The Kaiser football team responded to its first halftime deficit with its most impressive win of the season.
Kamakana Mahiko and Caleb Garcia punctuated the Cougars’ first OIA championship in eight years with interceptions returned for touchdowns as part of a 38-point second half in a 52-17 win over Radford to win the OIA Division II title on Friday night at Kaiser Stadium.
Kaiser quarterback Easton Yoshino threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns and the Cougars (9-0) won their third OIA title in school history and first since 2013, when they went on to win the Division II state title.
Kaiser locked up one of four berths in the Division II state tournament and will join Kamehameha-Maui, Hawaii Prep and Kapaa in Wednesday’s state semifinals at Farrington’s Skippa Diaz Stadium.
The Cougars earned the No. 2 seed and will play KS-Maui in the second game of the doubleheader at 7 p.m.
“I’ll tell you what, if anybody saw our guys in June, July, August, they’d be shocked at what these kids have accomplished,” Kaiser coach Tim Seaman said. “I give the kids a lot of credit. They’ve worked very hard.”
Mahiko, who set Kaiser’s school record for receiving yards in a game with 292 in a 34-14 win over Radford during the regular season, finished with eight receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Justin Kanekoa added six catches for 134 yards and a touchdown and also scored on a 20-yard touchdown run as the Cougars opened the playbook to get their spot in the state tournament.
“We’ve been working on some things, and again, we’ve got some guys that we want to see on both sides of the ball and our offensive coaches deserve a lot of credit for their creativity and for working with our guys to install what we’ve installed,” Seaman said.
Kaiser trailed 17-14 at halftime before dominating the final 24 minutes.
Hopoate Aholelei rushed for two touchdowns on his first three carries of the season and Mahiko added a 55-yard touchdown catch from Yoshino to cap a 19-point third quarter that put Kaiser ahead 33-17.
Kanekoa added his touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Garcia and Mahiko had pick-6s as Kaiser scored four touchdowns in less than five minutes to turn a close game into a blowout.
“We need to start playing better at the beginning of the game,” Seaman said. “To be honest, I thought we were focused coming out, but again, the quality of opponent is up there too you know. Redford is a very talented team and we’re fortunate to get this.”
Both teams failed to score on their first two drives as it took a while for the offenses to get going.
Kaiser struck first late in the first quarter when Yoshino dropped a high-arching ball in the back corner of the end zone to Donovan Reis for an 8-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play drive.
The Rams let the Kaiser lead last all of 14 seconds as senior Syncere Dillard ripped off an 88-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kickoff to tie the game up at 7-all.
The Cougars took advantage of good field position following a bad snap on a Radford punt to retake the lead.
Kaiser missed two deep throws to open receivers, but converted a third time on the same play on fourth down as Yoshino found Kanekoa for a 38-yard TD to go up 14-7 with 8:33 remaining before halftime.
Radford again answered quickly, taking advantage of two Kaiser penalties to score in six plays as quarterback Kalob Victorino-Avilla threw a pass of the hands of running back Christian Payton that fell into the lap of Roch Schaefer for a 17-yard score.
Radford took a 17-14 lead into halftime when Harrison Hoskins closed the second quarter with a 22-yard field goal.
Victorino-Avilla nearly had a touchdown on a 22-yard run but was tackled at the 1. Radford had two timeouts but instead called a play. After a lengthy wait, Victorino-Avilla was tackled for a loss of 4 as nearly 20 seconds ticked off the clock before he was tackled.
With six seconds remaining, coach Fred Salanoa didn’t mess around and called for the field goal to take the lead into intermission.
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At Kaiser Stadium
Radford (6-3) 7 10 0 0 — 17
Kaiser (9-0) 7 7 19 19 — 52
Kais—Donovan Reis 8 pass from Easton Yoshino (Shane Smith kick)
Rad—Syncere Dillard 88 kickoff return (Harrison Hoskins kick)
Kais—Justin Kanekoa 38 pass from Yoshino (Smith kick)
Rad—Roch Schaefer 17 pass from Kalob Victorino-Avilla (Hoskins kick)
Rad—FG Hoskins 22
Kais—Hopoate Aholelei 3 run (kick blocked)
Kais—Aholelei 1 run (kick failed)
Kais—Kamakana Mahiko 55 pass from Yoshino (Smith kick)
Kais—Kanekoa 20 run (Smith kick)
Kais—Caleb Garcia 47 interception return (run failed)
Kais—Mahiko 35 interception return (run failed)
RUSHING—Radford: Christian Payton 19-56, Michael Robinson 2-23, Victorino-Avilla 11-12, Elijah Falaniko 1-3, Dominic Alejandro 2-2, Michael Hayslett 1-1, team 1-(minus 21). Kaiser: Kai Blackston 9-70, Aholelei 5-29, Kanekoa 1-20, Ryder Rodrigues 4-16, Payton Perry 0-7, Yoshino 3-(minus 10).
PASSING—Radford: Victorino-Avilla 16-34-3—181, Olijah Gomez 0-1-0—0. Kaiser: Yoshino 16-35-0—272, Blackstone 1-1-0—37, Kanekoa 0-1-0—0.
RECEIVING—Radford: Jack Carlson 7-89, Schaefer 5-68, Gomez 3-18, Joel Gillies 1-6. Kaiser: Mahiko 8-154, Kanekoa 6-134, Rodrigues 2-13, Reis 1-8.
