KAHUKU — Tyrone Brown's 55-yard touchdown scamper on the final play of the third quarter broke open a close game and Kahuku went on to race past Roosevelt, 38-12, last night in O'ahu Interscholastic Association football action.

A crowd of about 2,500 at Carlton E. Weimer Field watched the second-ranked Red Raiders improve to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the OIA's Red Conference Eastern Division. The Rough Riders fell to 1-3 and 0-2.

Roosevelt led 6-3 midway through the second quarter and was down only 10-6 when Brown, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound running back, broke a couple tackles near the line of scrimmage and rambled down the middle for a score. Cameron Mercado's extra point made it 17-6 and led to a strong fourth-quarter finish.

"That (TD run) gave us some momentum, and I think it took some wind out of (the Rough Riders') sails," Kahuku coach Reggie Torres said. "We had been trying to get something going, but we made a lot of penalties that killed us."

After Roosevelt went three-and-out on the ensuing series, the Red Raiders struck quickly with Evan Moe's 65-yard touchdown pass to 6-foot-4 tight end Shairone Thompson, who outleaped a defender for the ball at about the 25 and raced to paydirt.

Ben Mamea then intercepted a Rough Riders pass on the following possession, and Kahuku capitalized quickly with Moe's 17-yard TD strike to a wide-open Kaipo Pearl in the corner of the end zone.

Roosevelt answered immediately with an 80-yard touchdown pass play from Matthew Lono-Holani to Agaese Tago, but Mamea intercepted the two-point conversion pass and the Red Raiders sealed the game with a 19-yard option run with Moe carrying for the first 14 yards before pitching to Viliami Pasi for the final 5.

Mercado's PAT made it 38-12 with 2:31 remaining.

"We unraveled, we couldn't stay focused," first-year Rough Riders coach Pat Silva said. "Our offense was unable to take advantage of opportunities our defense gave us, and when you leave your defense on the field too long like we did in the second half, it's tough. Kahuku made the big plays, and (Brown's) run gave them the spark they needed."

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