A few seconds and a couple of yards were all that separated Waipahu and Pearl City in Friday night’s Oahu Interscholastic Association White championship game at Aloha Stadium.

In the end, the unranked Marauders survived a late Chargers rally. Pearl City’s Shawn Lopez was tackled at the 13-yard line trying to score on a hook-and-ladder play as time ran out, giving the Marauders a 9-7 victory, the White Division title and a first-round bye in the Division II state tournament.

Waipahu (8-3) won its first OIA crown since 2006, denying No. 10 Pearl City (9-2) its first OIA football championship in any division.

“This means everything,” said Waipahu junior Beaver Lagima Jr., who intercepted Pearl City quarterback Kaimi Paredes twice. “This is my first one and I owe it all to my brothers,” he yelled, pointing at his teammates celebrating on their sideline.

A highly emotional game from the start ended with a fair share of controversy after the Chargers nearly erased a 9-0 fourth-quarter deficit.

Pearl City accumulated almost half of its 273 total yards in the final 2 minutes. Lopez took a lateral from receiver Daicorri Briscoe and rambled 45 yards for the team’s only score of the game.

The Chargers got the ball back — after a questionable amount of time ran off the clock before Waipahu’s punt — and ran the same play from their own 42, with Lopez taking the lateral from Briscoe 34 yards to the Waipahu 13 before he was tackled by Tafatolu Naea Jr.

“It’s a play we practice a lot, where our wide guy runs a deep 15 yard in and our backside slot acts as a float (and takes the pitch),” Pearl City coach Kai Kamaka said.

Pearl City had stuffed Waipahu on third down with just over a minute left, but had no timeouts.

The play clock was restarted with 2 seconds left to allow for an equipment adjustment, but the game clock kept rolling, allowing close to 40 seconds to run off. The Chargers got the ball back with 20 seconds remaining.

“(The clock operator reset) the play clock when it should have been at 2 seconds,” Kamaka said. “Technically, no, they aren’t supposed to do that.”

It was a wild ending to a sloppy game. Waipahu committed 22 of the game’s 31 penalties and gained only 25 yards in the second half.

The Marauders bailed themselves out, forcing seven turnovers, including four interceptions of Paredes, who finished 17-for-33 for 229 yards.

Junior linebacker Wesley Nagaseu had six tackles, an interception and one of Waipahu’s five sacks. He also capped off Waipahu’s only touchdown drive, rumbling in from a yard out on fourth down in the second quarter to put his team up 9-0.

“I’m just speechless right now,” Nagaseu said. “We cut down on our mistakes and just played hard. Everybody stepped up today.”

First-year coach Eric Keola watched his team beat Kaimuki and Pearl City in the playoffs after losing to both in the regular season.

“We had the tools physically, but it came down to believing in what we’re doing on the field and in each other,” Keola said. “We take pride in our defense and put a lot of pressure on (Paredes).”

Quarterback Drake Yoshioka finished 12-for-24 for 107 yards.

Senior linebacker Troy Barboza Scanlan led the Chargers defense with 11 tackles, including three for loss.

Both teams will represent the OIA in the Division II state tournament that begins next week. Waipahu has a first-round bye and will play the winner between Lahainaluna and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Nov. 18 at a site to be determined.

The Chargers will fly to Kauai to play the KIF champion next Saturday. That winner will face top seed “Iolani on Nov. 19 at Eddie Hamada Field.