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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveNovember 8, 2025, 7:14am
Fri, Nov 7, 2025 @ Pearl City [ 7:00 pm ]
PEARL CITY — In the end, Benjamin Honebein and the Kailua Surfriders would not be denied.
No. 9 Kailua scored 14 points in a four-minute span in the fourth quarter then held off a comeback attempt by No. 14 Aiea to hang on for a 21-19 win in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I football tournament Friday night.
A crowd of about 2,500 fans at Pearl City's Edwin "Bino" Neves Stadium saw the Surfriders notch their seventh straight victory to improve to 9-3 on the year. In the process, they laid claim to their fifth league championship and first in nearly a quarter-center.
"I'll take it any which way," said Hauoli Wong, the 12th-year Kailua coach.
The Surfriders, who came away with a 42-0 rout of Na Alii when the teams met in the regular season on in mid-September, had to rally from a six-point deficit after three quarters this time around.
Micah Sua scored on touchdown runs of two and three yards and Marquez Mellor added an insurance score with just under eight minutes to play. Ultimately, however, Kailua made two pivotal defensive stops that proved to be the difference.
After Aiea scored on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Caizel Jesus-Kapesi and Champ Colburn to pull within 21-19 with 4:59 remaining, the Surfriders stopped Hiki Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo short of the end zone on the ensuing two-point conversion.
Na Alii got the ball back with 2:26 left on the clock, but Jesus-Kapesi was sacked on fourth-and-1 at his own 34-yard line to result in a turnover on downs. Kailua regained possession with 52 ticks remaining and kneeled the ball three times to run out the clock.
"I mean, it was a dog fight. (Aiea) coach Mika (Liilii) them, they had a great game plan," Wong said. "We stuck with what we do and, of course, like anything else, they're gonna make plays and so will we — it's just who's gonna make more plays in the game."
On both defensive stops, it was Honebein who made the initial contact with the ballcarrier.
Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo took a direct snap on the potential game-tying two-point try and ran to his right with a trio of blocking backs at his side. However, Honebein shot through the offensive line and shouldered Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo before linebackers Jonah Sua and Keoki Cypriano finished off the tackle.
"We saw Hiki was on and they were on the heavy side, so I was able to shoot over the center and get a hand on him and then Jonah Suh finished off — great play," said Honebein, a senior edge rusher.
The key play swung momentum back in the Surfriders' favor after Na Alii had just seized it with the long scoring play that saw Colburn spring free from a triumvirate of defenders just as he hauled in a pass over the middle from Jesus-Kapesi.
"That (two-point) play really showed how we can get in a deficit or have a bad moment, but we can come back stronger and persevere, that's how our whole mental (approach)," Honebein added.
Aiea began its final drive at its own 12-yard line after a 44-yard punt by Micah Sua. Jesus-Kapesi found Colburn on a short pass to the right sideline for a 4-yard gain to open the drive. He then scrambled for a 10-yard pick up to move the chains. After a draw play to running back Kaipo Higa-Pogia for a minimal gain and a 2-yard pick up on a hook-and-ladder play on second-and-8, Jesus-Kapesi connected with Legend Byrd-Tauala for a 5-yard completion to set-up fourth-and-1.
As Jesus-Kapesi looked downfield for somewhere to go with the football, he was forced to step up in the pocket but was met by Honebein, who stopped him in his tracks, followed by Delton Kurahashi-Choy Foo, who helped finish off the Surfriders' lone sack of the night.
"I felt like the whole game I just was rushing and on that play our coverage was great, which got us that sack, so I'm very thankful for everybody else on our defense for making that possible," Honebein said.
Wong credited the senior pass-rusher for his relentless pursuit of Jesus-Kapesi all game.
"He was pressuring the quarterback all night but we just couldn't corral him and then we got to him on the last play that we needed to get to him and I feel that's just perseverance, that's just want to, that's just heart and that's what he did; He kept working. I mean, Ben's gotta double-teamed and triple-teamed all year long and he just keeps going and he has that motor and that's why he's one of the leaders on our defense and all the defense stepped up on that last drive," Wong said.
Kailua's defense entered the game allowed fewer than 11 points per game. Wong figured that the unit would largely factor into the end result Friday night.
"I always talk to my team, ‘offense wins games, but defense wins championships,' and that's what they did. They took us to the championship and they won the championship for us," he said.
Following a scoreless first quarter, the Surfriders opened the scoring with Sua's 2-yard TD run that capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive at the 7:16 mark of the second quarter.
