OIA Football
Defense, run game help No. 7 Waipahu rally past No. 8 Waianae


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
September 28, 2025, 1:25am

  

Sat, Sep 27, 2025 @ Waianae [ 6:30 pm ]

Waipahu

29

Waianae

13

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Waipahu (6-4-0) 8 14 0 729
Waianae (8-3-0) 13 0 0 013
Kalani Meyers-Tuinei 88 yd 1 TD
Tristan Pacheco 150 yd 1 TD



WAIANAE — The Waipahu football got off to a bit of a slow start Saturday, but it certainly finished the night strong. 

Waipahu, the No. 7 team in the ScoringLive Power Rankings, tallied five interceptions on defense and ran for 241 of its 325 yards of total offense to rally past eighth-ranked Waianae by a score of 29-13 on a humid evening at picturesque Raymond Torii Field. 

The Marauders (5-1 overall, 4-0 league) handed the Seariders (6-1, 3-1) their first loss on the year and seized sole possession of first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I standings in the process. 

"It's huge," said Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho, whose team has now won four in a row since its lone defeat, a 21-6 loss at the hands of Campbell back on Aug. 15. 

"We still gotta win out the rest of the division and make sure we lock it up, but if we do that having home field advantage throughout for the playoffs, that's what we're aiming for. Hats off to Waianae, they played a hell of a game today, but just fortunate to come out on top," Carvalho said. 

Things didn't look very promising for Carvalho's squad early on Saturday. It faced a 13-0 deficit until the final play of the first quarter when Arona Liaina got the Marauders on the board with his 1-yard plunge into the end zone to cap a nine-play, 56-yard drive. 

In the aftermath of Waianae going up two scores following Shawdan Pacheco's 74-yard pick-6, Titan Figueroa returned the ensuing kickoff 30 yards to give Waipahu solid field position near midfield. Running back Rocco Silofau opened the possession by ripping off gains of 11 and 18 yards. Several plays later, Pacheco picked up 16 yards on an outside run to get the ball to the 5-yard line. Two plays later, Liaina took the direct snap and followed a mass of blockers into the end zone with zeroes on the clock to close out the opening quarter. 

Wyatt O'Neill found Figueroa with his pass for a successful two-point conversion to cut Waianae's lead to 13-8. 

The Marauders capitalized on special teams yet again when Waianae muffed the kickoff return to open the second quarter and Ganiron covered up the loose ball at the Seariders' 17-yard line.

"Coach told me to get down there. I saw the ball fumbled and I just jumped for the ball and got it," Ganiron recalled. 

Two plays after that, Figueroa turned the left corner on a reverse and went untouched for a 15-yard touchdown on third-and-8. The two-point conversion was no good, however, and Waipahu clung to a 14-13 lead. 

Three plays into Waianae's next possession, quarterback Memphis Baker was intercepted by Jhayean Baptista, who appeared to return it 41 yards the other way for a defensive touchdown, however, it was negated by a block-in-the-back penalty. Nonetheless, the Marauders recycled the takeaway into an eight-play drive that took more than four minutes off the clock and culminated with a 21-yard touchdown pass on fourth down from quarterback David Vidinha to Figueroa. 

On the scoring play, Figueroa was left open down the left sideline after his defender fell down and Vidinha found him near the front pylon for the easy score. After Liaina ran in the two-point conversion, Waipahu extended its lead to 22-13 with five minutes left in the second quarter. 

Waianae's final three possessions of the first half all ended with interceptions, including the last play before the intermission, when Ganiron picked off a pass from quarterback John Michael "JJ" Kaio at the one-yard line and returned it to midfield. 

The Marauders' nine-point cushion held through the third quarter and more than halfway into the fourth. 

Waianae had a chance to cut into the lead late in the third quarter, when it orchestrated an 11-play drive that covered 74 yards but it stalled at the 6-yard line. The Seasiders sent Shawdan Pacheco out to attempt a 23-yard field goal, but an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction between plays pushed the ball back 15 yards and forced Pacheco to try his kick from 38 yards instead. It failed to split the uprights and Waipahu's lead remained 22-13 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter. 

"That was huge because that gets us to within (six points), so maybe it's a different story then, but at the end of the day all credit to Waipahu," Waianae coach Vince Nihipali said. "They're a very good football team."

The Marauders eventually added to their lead with Pacheco's 33-yard touchdown scamper with 4:29 to play. Pacheco took the handoff from Vidinha and found open space around left end before he cut back to his right and went untouched to the end zone. Maddox Stewart, who also registered an interception earlier in the contest, knocked through the extra point to close out the scoring. 

Pacheco did not register his first carry until there was about two minutes left in the first quarter. He toted the ball just seven times for 40 yards in the first half, but got the ball 14 times for 110 yards after halftime. Pacheco averaged 7.1 yards per carry for the game. 

"My line and receivers did a great job blocking and opening up holes for me, so they made my job easy and they deserve a lot of the credit," Pacheco said. 

Waipahu averaged 5.6 yards per carry as a team and picked up 15 of its 21 total first downs via rush. It also was 8 of 13 on third down conversions.

"The defense did a great job of getting us the ball back and we were able to run the football and eat up clock and that helped a lot in getting this win," Pacheco said. 

Nihipali said that while his defense spent the past two weeks preparing to slow down Pacheco and the Waipahu run game, it proved to be easier said than done. 

"They did counters and zones and that's what we prepped for in those two weeks but it just doesn't always go your way sometimes. We stopped the screens pretty well, we stopped the outside zones a little bit, but the counters were killing us. All credit to (Carvalho) and his staff, hopefully we get to see them again," Nihipali said. 

Ganiron and Baptista recorded two interceptions apiece. 

Waianae was held to 211 total yards. Baker, who started in place of Kaio, completed six of his nine passes for 36 yards and was picked off twice. Kaio entered the game late in the second quarter and finished 8-of-23 passing for 89 yards and was intercepted thrice. 

Nihipali said Kaio sustained a shoulder injury against Kailua two weeks ago that limited his availability to practice in the lead-up to Saturday's game. 

"He was in a sling for a week so I didn't really want to push it and Memphis is a capable backup. … JJ didn't start throwing until Tuesday," Nihipali said. 

"I don't think that really made a difference at the end of the day. It was just us not doing our assignments and Waipahu playing good … but it is what it is. These are good kids — we'll be resilient and come back," Nihipali added. 

Waianae tallied 14 first downs and was 4 of 9 on third downs. 

It was the most points allowed by the Seariders in a game this season. Opponents were averaging just eight points per contest prior to Saturday. 

Waipahu was averaging more than 46 points per game entering the game and had outscored its three league opponents by a combined 188 to 38 before facing Waianae. 

The game was slowed down by a large number of penalties and a handful of injuries on both sides. 

Waipahu was flagged 18 times for 205 yards — including seven personal fouls and five false starts — and Waianae drew 14 penalties for 127 yards. 

The Marauders will host Nanakuli Friday, while the Seariders will take on Aiea Saturday at Torii Field. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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