Nearly two days after Waialua quarterback Royce Tashiro threw his first touchdown pass against Pearl City, his second score of the game gave the Bulldogs a 27-23 weather-delayed win over the host Chargers on Monday.
Waialua had taken a 14-12 lead in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s OIA Division II game when play was halted due to lightning in the Pearl City area. The game was suspended, with the remaining 10:59 rescheduled for Monday.
When play resumed, the Bulldogs quickly added to their lead, only to see the Chargers score 11 unanswered points to jump ahead 23-20.
Tashiro then led the Bulldogs on a nine-play drive — extending the march with a 14-yard scramble on fourth-and-12 — and pushed Waialua ahead with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aceret with 1:04 left in the game.
"It was a big pass play, but it took kind of long to develop," Tashiro said of the pivotal fourth-down conversion. "So I guess I just did all I could to make the best of it and got the first down by an inch."
After the go-ahead touchdown, Waialua defensive back Keaka Cleveland came down with his second interception of the quarter on Pearl City’s next possession and returned it to the Pearl City 5 to effectively seal the win for the Bulldogs (3-0, 2-0 OIA D-II).
"These boys right here, they didn’t give up," said an emotional Waialua coach Lincoln Barit. "They’re all hurting, but they still come out and they believe in you and they believe in themselves and they didn’t give up. What more can you ask for?"
Pearl City (1-1, 1-1) had taken a 12-0 lead on Saturday on two Isaiah Asinsin touchdown passes, but Waialua seized the momentum just before play was suspended.
The Bulldogs scored on Tashiro’s first touchdown pass to Aceret and took the lead when Aaron Nunez blocked a field goal and Lancen Kuni returned it 90 yards for a score just ahead of Saturday’s delay.
When the teams returned to the field on Monday, Cleveland came down with an interception on the second play of the evening and Mila Lele scored on a 5-yard run two plays later for a 20-12 lead.
Pearl City answered with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Asinsin to Dante McGee and tied the game when Asinsin scrambled to his right and completed a pass to Patrick Nunez for the 2-point conversion.
After a botched punt gave Pearl City possession at the Waialua 20, Zameer Kahn gave the Chargers the lead with a 30-yard field goal.
Waialua had one more answer, with Tashiro throwing a fade to a wide-open Aceret for the winning score.
"It was a good back-and-forth game," Pearl City coach Robin Kami said. "Even though we played only one quarter it feels like we played a whole game."
At Pearl City
| Waialua (3-0, 2-0) |
0 |
0 |
7 |
20 |
— |
27 |
| Pearl City (1-0, 1-0) |
0 |
6 |
6 |
11 |
— |
23 |
PC—Israel Kaleo 20 pass from Isaiah Asinsin (kick blocked)
PC—Kavosiee Mason 12 pass from Asinsin (pass failed)
Wail—Brandon Aceret 12 pass from Royce Tashiro (Derin Pascual kick)
Wail—Lancen Kuni 90 blocked field goal return (Pascual kick)
Wail—Mila Lele 5 run (kick blocked)
PC—Dante McGee 65 pass from Asinsin (Patrick Nunez pass from Asinsin)
PC—FG Zameer Kahn 30
Wail—Aceret 25 pass from Tashiro (Pascual kick)
RUSHING—Waialua: Lele 12-53, Jacob Casey 1-(-4), Tashiro 9-(-21), Todd Young 1-0, Aceret 2-2. Pearl City: Joe Maneafaiga 6-12, Asinsin 10-(-3), Kobe Jackson 3-(-4), Draven Gelia 1-(-3).
PASSING—Waialua: Tashiro 15-30-2-188. Pearl City: Asinsin 19-33-2-254.
RECEIVING—Waialua: Daytin Vidad-Albeso 2-28, Tavesi Toia 1-5, Lele 2-40, Aceret 7-70, Oursavior Smith 1-9,Branigan Lee 1-10, Sam Merrill 1-26. Pearl City: McGee 6-127, Kaleo 5-67, Mason 4-39, Calvin Mock 2-22, Patrick Nunez 1-(-5), Daniel Sarjina 1-4.