Just four plays later, Aiea answered with a screen pass from Jesus-Kapesi to Byrd-Tauala, who utilized some downfield blocking from his teammates to turn it into a 56-yard touchdown. Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo tacked on the extra point to tie it at 7 with 5:53 until halftime.
Kailua quarterback Isaiah Keaunui-Demello was picked off by Aiea linebacker Malachi Liilii-Utu three plays into the Surfriders' ensuing possession and on the very next play, Na Alii took advantage of an overzealous defense for a 45-yard TD pass on a flea flicker. On the scoring play, Jesus-Kapesi handed the ball off to a crossing Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo, who then gave it to Colburn on a reverse. Colburn then tossed it back to Jesus-Kapesi, who threw a pass over the top to a wide-open Byrd-Tauala for the easy touchdown.
Wong tipped his cap to Na Alii for the well-designed and well-timed play call.
"It did catch us. It caught us and we're a very aggressive defense and we just bit a little too much, but rest assured, we fixed it after and then we kept everything in front of us and I mean, that's what happens in this division, I mean, everybody can make plays and they made plays," Wong said.
The PAT that followed, however, was no good, which kept Aiea's lead at 13-7 with 3:56 left in the half.
The Surfriders orchestrated an 11-play, 79-yard drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock in the second half. They benefitted from a trio of penalties against Na Alii on the drive, two of which resulted in first downs — a costly personal foul for an unsportsmanlike conduct after a five-yard loss on third-and-5 — and a pass interference call after an incompletion on second-and-9.
Kailua was able to take advantage of the miscues and finished off the drive with a 3-yard TD run by Sua, who took the direct snap and followed the lead of blocking backs Jonah Sua and Cypriano into the end zone. After Desmond McMaster added the extra point, the Surfriders went ahead, 14-13 with 11:55 to play.
Liilii, the second-year Aiea coach, said it was up to his team to overcome the penalties that occurred over the course of the drive.
"Any time you get a major setback like that like penalties, you just gotta regroup and try to come out of it or survive it, but (against) a good team like this it's tough to bounce back like that," Liilii said.
Honebein came through with a crucial pass deflection near the line of scrimmage on third-and-10 about a minute later and Aiea was forced to punt away on its third-to-last possession.
Kailua was able to build on its lead with an efficient five-play, 54-yard drive that took just 2:23 off the clock and included four runs. Two plays after Keegan Dunn ripped off a 27-yard pick up, Mellor turned the left corner for a 9-yard TD run. McMaster's PAT stretched his team's lead to 21-13 with 7:55 to play.
Jesus-Kapesi's 68-yard scoring strike to Colburn came two plays after Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo moved the chains on fourth-and-4 with a gain of five yards on a run out of the punt formation.
Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo, one of the state's most dynamic playmakers at any level, overcame an apparent lower leg injury he sustained early in the third quarter.
"They got one of the best offensive players in the state in Hiki and he came out and he showed up and showed out tonight and so did the rest of the Aiea team. It's sad that somebody has to come away with a loss, but we're just very grateful that we came out with a W," Wong expressed.
Liilii shared Wong's sentiment about his crew. Aiea, the third seed in the four-team tournament, was coming off of a 9-7 road win over second-seeded Waianae in last week's semifinal round.
"These kids showed all year long that they're not going to quit, but they stick together and we just trust each other — we trust them and they trust us as coaches — and that's how we roll, so you can't ask for anything more from these guys; They played their hearts out," Liilii said.
Na Alii (8-5) finished with 346 yards of total offense, including 316 passing from Jesus-Kapesi. The freshman QB completed 21 of 36 passes and was not intercepted.
Byrd-Tauala tallied six receptions for a season-high 144 yards, Colburn hauled in another half-dozen catches for 98 yards and Kim Choy-Keb-Ah Lo added five catches for 45 yards in the loss.
Keaunui-Demello finished 15-of-21 passing for 171 yards with one interception. Seven different players caught a pass for the Surfriders.
Mellor led Kailua's rushing attack with 64 yards on 17 carries.
It is Surfriders' first league crown since 2001, when it shared the OIA championship with Kahuku in a season that was shortened by a week due to the impacts of 9/11 attacks. Their last outright title prior to that came in 1965, when it finished off a title three-peat.
"It's been amazing, this community is so supportive and I'm so proud to bring it back to Kailua, but the OIA is great, but we want that state. We're going in fully locked in as much as we can to get ready for that," Honebein said.
Both teams had already secured a spot in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Championships, which get underway next weekend and culminate with the title game on Nov. 28.
Kailua will take a seven-game win streak into the state tournament.
Aiea had won its last three games and four of its last five contests entering Friday night.
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