No. 5 Campbell kept pace in the OIA Open Division with a 41-31 conquest of visiting Waianae in Ewa Beach on Saturday night.

But it was a dogfight.

Campbell (4-3, 3-2 OIA Open) took big leads of 21-3 and 34-17, but the no-quit boys in blue kept coming back. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

“We just gotta play better defensively, smarter and the boys have to learn to do their jobs,” said Sabers coach Darren Johnson, who was upset with the 31 points given up. “We’ve gotta go back and fix it. They just were not tackling. They were in position, but not finishing.”

Campbell couldn’t stop Waianae running back Kolu Quisquirin-Sabagala, who ripped through the middle of the line for large chunks of real estate en route to a 142-yard, 29-carry night. Quisquirin-Sabagala fueled the comeback. His five carries for 43 yards led to quarterback Sheldon McLeod’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Laakea Lapastora to make it 34-24 with 3:29 left in the third quarter.

“The boys did really good,” said Seariders assistant coach Zeke Wakinekona, the acting head coach for Mike Fanoga, who was not at the game due to personal reasons. “They played a helluva game. I’m proud of them. We just started too late. They played their hearts out offensively and defensively.”

But the Waianae defense had trouble covering Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, Campbell’s star receiver. Mokiao-Atimalala took a screen pass from Blaine Hipa and sped 69 yards virtually untouched to boost the lead to 41-24 with 1:30 remaining in the third.

McLeod was back at it, though, throwing a bomb to Saage Ayala, who finished off a 53-yard catch-and-run touchdown to push the Seariders (1-5, 0-4) back into a 10-point deficit, 41-31, with 0:24 to go in the third.

The Sabers’ second muffed punt return of the game — recovered by Waianae’s Nainoa Machado — nearly spelled disaster for Campbell. But the Seariders were thwarted, giving the ball up on downs with less than five minutes to go in the game. From there, Campbell took most of the rest of the time off the clock before Waianae’s final drive was halted as time ran out.

Mokiao-Atimalala had one of his signature nights, catching six passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns. His first two TDs were with defenders draped all over him. Hipa threw for 266 yards and four TDs, including one scoring toss to Zavier Ceruti. Running back Jonan Aina-Chaves also caused problems for the Seariders’ defense. He rushed for 134 yards and a TD.