KALIHI – It’s a dog-eat-dog world. 

On an on-and-off rainy Thursday evening at Farrington High School, the Kaimuki Bulldogs picked up their first win of the season by taking down visiting Waialua, 36-20. 

Currently without a home stadium, Kaimuki was the designated home team at the neutral site as they took on a young Waialua roster. While Kaimuki has a certain lack of experience in their own right as a rebuilding team, the green-and-yellow Bulldogs leaned on their star senior duo of quarterback Iosefa Letuli and ATH Jerimiah White to comfortably handle the visitors from the north shore of O’ahu. 

Kaimuki scored on each of the team’s first four possessions, taking a commanding 26-6 lead into the halftime break on the backs of White and Letuli. The 6-foot-5 Letuli was unstoppable in short yardage situations and connected with White for more than half of his 11 completions on the night. 

Effort never wavered for Waialua, pushing across two scores late in the fourth quarter and forcing a turnover to build on some positive momentum heading into next week. Waialua sophomore quarterback Emery Abilla finished the night with a touchdown and throwing two interceptions as he went through some growing pains at the varsity level. 

The young signal-caller and entire Waialua offense benefitted from a strong effort from two backs, as freshman Rayden Wilson punched in a fourth-quarter touchdown along with a few long runs while senior Makoakai Fierro gashed the Kaimuki defense for 125 yards on the ground and the final score of the night in the losing effort for Waialua. 

Iosefa Letuli finished with 262 all-purpose yards (234 passing, 28 rushing) and four total touchdowns while going 11-for-15 passing for Kaimuki. White surpassed the 100-yard threshold easily, accounting for 128 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns while chipping in a 22-yard field goal. 

Kamuki will look to keep the good times rolling next Friday, September 1, when they visit Kailua for a non-league game and kick-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m. HST. Waialua will attempt to get back on track next Thursday, August 31, when they host Woodinville (Wa.) for a non-league game.