Damien RB Apereamo "Amo" Sulu puts a stiff arm on a Waipahu defender. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Aug 23, 2019 @ Waipahu [ 7:30 pm ]

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Waipahu

21

Damien

30

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Waipahu (4-6-0)	7	0	8	6	21
Damien (8-3-0)	10	0	13	7	30

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Jake Holtz 210 yd 3 TD

Cody Marques 119 yd 1 TD

Aperamo Sulu 88 yd 1 TD

Alfred Failauga 86 yd

Jarvis Natividad 138 yd 1 TD

Jovan Gooman 80 yd 1 TD

WAIPAHU — Jake Holtz passed for 210 yards and three touchdowns and No. 10 Damien held off Waipahu for a 30-21 win in a Division I football game at the Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex Friday night.

The Monarchs improved to 3-0 overall, 2-0 in league play, while the Marauders dropped their second straight game to fall to 1-3 on the year.

Damien never trailed and led by as many as 16 points, but saw Waipahu score twice in less than three minutes midway through the second half and come within a two-point conversion of tying the game. Holtz's 10-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Natividad provided an insurance score with 6:19 left to play.

"It feels amazing, but at the same time we've just got to keep looking forward and keep going on to the next because a win like this doesn't get us to the state championship, so we just gotta keep moving on, keep getting better," said Natividad, a senior wide receiver/defensive back.

The Monarchs built upon a 10-7 halftime lead with Amo Sulu's 1-yard TD run with 7:38 left in the third quarter. They padded it with a 27-yard scoring strike from Holtz to Ezra Kaina on third down to take a 23-7 lead with 4:43 left in the third.

However, Failauga — who became the state's all-time leading rusher in a loss to Leilehua last week — got the Marauders back in it. He carved out a 45-yard touchdown reception off of a short screen pass from Cody Marques on a third down to answer the Kaina score. Failauga then fought off several would-be tacklers before lowering his shoulder into an oncoming defender just as he crossed the goal line — as his helmet popped off — on the ensuing two-point conversion run to make it 23-15 with 2:45 to play in the third.

After a Damien three-and-out, Waipahu's Tyrone Niuatoa got a hand on a River Iaea punt, which ended up at the Monarchs' 41-yard line. Failauga carried on four straight plays — for nine, seven, 16 and 13 yards — to set-up Marques' 6-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Marques took the shotgun snap, faked a handoff to Failauga, then went untouched around the left side of the line.

Waipahu went for two on the point after to potentially tie it, but Marques' pass fell incomplete and Damien clung to a 23-21 lead with 11:51 left to play.

The Marauders had a chance to take the lead when they got the ball back with 10:08 remaining at their own 13-yard line. They never got past their own 31, however, and were forced to punt away.

Holtz picked-up 21 yards on a quarterback keeper on the first play of the drive for the Monarchs. Sulu then ripped off a 27-yard run two plays later and two plays after that Holtz connected with Natividad on a back-shoulder pass to make it a two-score game.

"We were calling it the whole night and we just couldn't connect on it, so then finally we got to the goal line and it was like, ‘just run it,' and then they just trusted me and I just trusted (Holtz) and he trusted me and he just put it up there and gave me a chance and we just executed it," said Natividad, who finished with six catches for 138 yards.

Damien recorded five sacks — three of them by Fosi Ulima — and also got a interception by Bubba Kauhi. Ulima, who said he usually played middle linebacker but played defensive end Friday, finished with a game-high seven tackles. All three of his sacks came after halftime.

"You gotta do what you gotta do to help out the team," Ulima said.

The Monarchs held Failauga to a season-low 86 yards on 19 carries, but the Waipahu senior threw an 80-yard TD pass to Gooman on a halfback pass on Waipahu's first play from scrimmage to answer Damien's seven-play, 60-yard game-opening drive that was capped by a 4-yard TD pass from Holtz to Sulu on third-and-goal.

"I think as a defense we all went on the sideline, talked with coach, we laid out all of our new planning, game planning and we executed as well as we could," Ulima said of Failauga's TD pass.

Still, Damien was intent on slowing down Failauga.

"The game plan was to shut down the run game, make them pass," Ulima said. "It was really hard to keep Alfred (in check), he's a great running back, but Damien, we got the brotherhood, we're tight, we good and that's how we won."

Christian "Dippy" Souza's 28-yard field goal gave the Monarchs the lead for good with 2:47 left in the opening quarter. However, he also had attempts from 33 and 36 yards blocked on consecutive drives to end the first half.

Waipahu had a pair of apparent-touchdowns called back due to penalties on the same first-half drive — both of them Marques-to-Failauga hook-ups.

The Marauders were flagged 16 times for 166 yards in penalties for the game, including 11 first-half violations.

Sulu rushed for a game-high 88 yards on 14 carries.

Damien posted 316 yards of total offense to Waipahu's 280.

Marques threw for 119 yards on 10-of-22 passing with an interception.

Holtz completed just 13 of his 30 pass attempts, but did not turn the ball over. He also ran for 22 yards on seven carries.

Fuafiva Tulafale posted 5 1/2 tackles and one sack to lead the Waipahu defense.

It was Damien's second win over Waipahu in as many years. It rallied to a 13-10 victory over the Marauders on Sept. 7, 2018.

The Monarchs will play St. Thomas More (Canada) in a non-league game next Saturday at Farrington, while Waipahu will be on bye next week and won't play again until it hosts Radford on Sept. 6.