Pearl City ends Kalani’s dream season

Photo galleries: 2 games – Pearl City v. Kalani’ Farrington v. Kapolei

Kalani’s historic season is history.

Resurgent Pearl City was simply too good in the Falcons’ first-ever Oahu Interscholastic Association playoff game, as the Chargers prevailed 28-14 on Friday night at Radford to advance to face Kaiser in the White championship game. Kalani’s record-setting season ended at 6-4 overall.

Junior running back Blake Cooper rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns to stake the Chargers (7-3) to an early lead, and Kristian Vaana-Kikuyama scored on receiving and rushing touchdowns for the winning scores once the Falcons tied things up at 14 to open the second half.

Cooper’s total was the eighth-highest yardage output in school history. He helped avenge a 40-8 loss to Kalani on Aug. 23; Pearl City won for the seventh time in eight games since.

"We always been talking about (getting to the championship), so it’s a great feeling right now," said Cooper, who scored on runs of 48 and 10 yards. "Our attitude changed a lot from the first game we played them. We were all big-headed and stuff. … Now we played our game."

Pearl City assured itself a state berth regardless of its outcome against Kaiser. The Cougars defeated the Chargers 31-6 two weeks ago.

"They’re big, strong and fast," first-year Pearl City coach Robin Kami said of Kaiser. "We don’t know how we’ll stop them, but we’ll just try our best."

Pearl City’s defense held prolific Falcons quarterback Noah Brum in check for vast stretches of this one.

On Kalani’s final drive attempting to cut the deficit to a single score, the Chargers’ Zebadiah Selu recovered Brum’s fumble on fourth and goal from the 2, sealing defeat for the Falcons.

Kalani was held to a season low in points. Brum, so potent all season with 38 touchdowns (including two Friday) went incomplete on his last seven passes and 11 of his final 13 attempts.

"We just tried to play basic defense and hopefully get some pressure … and we could make interceptions and some turnovers," Kami said. "Tonight we had a good pass rush."

Falcons coach Greg Taguchi held his head high after the teams shook hands. His team, bolstered by the tutelage of offense and defensive coordinators Ron and Cal Lee, finished with three times as many wins this season as their total victories (two) from 2000 to 2009.

"It’s been a tremendous journey," Taguchi said. "They worked hard and deserved everything they did. It comes to an end, it’s sad for some of the seniors. But there’s a lot to be proud of. Tonight, you look in the stands, there’s a lot of people that are proud of them and what they accomplished this year."

Chargers quarterback Jordan Kaamu completed 12 of 16 passes in the first half and finished 17-for-24 for 186 yards, matching Brum’s total.

Pearl City played increasingly well since its loss to Kalani and held Radford to just six points last week to secure the White’s No. 2 seed.

Pearl City ran consistently to the left early, including on its second drive when Cooper busted multiple tackles from 48 yards out for the game’s first score.

Cooper scored again from 10 yards out for a 14-0 Chargers lead.

Brum came in with 36 touchdowns against nine interceptions this season. He was held in check until two minutes remained in the first half, when he found Brandon Roberts three times during a 60-yard scoring drive that took only a minute. It was capped by Brum’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Roberts to cut Pearl City’s halftime lead to 14-7.