WAI'ANAE — Last year's starting quarterback Keoni Napierala-Rose doesn't mind playing behind this year's starter Puletua Wilson.

Lining up behind Wilson as a running back, Napierala-Rose rushed for 201 yards and three touchdowns to help Wai'anae rally from a 21-14 halftime deficit to turn back Kapolei, 41-21, last night in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West season opener at Raymond Torii Field.

"Running back's my main position," Napierala-Rose said. "It feels good to run the ball. And Pule has the experience."

Napierala-Rose scored the first TD of the game on an 11-yard run and then opened the second half with a 62-yard TD on the second play from scrimmage to tie the game at 21.

It was the first of four unanswered TDs, all by rushing to help the Seariders (1-1 overall, 1-0 Red West).

Napierala-Rose also scored on a 32-yard run to start the fourth quarter. Running back Henry Medeiros scored on runs of 13 and 7 yards.

"Pule does a good job for us," Wai'anae coach Dan Matsumoto said of Wilson. "But Keoni can play quarterback, too. We need him on the field somewhere."

The Hurricanes' problems started before kickoff when they inadvertently elected to kickoff after Wai'anae won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. So the Seariders received kickoffs to start both halves. They didn't take long to cash in on the second-half kickoff, scoring on the second play.

The Hurricanes also were without all-purpose player Shaydon Akuna, a safety, linebacker and receiver, who has a hip flexor, hamstring and wrist injuries, Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said.

"The lesson here is you have to play four quarters of football," Hernandez said of the blown halftime lead. "Our guys stepped up in the first half and were competitive. I thought we played straight up and up with them. But in the second half, you have to give them a lot of credit. They capitalized on our mistakes."

One of the mistakes being the coin toss and another was a fumble that Wai'anae recycled into a score.

The Seariders took a 14-7 lead with 4:24 left in the half on a 19-yard TD pass from Wilson to Brian Paul Manuel. The drive was set up by a 45-yard kickoff return by Eldridge Kuiee to the Kapolei 45. The Hurricanes had just tied the game 7 on a1-yard TD run by Pascua.

The Hurricanes answered again, scoring on a 25-yard TD run by running back Elijah Tagura to tie the game at 14 with 1:42 left in the half.

The Seariders fell in a hole on their next series when QB Wilson apparently wasn't anticipating a snap from center in shotgun formation and had to protect the loose the ball in a 20-yard loss. The Seariders ended up punting with Kapolei taking over at Wai'anae's 43. A personal foul after a 2-yard stop on third-and-7 at the Wai'anae 40 resulted in a Kapolei first down. Two plays later, Pascua hit Donnie King in the right corner of the end zone for 23-yard TD pass with 10 seconds left in the half to give the Hurricanes a 21-14 lead.

The Seariders took a 7-0 lead on Napierala-Rose's 11-yard TD run with 3:15 in the first quarter.

KAPOLEI (1-1, 0-1) 0 21 0 0 — 21

WAI'ANAE (1-1, 1-0) 7 7 13 14 — 41

Wain—Keoni Napierala-Rose 11 run (Terrence Akao kick)

Kap—Noah Pascua 1 run (Eric Morales kick)

Wain—Brian Paul Manuel 19 pass from Puletua Wilson (Akao kick)Kap—Keaka Fernandez 25 run (Morales kick)

Kap—Donnie King 23 pass from Pascua (Morales kick)

Wain—Napierala-Rose 62 run (Akao kick)

Wain—Henry Medeiros 13 run (kick failed)

Wain—Napierala-Rose 32 run (run failed)

Wain—Medeiros 7 run (Eleu Wilson run)

RUSHING—Kapolei: Pascua 9-6, Brandon Vaitautolu 1-5, Onosai Faumuina 3-12, Elijah Tagura 2-44, Tuu Lolohea 1-2, Fernandez 6-67, Christian Estabillo 1-0, Aaron Thomas 1-0. Wai'anae: P. Wilson 8-41, Napierala-Rose 21-201, Henry Medeiros 7-42, Bronson Barbosa 4-4, Kanekapila Hussey 4-7, Eleu Wilson 1-3, Kelii Ah-Van 2-1, James Wilson 1-3.

PASSING—Kapolei: Pascua 14-31-3—114. Wai'anae: P. Wilson 6-9-1—80, Napierala-Rose 0-2-0—0.

RECEIVING—Kapolei: King 7-72, Christian Estabillo 1-18, Faumuina 2-12, Tagura 3-10, Fernandez 1-2. Wai'anae: Napierala-Rose 1-(minus 3), Akao 1-20, Brian Paul Manuel 1-19, Henry Correa-Young 1-25, J. Wilson 1-3, Hookena Kamana 1-16.

JV—WAI'ANAE 13, KAPOLEI 6