Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho had to sweat out the final minutes of the Marauders’ regular-season finale on Saturday.

But thanks to a late defensive stand and freshman running back Alfred Failauga’s prolific night, the Marauders have a week to relax after holding off Kalani 28-23 in an OIA Division II matchup at Aiea.

Failauga carried the ball 37 times and rushed for 194 yards, the seventh-highest total in school history, and three first-half touchdowns. The Marauders opened up a 28-10 lead midway through the third quarter when quarterback Braden Amorozo connected with Isaac Yamashita on a 23-yard touchdown pass.

But Kalani quarterback Seth Tina-Sobarano orchestrated a fourth-quarter rally with a touchdown pass to Ikaika Andaya and a 3-yard scoring run with 4:08 left.

The Falcons got the ball back with 1:44 left and approached midfield before the Marauders finally contained Tina-Sobarano, who finished with 133 yards rushing and 226 passing, on a decisive fourth-down stop.

“That was a little too close for comfort,” Carvalho said. “They definitely had the second half. We put together a good first half. My talk at halftime was to make sure we gotta win the second half and we didn’t, but the defense came up strong at the end.”

With the win Waipahu (7-1, 6-1 OIA D-II) clinched one of the top two seeds in the upcoming playoffs and secured berths for Pearl City, Kaimuki and Waialua. Pearl City can claim the regular-season title with a win over Waialua next week. A Waialua win gives Waipahu the top seed.

“I’m glad we got this week off,” Carvalho said. “We have a bye going into the playoffs. So it allows us an extra week to just fix things as a whole and just make sure we’re able to finish games like this.”

Kalani (3-3, 3-3) was eliminated from the race for the division’s four-team playoff when the rally came up short.

“That’s all we wish for … to keep competing straight to the end and just give ourselves a chance at the end to be successful,” said Scott Melemai, who closes his first season as head coach against McKinley on Friday.

Failauga could probably use the week off after carrying the load for the Waipahu offense on Saturday.

Waipahu’s opening possession ended with an interception by Kalani’s Kohl Suehiro and the Falcons put together an 11-play drive highlighted by 32- and 23-yard keepers for Tina-Sobarano. The drive stalled at the Waipahu 5 and Kalani opened the scoring with an Indi McCellan field goal.

Failauga touched the ball on 20 of Waipahu’s next 30 plays and capped three consecutive Marauders possessions with touchdown runs. He had 10 carries and a reception in a 15-play drive that he ended with a 2-yard touchdown run.

“The game plan was definitely pound the rock with Alfred, tire them out and get them to load up the box to open up the pass,” Carvalho said.