Football
Sabers clamp down defensively, pull away from Marauders


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
August 16, 2025, 1:46am

  

Fri, Aug 15, 2025 @ Waipahu [ 7:30 pm ]

Campbell

21

Waipahu

6

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Campbell (9-3-0) 7 0 0 1421
Waipahu (6-4-0) 0 0 6 06
David Vidinha 96 yd
Brayden Medeiros 174 yd 1 TD
Jayvren Pinera 51 yd
Shaison Kupukaa 118 yd 1 TD



WAIPAHU — For at least another year, the Cane Knife Trophy will remain in Ewa Beach. 

No. 6 Campbell rode a stifling defensive effort and scored 14 fourth-quarter points to pull away from No. 10 Waipahu, 21-6, in a non-league football game at the Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex Friday night. 

The Sabers improved to 2-0 on the season, while the Marauders fell to 1-1. 

"We did some good things, we also had some missed assignments, but you always take the win and run and we're taking the win and running," veteran Campbell coach Darren Johnson said while escorting his players from the postgame handshake line directly to their awaiting buses.

Campbell's defense was up to snuff against a Waipahu offense that posted 37 points and 422 total yards in a win over Leilehua one week prior. 

The Marauders were limited to only 142 net yards Friday. They found some success running the ball with speedy running back Tristan Pacheco accounting for 60 yards on 16 carries, but they averaged just 2.3 yards per rush as a team. 

Both defenses were pitching a shutout until the Sabers broke the seal late in the first quarter. 

On the scoring play, quarterback Elijah Mendoza rolled out to his right before he found Shaison Kupukaa in the back right corner of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 1:19 to play in the opening period. 

Mendoza's TD pass capped a seven play drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock. Campbell started the possession with favorable field position — three yards into Waipahu territory — after Xayden Zade Ea was able to block a Waipahu punt, which was recovered by his teammate Jeovanny Maghamil-Avilla just beyond midfield. 

Campbell twice converted on third down — including a 25-yard completion from Mendoza to Kupukaa and three plays later, a six-yard run by Adrian James Letua — to reach the Marauders' 1-yard line. However, back-to-back penalties for aiding the runner (five yards) and offensive holding (10 yards) backed the Sabers up to the 16. 

Waipahu's deepest penetration in the first half was to the Campbell 45-yard line, where it faced a third-and-1. However, Campbell's Kale Lundvall tackled Lyric Anuenue for a 10-yard loss on an inside handoff and the Marauders were forced to punt. 

The Sabers reached the red zone on their first drive of the first half, but saw time run out before they could turn it into points. Their 7-0 lead held until there was 2:25 left in the third quarter. 

Twelve plays after Christopher Togiai came up with an interception off Campbell reserve quarterback Brayden Medeiros, Arona Liaina punched in a 3-yard TD run to get the Marauders on the scoreboard. Liaina's plunge into pay dirt culminated a 55-yard scoring drive that included two third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion. 

On the scoring play, Waipahu exited the huddle in a centipede formation — that is, 10 players in a single file behind the center — before they shifted into a jumbo package with several extra blockers for Liaina, a 5-foot-11, 215-pound linebacker, who received the direct snap and barreled through the left side of the line of scrimmage and into the end zone. 

The Marauders nearly took the lead if not for a dropped pass in the back of the end zone on the ensuing two-point conversion. 

Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho made a mention of the opportunity lost in his postgame comments. 

"I told our guys at halftime that this game was going to come down to just very few plays and it'll just depend if we make ‘em or not. Perfect example was going for it on the PAT," Carvalho said. 

"We dropped the ball on that one. If we went up ahead, that would have been huge momentum, but it was just that type of game. Every little play counts and hats off to Campbell at the end of the day," he added. 

The Sabers answered the Marauders' score by returning the favor on their very next possession. 

After Brystin Sansano returned the kickoff to near midfield, Campbell orchestrated an eight-play, 53-yard drive that was capped by a 4-yard TD run by Letua. It was set-up by a 14-yard run by James Tuazon just one play prior. 

"That was really big. That was really big finishing that drive because that gave us some momentum back," Johnson described. 

Waipahu's ensuing possession was abruptly halted seven plays in when linebacker Austyn Filoteo made a leaping interception of a David Vidinha pass over the middle to give Campbell the ball back at its own 43-yard line. 

"The series before that I was kind of rushing, I wasn't really settling down, so the next series I just had to look at the QB, look at his eyes and watch him and that was kind of what made me get the pick. We were sending one of our guys (on a blitz) and my mentality was just settle down and lock in and focus and get the play call right," Filoteo said. 

The Sabers twice moved the chains on third downs and eventually finished off the drive with a 25-yard pass down the left sideline from Medeiros to a streaking Zayne Pasion for their second touchdown in less than five minutes. 

As compared to its 50-point output in last week's rout of Moanalua, Campbell's offense sputtered for much of the night against a pesky Waipahu defensive unit. 

The Sabers were limited to only six first downs in the first half. 

"Knowing that our offense was struggling, we just had to go out there as one team and as a defense to shut it down and go out there and back up the offense and that was big for us," Filoteo said. 

Letua carried 18 times and ran for a game-high 62 yards. Medeiros completed 15 of his 24 pass attempts for 174 yards with one interception. Mendoza threw for 67 yards on 6-of-14 passing without a pick before he gave way to Medeiros midway through the second quarter. 

Kupukaa finished with five receptions for 118 yards, Pasion tallied a half-dozen catches for 73 yards and Sansano, a converted running back, pulled down seven receptions for 39 yards. 

Campbell recorded 10 of its 16 total first downs after halftime. It was 7 of 15 on third downs and 1 of 2 on fourth downs. 

"I thought our guys played well, our defense especially. They played real tough. They got into some hard situations especially in the first half and were able to overcome, but at the end of the day, Campbell just made more plays. I think up front they just really relied heavy on running the ball, picked up a bunch of key first downs and it came down to just a few plays here and there," Carvalho said.

The Sabers were penalized 14 times for 145 yards, including four personal fouls. 

"Although we had a lot of penalties, the kids played a lot more disciplined tonight than prior, so we're progressing. Our schedule works for us, so hopefully we peak at the right time," Johnson said. 

Campbell has won 11 of its last 12 meetings against Waipahu in the series that dates back to 1963. 

The Marauders still hold a 30-16-1 all-time advantage over the Sabers. 

The teams play for the perpetual Cane Knife Trophy, a stainless-steel decorative blade engraved with the scores of past games between the schools, both located in communities with strong historical ties to the sugar cane industry. 

Waipahu, which dropped from the Open Division to D1 this year, will have a bye next week before it opens OIA conference play against Kaiser on Aug. 29 at the Yonamine Athletic Complex. 

Campbell, which reached the Open Division state semifinals a year ago, will continue the non-league portion of its schedule when it takes on Keaau at Kapolei's Alvin Nagasako Sports Complex next Saturday. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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