Waianae, HI — NANAKULI — This one really was a game of inches. Keahi Ah Sui's pass on the final play of the game was just out of the reach of Hansen Salausa-Kaawa in the back of the end zone and Kaiser hung on for a thrilling 38-32 win over Nanakuli Friday night. The Cougars (6-0) tightened their grip on first place atop the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II standings, while the Golden Hawks (3-2) were dealt their second loss in three games. The teams combined for 143 plays from scrimmage and 984 yards of total offense, yet it came down to a defensive stand. Nanakuli cut it to a one-score game with 3:27 remaining on a 28-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-20 from Ah Sui to Joseph Lewis IV. After Kaiser turned it over on downs in four plays, the Golden Hawks got the ball back with 2:16 play and excellent field position at the Cougars' 30-yard line. Four plays into the drive, Ah Sui picked up a first down with his 14-yard scramble to move the chains on fourth-and-8 and get his team inside the red zone. The next two plays were Ah Sui incompletions, which left four seconds on the clock for the final play. Ah Sui stood in the shotgun with running back Christian Asinsin set to his left. Kaiser linebacker Hopo Aholelei, who had two sacks on Ah Sui earlier in the game, blitzed on the play and was picked up by Asinsin, but still managed to get into the offensive backfield and flush the left-handed Ah Sui out of the pocket to his right. The quarterback escaped the pressure and was able to unleash a pass intended for Salausa-Kaawa, who was between a pair of Kaiser defensive backs, but it appeared to barely graze his fingertips before it fell incomplete and ignited a mini-celebration for the visitors. "Well, I'll tell you what, this is probably good that we had a really tough, four-quarter game," Kaiser coach Tim Seaman said. "I give Nanakuli all the credit in the world. We knew they were gonna play hard for four quarters, we anticipated a game like this and fortunately it came down to the last possession and the last, you know, whatever yardage it was and we're very fortunate to get out of here with a win," he said. Aholelei had one mission on the final play. "I got low in my stance and I was ready to get right to the QB," said Aholelei, who tallied a sack in each half to lead the Cougars defensively. Through its first five games, Kaiser held opponents to an average of just 8.4 points and 188.4 yards per game. While Nanakuli's 504 yards of total offense were the most surrendered by Seaman's defense this season, the unit did come away with a couple of takeaways in the form of interceptions by defensive back Donovan Reis and linebacker Taye Debina. The beneficiary on both turnovers was Justin Kanekoa, who recycled the Reis' pick into a 24-yard touchdown catch from Easton Yoshino four plays later. That score gave the Cougars a 17-0 lead with 8:09 left in the first half. Just before the end of the second quarter, the same pair hooked up for a 14-yard scoring strike on third-and-6 — five plays after the interception by Debina — to send their team into the break with a 24-7 advantage. "It really started our momentum and we really turned up from there," Kanekoa said of the interceptions. Nanakuli cut into the Kaiser lead with a couple of Ah Sui touchdown passes in the third quarter. He capped the hosts first possession after halftime with his 29-yard scoring strike to Lewis. After the Cougars turned it over on downs in the red zone — due to a penalty for an illegal forward pass that negated a 6-yard TD pass from Yoshino to Reis — the Golden Hawks cashed in in one play. Ah Sui found slotback Allen Mahoe III with a short pass over the middle and the speedster went 89 yards untouched to the end zone. That pulled Nanakuli to within 24-19 midway through the third quarter, but Kaiser got a boost from its special teams when Kahiau Nauka was able to block a Branztyn Reyes' punt and his teammate, Tea Nuuhiwa-Santos recovered it just outside the end zone. On the very next play, Kai Blackston punched it in from a yard out to stretch it to 31-19, Kaiser, after three quarters. Nanakuli capitalized on a special teams' miscue by the Cougars. Following a 4-yard punt off the foot of Adam Tong, Ah Sui hit Lewis with a quick pass that resulted in a 25-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good as Ah Sui's pass fell incomplete to keep the score, 31-25, in favor of the visitors with 7:58 to play. The Cougars got some much-needed breathing room when they culminated their ensuing possession with a 17-yard TD pass from Yoshino to Kanekoa, whose route cut inside of the defensive back; Yoshino delivered the ball in the precise spot it needed to be for the duo's third TD hook-up of the night. "I saw the safety cheat over left, so I ran a deep slant and here we are," Kanekoa explained. But the Golden Hawks refused to go quietly into the night. They put together an 11-play, 62-yard drive that ended with Ah Sui's 28-yard TD pass to Lewis on a fourth-and-20 — it was one of two Nanakuli fourth-down conversions on the scoring drive. Reyes tacked on the extra point to make it a 38-32 cushion for Kaiser with under four minutes to play. "I thought the blocked punt was a big deal; that was huge," said Seaman, who reiterated just how impressed he was with the Golden Hawks. "We didn't play very good defense, but a lot of that is because Nanakuli is very good on offense, so like I said before, we give a ton of credit to Nanakuli — excellent football team, explosive, that quarterback just did a super job all night, kept us off-balance, they did a great job of throwing the ball short, long — and I give them a lot of credit," he added. Yoshino, the ScoringLive Division II Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, finished with 321 yards and four touchdowns through the air on 25-of-43 passing with one interception. Kanekoa finished with eight receptions for 105 yards and three touchdowns and Kamakana Mahiko posted 10 catches for 116 yards. Blackston led all rushers with 18 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown. "It was a tough one," Kanekoa remarked. "Going neck and neck, score after score — it was crazy, it was crazy — and it was a good one." Kaiser drew first blood with a 40-yard TD pass from Yoshino to Reis on a third-and-7 about halfway through the first quarter. It went ahead, 10-0, following Shane Smith's 25-yard field goal early in the second quarter. It was the second consecutive game that Mahiko and Kanekoa eclipsed the century mark. The former hauled in nine catches for 124 yards and a TD, while the latter notched six grabs for 103 yards in last week's win over Pearl City. "Both receivers, they both do a really good job," Seaman said. "It's good that they can't isolate on the field one or the other." The Golden Hawks had two 100-yard receivers of their own in Lewis, who pulled down eight catches for 137 yards and four touchdowns and Mahoe, who exploded for 106 yards and a score on three catches. Ah Sui finished with a career-high 359 yards and five TDs on 22-of-48 passing with two interceptions. Nanakuli's defense, which entered the weekend allowing an average of 11.5 points and 160.8 total yards per game, surrendered 480 to the Cougars. Its lone takeaway, a second-quarter interception of a tipped Yoshino pass by Isaiah Enriquez, didn't lead to any points. Kaiser picked up 27 first downs for the game, including 16 by pass. It converted on 5 of 15 third downs despite being flagged 10 times for 104 yards. Nanakuli threw for 11 of its 21 total first down; it was three of 10 third downs and 3 of 7 fourth downs. The Golden Hawks will look to get back in the win column when they plays Kalani (3-2) Friday at Kaiser Stadium. Kalani Takase