Down a few players in the defensive backfield, Pearl City turned to junior receiver Lennon Elder for help.
Estimating he was on the field for at least 10 defensive plays, Elder came up with the biggest one of the game when he intercepted a pass in the end zone with less than a minute to go to preserve Pearl City’s 28-24 win over Kaiser on Friday night in the OIA Division II opener for both teams at Kaiser Stadium.
Elder, the team’s leading receiver after the first game, caught four passes for 49 yards before turning his attention to defense.
He had never played on that side of the ball until Friday, when he came up with a key deflection of a pass on the same drive before returning the pick 81 yards inside the Kaiser 20 to end another wild game between the two schools.
“We were down some (defensive backs) and we were playing man on that drive,” Elder said. “(The receiver) tried to bait me on the post and then went out and I went and I got it.”
There was contact on the play, but not enough to warrant a penalty. Pearl City (2-0, 1-0) then had quarterback Trey Dacoscos run around for four plays before taking a sack each time to wind out the clock.
Kaiser (0-2, 0-1) had three timeouts and got the ball back for a play, but quarterback Sean Connell, a transfer from Punahou, was sacked to end it.
A year after losing to Kaiser in overtime in the OIA playoffs after holding a 17-point fourth-quarter lead, Pearl City pulled out a game that featured seven lead changes.
“I knew every time we played them it was going to come down to the last play of the game,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. “I’m not sure about this one. The stars were lined up correctly tonight.”
Dacoscos, a senior, threw for a career-high 363 yards and four touchdowns.
Receiver Tobias Vazquez caught six passes for 108 yards and had his second consecutive two-touchdown game to start the season.
Junior Keaton Tomas led the way with 161 receiving yards on eight catches and scored on a 31-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to put Pearl City ahead 21-18.
Each team took turns scoring touchdowns all game long. The lone difference was Kaiser failed to convert any of its extra-point or two-point attempts.
Pearl City called pass plays on 30 out of 33 plays it ran in the first half, but fell behind in the first quarter when Connell hit Keagan Lime for the first of two scoring strikes.
Lime, who broke a tackle and tightroped the visiting sideline for a 19-yard touchdown, put Kaiser back in front with an 8-yard touchdown grab from Connell midway through the second quarter to make it 12-7.
Pearl City’s Nico Scurto set up the Chargers’ first touchdown of the game after an interception in Kaiser territory on the first play of a drive.
Vazquez caught his third touchdown pass of the young season converting a third-and-goal from the 7 a minute into the second quarter.
The Cougars seemed to thwart a late Pearl City drive when Jadsen Dias intercepted a Dacoscos pass inside the 5 with 26 seconds remaining, but Kaiser was called for a roughing-the-passer penalty.
Dacoscos then found senior Bobby Best coming out of the backfield for a 10-yard touchdown to turn a likely 12-7 halftime deficit into a 14-12 lead in a span of seven seconds.
Kaiser junior Dillon Reis rushed for a career-high 213 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the seventh Cougar to record a 200-yard rushing game all-time.
At Kaiser Stadium
Pearl City (2-0, 2-0) 0 14 7 7 — 28
Kaiser (0-2, 0-1) 6 6 6 6 — 24
Kais—Keagan Lime 19 pass from Sean Connell (kick failed)
PC—Tobias Vazquez 7 pass from Trey Dacoscos (Kaha’i Chang kick)
Kais—Lime 8 pass from Connell (pass failed)
PC—Bobby Best 10 pass from Dacoscos (Chang kick)
Kais—Dillon Reis 61 run (pass failed)
PC—Keaton Tomas 30 pass from Dacoscos (Chang kick)
Kais—Reis 19 run (kick failed)
PC—Vazquez 19 pass from Dacoscos (Chang kick)
RUSHING—Pearl City: Best 2-34, Shaedyn Quemado 5-15, Dacoscos 9-(minus 53). Kaiser: Reis 21-213, Connell 15-70, Jayvien Smith 4-14, team 2-(minus 8).
PASSING—Pearl City: Dacoscos 23-43-3-363. Kaiser: Connell 15-32-2-173.
RECEIVING—Pearl City: Tomas 8-161, Vazquez 6-108, Lennon Elder 4-49, Derek Kusano 2-30, Best 2-10, Javian Mizuno 1-5. Kaiser: Lime 9-110, Jesse Shinagawa 4-47, Mason Nelson 1-9, Nauka Kahiau 1-7.
