After taking care of business against McKinley, Kaimuki can now set its sights on its fellow top contenders in OIA Division II.
Junior quarterback Jordan Solomon threw four touchdown passes and Ieke Seei-Cleveland rushed for two scores and caught another in the Bulldogs’ 42-6 victory over the Tigers on Friday night at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.
Kaimuki (4-1, 4-0) will face Pearl City and Waipahu, which are a combined 7-0 in league play, in back-to-back weeks beginning with the Chargers on Sept. 16 at Skippa Diaz Stadium.
“I think we played well tonight and set the mind-set for the next two games,” said Solomon, who was 11-for-19 for 150 yards. “It’s always important to take care of the first game, and now we can worry about the next.”
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* Hawaii high school football scoreboard, Sept. 8
>> Pac-Five vs. Damien, 3 p.m., Aloha Stadium
>> Kahuku vs. Bingham, 4 p.m., at Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas
>> Campbell vs. Moanalua, 5:30 p.m., at Roosevelt
>> Punahou vs. KS, 6 p.m., Aloha Stadium
>> Kapolei at Kailua, 6:30 p.m.
>> Waianae at Radford, 6:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs are seeking their first OIA title since 2010. Kaimuki made it to the final two years ago and the semifinals last year, but have yet to go all the way under third-year coach David Tautofi, who improved to 16-10 with the Bulldogs.
“When you’re playing a team that doesn’t have such a good record, you know how kids can get a little lenient about that and our practices kind of showed it,” Tautofi said. “Me as a coach, it has been a challenge to try to keep these guys’ minds into practice and into preparing.”
The Bulldogs had to contend with McKinley sophomore Alexandria Buchanan, who started at quarterback for the third straight game for the Tigers (0-5, 0-4). Buchanan, who became the first girl to throw a TD pass at the varsity level in Hawaii last month, led a six-minute drive to start the game. It took the Tigers as deep as Kaimuki’s 26-yard line before Buchanan was picked on fourth-and-12.
The game was scoreless going into the second quarter, but Kaimuki cashed in for three scores to take a 21-0 halftime lead.
Solomon threw two touchdown passes, including an 8-yard score to Seei-Cleveland after a bad snap on a punt resulted in a 27-yard loss for McKinley and a turnover on downs.
Seei-Cleveland, who finished with 118 yards on 20 carries, added a 5-yard touchdown run to start the second half and Solomon threw two more scores for the final outcome.
“We got past the two games that was a big concern to me — Roosevelt and McKinley,” Tautofi said. “We’re definitely looking forward to this next week and the rest of the season.”
McKinley scored its only touchdown on a trick play when Buchanan handed off to Sioeli Lopes-Liutolo, who faked the run out wide and then threw a 74-yard pass to Jordan Kanakanui in the third quarter to make it 35-6.
Buchanan finished 5-for-7 for 14 yards and an interception and Lopes-Liutolo was 3-for-8 for 104 yards with a pick and a score.