The Kailua Surfriders won their first game of the season in style, beating longtime rival Castle 41-34 in a back-and-forth game that came down to the wire at Alex Kane Stadium on Friday night.
Koyo Kekauoha, who dealt with a lingering ankle injury in the preseason, exploded for 233 yards on 24 carries and five touchdowns in a performance that broke the stat sheet. Three of his touchdown runs came in the fourth quarter alone.
“It’s redemption for him,” Kailua coach Joseph Wong said. “We expected a lot of things out of him, we missed him the first two preseason games. This game showed how much he means to our team. We missed him the last three to four weeks. It was rough on us.”
Kekauoha’s running mate in the backfield had a successful night himself. Clayton Quidashay carried the ball 14 times for 62 yards, and scored Kailua’s other touchdown.
“We always want to give it to our running backs,” Wong said. “We have a good one-two punch. They’re very versatile in what they do, and the offensive line gives them the opportunities to show off the vision and the power and speed that they run with. It’s a great combination.”
Castle was led by a strong game from starting quarterback Daunte Ching, who finished with 120 total yards, one passing touchdown and one rushing TD. Coby Tanioka scored four times for Castle, thrice on the ground and once on a pass from Ching.
The Knights dominated the field position battle in the first quarter, with the ball staying in Kailua’s half of the field on all but one play. Castle scored twice during this opening period. Tanioka carried the ball into the end zone from 2 yards out to cap a four-play drive on their first turn on offense.
Castle’s second scoring drive lasted longer, running 10 plays to score again. This time, Tanioka scored through the air, catching a 5-yard touchdown strike from Ching.
The ball didn’t cross over into Castle territory until the final half-minute of the first quarter. Defensively, the Knights forced a pair of three-and-outs and an interception by Bronson Pakele on Kailua’s three drives. Castle scored again to open the second quarter, with an 11-play 50-yard drive ending on Tanioka’s third touchdown of the night, a 1-yard run.
“Our offense put us in that predicament. We gave Castle a short field, and you can’t give anybody a short field,” Wong said. “You give them a short field on the 35-yard line, you make a mistake here or there and the next thing you know you’re on the goal line. We put our defense in a bad spot, and I’m glad that the offense could bail them out in the second half.”
Trailing by three scores, the Surfriders offense turned the corner in the second quarter. Kailua scored twice in the final five and a half minutes to claw back within five points. Kekauoha put the Surfriders on the board with 5:26 to go in the first half. His 10-yard scoring run capped a nine-play Kailua drive that started on their own 36-yard line.
Kailua’s Brayden Pickman intercepted Ching on the next Castle drive, and the Surfriders capitalized on the opportunity. Tanioka’s 28-yard touchdown run cut the deficit to 19-14 going into halftime.
After forcing a Castle three-and-out to start the second half, Kailua took its first lead of the game on Quidashay’s goal-line touchdown run. The two teams traded punts the rest of the third quarter, until Castle retook the lead on Ching’s 8-yard touchdown run.
Kekauoha scored on a 7-yard run following a six-play drive, then scored again on a 23-yard rush after Castle coughed the ball up on a kick return.
The seesaw game continued, as the Knights scored after a lengthy 12-play drive that ended with Tanioka’s 20-yard touchdown run. The final lead change came with just two minutes left to play. Kekauoha scored his fifth touchdown run of the game, crossing the goal line after an 8-yard carry for the winning score.
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KAILUA 41, CASTLE 34
At Alex Kane Stadium
Castle (0-4, 0-1) 13 6 8 7 — 34
Kailua (1-1-1, 1-0) 0 14 6 21 — 41
Cast—Coby Tanioka 2 run (2pt failed)
Cast—Tanioka 5 pass from Daunte Ching (Avah Navares kick)
Cast—Tanioka 1 run (kick blocked)
Kail—Koyo Kekauoha 10 run (Kai Fraser kick)
Kail—Kekauoha 28 run (Fraser kick)
Kail—Clayton Quidashay 1 run (kick missed)
Cast—Ching 8 run (Zayden Uyemura pass from Ching)
Kail—Kekauoha 7 run (Fraser kick)
Kail—Kekauoha 23 run (kick blocked)
Cast—Tanioka 20 run (Navares kick)
Kail—Kekauoha 8 run (Quidashay run)
RUSHING—Castle: Ching 18-56, Tanioka 12-48, Xavier Kekahuna 3-57, Ezekiel Totten 6-23, Chayse Nakayama-Hose 3-6, Nathaniel Medina 1-4. Kailua: Kekauoha 24-233, Quidashay 14-62, Jathan Bejarano 1-15, Maa Fonoti 1-8, Nainoa Smith-Akana 1-(minus 1), Romeo Ortiz 1-(minus 3), TEAM 2-(minus 10).
PASSING— Castle: Ching 9-21-1-64. Castle: Fonoti 4-11-1-33.
RECEIVING—Castle: Tanioka 3-23, Nathanael-Seth Rombawa 2-15, Kekahuna 2-13, Uyemura 2-13. Castle: Bejarano 2-3, Riis Weber 1-20, Smith-Akana 1-10
