It was not pretty, but the Waianae Seariders will take the win.
The sixth-ranked Seariders overcame 200 penalty yards to pull away from Kailua for a 41-12 opening-round win in the OIA Division I playoffs.
Rico Rosario led the way for Waianae’s ground-and-pound offense with 130 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries. Javen Towne added 86 yards and a touchdown, and Kade Ambrocio rushed for 66 yards and another score as Waianae (7-2) advanced to the quarterfinal round.
Waianae will play Mililani next week.
With the win, the Seariders sealed a spot in the state tournament, as well. They did it with a willingness to throw the ball — Jaren Ulu launched a bomb that fell incomplete on Waianae’s first play from scrimmage — but went with their bread and butter. They rushed 40 times for 367 yards.
“We want to be balanced, but we went with what worked,” Seariders coach Walter Young said. “Kailua is a great team and they had a great plan. Our defense got stops when we needed them.”
Nine of their 16 penalties were personal fouls, though none seemed to be of the late-hit variety.
“We’ve got to clean up the penalties. I’ve got to watch the tape. No matter what, there’s no excuse,” Young said.
Kailua finished the season 3-5.
“We had ‘em on the ropes and we didn’t convert,” Surfriders coach Joe Wong said. “That’s the way the breaks go. Waianae, you know what you will get.”
The Seariders seemed prepared to give the game away defensively. Most of their 100 penalty yards in the first quarter were on defense, forcing Young to burn a timeout to settle the unit down. They had just 5 penalty yards in the second quarter.
Kailua milked the clock best it could in the first half, eating chunks of time in the first quarter. Running-back-turned-quarterback Mark Lagazo was effective at running the read option and scrambling out of the pocket for first downs. He finished with a hard-earned 63 yards on 23 carries. He was sacked seven times, including three by Kana‘i Mauga and two by Josiah Viliamu.
Playing before a crowd that filled roughly half the bleachers at Raymond Torii Field, Waianae scored on its second series, covering 60 yards in just three plays, all on the ground. Rosario scampered for a 10-yard run on the left side to give Waianae a 7-0 lead with 2:16 to go in the first quarter.
Kailua responded with an eight-play, 56-yard drive that took more than five minutes off the clock. Lagazo lofted a 20-yard scoring pass to 6-foot-4 leaper Christian Mejia near the right pylon. The PAT kick bounced off the right upright, however, and Waianae led 7-6 with 9:01 left in the first half.
From there, Waianae dominated at the line of scrimmage. They needed just five plays to cover 69 yards, scoring on Rosario’s 37-yard blast up the middle, then snapped the ball just five more times on a 57-yard drive with Jorell Pontes-Borje slicing through on a counter run for an 18-yard TD. The Seariders led 21-6 with 3:32 remaining in the half.
Reserves got action before halftime. Solofua Grey ran for 20 yards on two carries before Skyler Kaleiohi scored on a 13-run to give Waianae a 28-6 lead with 1:05 left until intermission.
