For a Roosevelt football program that has made tremendous strides in each of Kui Kahooilihala’s three seasons as head coach, not looking ahead and approaching each game one at a time has gotten them to where they are.
“We gotta do what we do every week and take the same approach and practice the same,” he said.
After Saturday night’s 23-7 victory over Pearl City, the Rough Riders clinched a spot in the state tournament and OIA Division II championship game in one fell swoop. The program hasn’t been in both since 2007.
Roosevelt doubled its win total from two to four in 2017. The victory over the Chargers (6-5) puts the Rough Riders at 9-2 heading into Friday’s D-II final against Kaimuki. The Bulldogs (8-2) edged the Rough Riders 13-10 back on Aug. 17.
“The kids are excited, but they try to stay humble at the same time. We lost to Kaimuki the first time around,” Kahooilihala said. “The kids, they want to try and redeem themselves. They’re looking forward to this game.”
On Saturday, quarterback Sky Ogata was a problem all night for the Pearl City defense, rushing for 142 yards and throwing for an additional 32.
“It feels good. We never made the championship in a while and we never passed this round in a while,” he said. “It’s a good feeling, a good win.”
Mason Morishige’s 28-yard field goal for Roosevelt with 1:24 left in the second quarter was the only score of the first half.
Roosevelt promptly scored its first touchdown in the second half when Ogata showed off his impressive speed for a 79-yard scamper with 11:10 left in the third, giving the Rough Riders a 9-0 lead.
The Chargers responded with their lone touchdown of the game on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Micah Quillopo-Jamile to a wide-open Justin Pfau to cut the deficit to 9-7 with 3:36 left into the third.
Roosevelt took over in the fourth quarter with a pair of memorable touchdowns. Ogata got his second score of the day on a 25-yard keeper with 10:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Rough Riders then took a two-possession lead when Brandon Teixiera found Tamaki Iikima on a fake extra-point kick for a 2-point conversion.
On its next offensive possession, Roosevelt put an exclamation point on the game when Myka Kukahiwa ran a fake punt for a 59-yard touchdown with 6:13 left, catching seemingly everyone in the stadium by surprise except those on the Rough Riders’ sideline.
“I saw everyone running down, which is what the play was meant to do,” Kukahiwa said. “I just saw the field open and ran as fast as I could.”
Kahooilihala credited another coach on the staff in Arnold Morgado, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1977 to 1980, as the architect for the play call.
“It’s coach Arnold Morgado, man. We don’t wanna do that but we practice it, and if the situation in the field calls for it then we’ll do it,” Kahooilihala said. “That was one of those times where we had to do it. Coach called it and I said ‘Go ahead, man. Let’s go.’ ”
GAME SUMMARY
Roosevelt 23, Pearl City 7
At Roosevelt
>> Pearl City (6-7) 0 0 7 0 — 7
>> Roosevelt (10-2) 0 3 6 14 — 23
Roosevelt — Mason Morishige 28 kick
Roosevelt — Sky Ogata 79 rush (kick failed)
Pearl City — Justin Pfau 21 pass from Micah Quillopo-Jamile (Kyle Hyun kick)
Roosevelt — Ogata 25 rush (Tamaki Iijima pass from Brandon Teixiera)
Roosevelt — Myka Kukahiwa 59 rush (rush failed)
RUSHING — Pearl City: Tex Kang 5-23, Shayden McMoore 2-8, Herbert Hallers 12-6, Jensen Kealoha 2-4, Pookela Moses-Espanto 1-3, Makana Canyon 1-2,
Quillopo-Jamile 1-0, TEAM 1-0. Roosevelt: Ogata 8-142, Mitchell Camacho 7-68, Kukahiwa 3-66, Aalona Monteilh 5-44, Keneke Gusman 4-13, TEAM 1-(minus-1).
PASSING — Pearl City: Canyon 10-15-1-76, Micah Quillopo-Jamile 1-2-0-21. Roosevelt: Ogata 8-13-0-32.
RECEIVING — Pearl City: Thomas King 4-52, Pookela Moses-Espanto 3-24, Quillopo-Jamile 2-2, Pfau 1-21, Hallers 1-(minus-2). Roosevelt: Kukahiwa 3-15, Scott Chung 2-6, Caine Fitiausi-Fung 2-6, Monteilh 1-5.
* JV — Kaiser 20, Roosevelt 0
