Saturday, October 22, 2022
By: Nick O’Connor
The Cougars scored 24 unanswered points in an overtime thriller to best the Chargers, 31-24.
In the regular season matchup against Pearl City, Kaiser’s senior quarterback Easton Yoshino dropped back 53 times and threw for 3 touchdown passes. That was not enough for the Cougars who dropped that game 27-21 on September 16th.
In the opening playoff game, Yoshino completed 33 of his 60 attempts for 329 yards and 4 touchdowns. This time Kaiser was able to come out on top.
“Knowing that he is there, it allows us to be creative on offense. We try to give him some freedom to check into things. His knowledge of the game has grown tremendously,” said Kaiser Head Coach Timothy Seaman on Easton Yoshino.
The first three quarters of the game belonged to the Chargers. The first score of the game came on a 15-yard touchdown pass as Trey Dacoscos found Triton Taimanao. Dacoscos finished the game with 3 touchdowns on 16-27 passing, 122 yards, and 2 interceptions.
Kaiser was able to answer Pearl City’s first touchdown to tie the game up with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Shinagawa.
In the second quarter Pearl City put the pressure on as they featured multiple series using a no-huddle offense. Dacoscos was able to find Lennon Elder for two touchdowns, both inside the red zone, from 14-yards out and 8-yards out. Marcus Rodriquez also added a 43-yard field goal to bring the score to 24-7 heading into half time.
Pearl City running back Bobby Best carried the ball 16 times gaining a game high 110 yards on the ground.
The Cougars were able to start their fourth quarter comeback with 7:31 left in the game as Yoshino completed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Reis. Reis led the Cougar offense in receiving yards as he raked in 85 yards on four receptions. Reis, a two way player also provided the Cougar defense with an interception.
Kaiser’s Head Coach Timothy Seaman said, “The second half was all about competing and finishing. We knew we were down again and we did not want to give in regardless of the circumstances.”
Yoshino threw his third touchdown pass of the game to the third different receiver, Kai Blackston. After a series of back and forth possessions Kaiser made their way down to the 8-yard line with 58 seconds left on the clock. Ian Shearer was able to drill the 25-yard field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Yoshino, delivered his final touchdown throw of the night to his fourth different reciever, Makana Naleieha in overtime to secure the win.
“I think this game was big for us, we need to have a great week of practice in order to come out on top. We are just using this momentum to have a great week of practice and we will go from there,” said Easton Yoshino on using the momentum of the win to carry on to the next game.
The Cougars will face Nanakuli for the Division II OIA title on Saturday, October 29.
Mahalo to the these sponsors for supporting our 2022 High School Football content.
