As the rain at Alex Kane Stadium became a little too much for Buckeye Union from Arizona during pregame warm-ups, the Hawks left the field and sought shelter.
On the other side, Kailua was only starting to ramp up its preparation. The Surfriders were right in their element.
Oahu’s record against mainland teams in the past three weeks jumped to 9-0 after Kailua’s thorough 58-6 shellacking of Buckeye Union on Friday night. Even as the field dried up minutes into the first quarter, the Surfriders had no trouble dominating in every which way.
“I hope this is the beginning of them fully buying in,” Kailua coach Joseph Wong said. “I watched the film on offense, defense and special teams, and we’re our worst enemy.
“As long as we take care of our business and we execute our plays, we’re pretty tough to beat.”
>> Click here to see photos of the game between Kailua and Buckeye Union.
The Surfriders drove right down the field on the game’s opening drive, capped by quarterback Cameron Friel’s 27-yard rushing touchdown with 9:31 left in the first quarter. Kailua then doubled its lead on its next drive when Friel threw a bubble screen to Koali’i Kohatsu and Kohatsu did the rest, taking it 65 yards to paydirt with 3:06 remaining in the first.
Kailua scored its third touchdown on Samson Rasay’s 17-yard rushing score but failed to add any extra points on its first three trips to the end zone.
Buckeye Union finally got on the board in the second quarter with Dillian Foster’s 4-yard touchdown reception on a fourth-and-goal screen, but the Hawks never found an answer for the Kailua offense.
The Surfriders responded with Friel’s second touchdown pass on the next possession, a 1-yard pass to Kamryn Kahoonei with 7:10 left in the first half.
Friel tossed his third touchdown of the first half when he hit Kahoonei on a back shoulder throw for a 48-yard touchdown. Kailua held a commanding 31-6 lead at the break, as Friel completed seven of his 12 passes for 208 yards, albeit with some drops from the Surfriders receivers.
A pair of second-half touchdowns stretched the lead into mercy-rule territory for Kailua, enabling the running clock when the Surfriders went up 45-6 with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter after Lahaina Kane’s 1-yard score.
Two additional fourth-quarter scores ran the Kailua total to 58, good for the fourth-most points scored in a game in school history.
“We just came out knowing they’re a team from the mainland, we had to stay in our lane and focus and play Kailua football,” Friel said. “We just had to stick to our responsibilities.”
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Kailua 58, Buckeye Union (Ariz.) 6
At Kailua
>> Buckeye Union (2-2) 0 6 0 0 — 6
>> Kailua (2-4) 12 19 7 20 — 58
Kailua — Cameron Friel 27 rush (kick failed)
Kailua — Koali’i Kohatsu 65 pass from Friel (rush failed)
Kailua — Samson Rasay 17 rush (kick failed)
Buckeye Union — Dillian Foster 4 pass from Angel Macedo (kick failed)
Kailua — Kamryn Kahoonei 1 pass from Friel (Morgan Jones kick)
Kailua — Landon Clevenger 48 pass from Friel (kick failed)
Kailua — Brian-Allen Kamanu 4 rush (Jones kick)
Kailua — Lahaina Kane 1 rush (Jones kick)
Kailua — Kainalu Kaopuiki fumble recovery in end zone (Jones kick)
Kailua — Clevenger 39 rush (kick failed)
RUSHING — Buckeye Union: Zeke Barajas 9-33, Andrew Ibarra 2-8, Tyler Hill 1-1, Foster 1-(minus-3), Macedo 8-(minus-12), TEAM 3-(minus-24). Kailua: Rasay 12-89, Clevenger 2-46, Friel 3-24, Kamanu 4-17, Kane 5-7, Kaillou Bernadino 1-0.
PASSING — Buckeye Union: Macedo 9-21-0-92, Andrew Ibarra 3-8-1-34. Kailua: Friel 9-16-0-230.
RECEIVING – Buckeye Union: Tristian Hall 5-78, Cameron Bales 3-19, Zeke Barajas 1-11, Angel Macedo 1-8, Jaheem Rosetta 1-6, Foster 1-4. Kailua: Kohatsu 4-102, Clevenger 3-77, Kahoonei 2-51.
