On Pearl City’s new field, Kaimuki muddied the OIA Division II race with a 20-17 win over the first-place Chargers on Friday.

With Pearl City celebrating the debut of its artificial turf field on homecoming night, Kaimuki dampened the festivities while improving its prospects for a spot in the division’s four-team playoff.

“We did our job,” Kaimuki coach David Tautofi said. “We took care of what we needed to take care of; now we’ll just see where we land.”

Where that will be is still anyone’s guess.

The Bulldogs closed the regular season at 5-3 overall and 5-2 in OIA D-II play. Pearl City (5-2, 5-1) fell into a tie for first with Waipahu (6-1, 5-1), which closes its schedule today against Kalani (3-2, 3-2). Friday’s result opened the possibility of five teams finishing at 5-2 when the regular season wraps up next week and a coin flip to determine the playoff bracket.

“I’m glad that’s not my job,” Tautofi said of the tie-breaking procedure.

Although a chance to secure the division title slipped away, Pearl City can still claim the top seed with a win over Waialua next week.

“The good thing about it, we control our destiny going into next week,” Pearl City coach Robin Kami said.

Kaimuki senior Daniel Nguyen scored on a 10-yard touchdown run and sealed the win with an interception deep in Bulldogs territory with 1:24 left in the game.

“Today’s game showed the grit and determination our team has,” Nguyen said. “We showed up both on offense and defense and played a great game.”

Pearl City was penalized six times in the first half and was flagged for having 12 players on the field on fourth-and-7 to extend a Kaimuki drive. The Bulldogs capitalized four plays later when Nguyen took a handoff on a reverse and was unimpeded on a 10-yard touchdown run.

Pearl City answered when Kekainalu Simon lofted a pass to Calvin Mock, who broke away for a 70-yard score. After two Kaimuki penalties, Isaiah Asinsin’s 2-point conversion cut Kaimuki’s lead to 14-11 going into halftime.

The teams traded touchdowns and both couldn’t convert their point-after attempts in the third quarter.

Pearl City put together a 14-play drive with the aid of two Kaimuki penalties, but stalled at the Bulldogs 8. The Chargers lined up for a tying field goal, but faked it and the pass to the goal line fell incomplete with 3:49 left.

“That play didn’t dictate the game. We had so many opportunities — that was just one of the plays we could have followed through but we didn’t,” Kami said.

Pearl City got the ball back with 2:16 left, but Simon was hit as he attempted a long pass and Nguyen made the interception at the 10.

“Coach gave me the call and said, ‘The ball is coming your way,’ ” Nguyen said. “When the guy motioned over I knew the slotback was going to run a seam. So I overplayed that and I sat there and read it. I saw the ball in the air and knew I had an opportunity to take it.”