancing to the OIA Division II title game to face Roosevelt. Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Brandon Ching

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Sat, Oct 28, 2023 @ Pearl City [ 6:30 pm ]

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Kaimuki

35

Pearl City

28

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kaimuki (5-7-0)	6	8	21	0	35
Pearl City (8-1-0)	7	14	7	0	28

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Trey Dacoscos 289 yd 4 TD

Iosefa Letuli 32 yd 1 TD

Shaedyn Quemado 36 yd

Iosefa Letuli 287 yd 3 TD

Koalii Torres 67 yd 1 TD

Iosua Letuli 11 yd 1 TD

PEARL CITY — Iosefa Letuli churned out three rushing scores and threw for another as fourth seeded Kaimuki knocked out top seeded Pearl City, 35-28 in the OIA Division II playoff semifinals at Edwin ‘Bino' Neves Stadium Saturday.

The Bulldogs (5-5 overall, 5-3 OIA) advance to face Roosevelt (7-3 overall, 6-2 OIA) in a rematch of the 2019 OIA championship game at Mililani's John Kauinana Stadium on Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. Both teams clinched spots in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships starting on Nov. 10.

"This is us and this is what we worked for, just some boys from Kaimuki," Letuli said.

The Chargers saw its eight-game winning streak snapped and end their season 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the OIA.

Letuli rushed for a season-high 287 yards on 35 attempts and Jeremiah White rushed for a career-high 105 yards on 11 attempts. White added two interceptions and broke up a pass on defense.

"I want to thank my Lord and Savior for giving me this opportunity and chance. It's a good team win, we earned this, people voted against us, but it's all God," Letuli said.

After White's second interception with 1:07 to go in the third quarter, the Bulldogs started at their own 31. Kaimuki possessed the ball for 11 minutes and their 19-play drive got them down to the Pearl City 1.

"We knew we had to take control of the game and to run the ball. That's what we had to do and that's what we did," Letuli said.

Letuli was stopped short of the goal line to turn it over on downs and the Chargers took over with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter.

Trey Dacoscos threw 10 and 12 yard passes to Keaton Tomas and Koalii Torres. After a false start penalty, Dacoscos' pass intended for Tomas along the sideline was long. He completed a 19-yard pass to Torres and an 8-yard pass to Tomas to get to their own 45. On the next play, Ezekiel Kuiee-Matias picked off Dacoscos and Kaimuki kneeled it out to end the game.

"Hats off to our defense, they know what to do and they know how to play and I appreciate everything they do," Letuli said.

Dacoscos threw for 289 yards on 22-of-38 passing, four touchdown passes went to four different receivers, but was picked off three times.

Pearl City scored on its opening drive that covered nine plays, 64 yards that resulted in Lennon Elder catching a 19-yard touchdown pass from Dacoscos.

Kaimuki answered with a scoring drive of their own as Letuli rushed for a 63-yard gain, his longest of the night and finished the drive with a 1-yard score, but the kick was blocked.

Tristan Brown, who had nine tackles, sacked Letuli to force a turnover on downs. The Chargers scored seven plays later as Dacoscos connected with Javian Mizuno to go ahead, 14-6.

Pearl City forced a three-and-out and a 70-yard, seven-play drive culminated in Dacoscos' 14-yard touchdown pass to Koalii Torres for a 21-6 lead.

Letuli's threw for 32 yards on 4-of-11 passing, but his 11-yard touchdown with 21 seconds to go went to Iosua Letuli and Iosefa ran it in for two to trail, 21-14 going into halftime.

Kaimuki continued its ground game and kept Pearl City's offense off the field. The Bulldogs opening drive in the second half covered 70 yards, seven plays and took 4 minutes, 26 seconds. Kaimuki attempted one pass attempt in the second half on Letuli's 7-yard completion to White. Letuli broke loose for a 37-yard touchdown and he ran it in for two to give Kaimuki a 22-21 lead.

Devian Moore fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Elijah Ugeni recovered it on the Charger 11 yard line. Letuli only needed two plays to find the end zone and Kaimuki went up, 28-21 after White was stopped short on the run attempt.

Bobby Best returned the kickoff to the 45 for good field position. The Chargers tied up the game at 28 with a five-play drive as Dacoscos found Tobias Vazquez with 4:51 to go in the third quarter.

Letuli gained 3 yards before leaving the game momentarily with an injury. White stepped in at quarterback and gained 5 yards despite a holding penalty. He took the direct snap, went one way, but reversed course running past the Pearl City sideline for a 67-yard touchdown and Hinano Kahawai's PAT made it, 35-28.

Pearl City's ensuing drive had promise with first down catches by Derek Kusano. The Chargers converted a fourth-and-1 off Shaedyn Quemado's 3-yard gain. Pearl City got to the Kaimuki 22, but Peter Maulolo broke up a pass at the line of scrimmage and Harmon Sio sacked Dacoscos for a 13-yard loss. On the next play, White nabbed his second pick and Pearl City would not get the ball back until 1:09 in the fourth quarter.

Kaimuki will try for its first title since 2019 and fourth overall against Roosevelt.

The Bulldogs avenged an early season loss to the Chargers, 34-27 back on Oct. 6.

Pearl City was seeking its first OIA title game and state tournament appearance since 2014.