OIA Red Playoffs
• The matchup: McKinley (4-4, 3-3 OIA Red East) vs. Waipahu (2-6, 1-5 OIA Red West)
• Location/Time: Roosevelt, 6 p.m., Friday
• Head-to-head (since 1973): Waipahu leads 14-6
• Biggest margin of victory: McKinley, 59-7, Oct. 3, 1998
• Smallest margin of victory: Waipahu, 7-6, Aug. 29, 1986
McKinley’s offensive leaders
Updated: Oct. 20| PASSING | G | C-A-I | Yds | TD |
| Denzel Kalahiki-Gasper | 7 | 37-84-2 | 434 | 1 |
| Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta | 9 | 25-49-4 | 362 | 6 |
| Chevas Pacheco | 4 | 19-56-3 | 259 | 2 |
| RUSHING | G | Att. | Yds | TD |
| Gerime Bradley | 9 | 80 | 427 | 6 |
| Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta | 9 | 67 | 357 | 10 |
| Denzel Kalahiki-Gasper | 7 | 41 | 92 | 1 |
| RECEIVING | G | Rec. | Yds | TD |
| Malik Kuhia | 8 | 22 | 251 | 1 |
| Tyrell Tuiasosopo | 5 | 16 | 348 | 4 |
Waipahu’s offensive leaders
Updated: Oct. 12| PASSING | G | C-A-I | Yds | TD |
| Kai Mercado-Aiona | 8 | 42-114-14 | 422 | 1 |
| Gavin Marques | 8 | 16-52-4 | 235 | 4 |
| RUSHING | G | Att. | Yds | TD |
| Kai Mercado-Aiona | 8 | 130 | 585 | 7 |
| Jacob Anae | 6 | 66 | 345 | 2 |
| Matthew Leilua | 5 | 46 | 226 | 1 |
| Gavin Marques | 8 | 39 | 196 | 1 |
| RECEIVING | G | Rec. | Yds | TD |
| Sword De Asis | 8 | 16 | 143 | 1 |
| Matthew Leilua | 5 | 10 | 82 | 0 |
| Tama Iosefa | 5 | 9 | 159 | 2 |
The OIA Red playoffs start Friday with McKinley, the No. 3 seed out of the East, facing Waipahu, the West’s No. 6 seed.
The Tigers were shut out, 35-0, in the opening round last year against Campbell. It was their first OIA Red playoff game since 2006.
The Marauders, like McKinley, made the jump from the OIA White to the OIA Red in 2012. They also lost in the first round of the playoffs, but in a much closer game, 31-20 at Moanalua.
Waipahu replaced nearly all of its offensive skill players from last year, with Kai Mercado-Aiona the one big returnee. Mercado-Aiona has led Waipahu in both passing and rushing in each of the last four games and is averaging 89.8 yards on the ground during that span. Waipahu has struggled moving the ball through the air, with Tama Iosefa being the only legit threat at receiver.
McKinley split its six OIA games and earned the tiebreaker over Moanalua with an impressive 28-21 win in its league opener back in August. It’s still figuring out the quarterback position with three different players leading the team in passing over the last four games. Seniors Gerime Bradley and Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta have carried the run game with Bradley (60 carries, 371 yards, 6 TD) finished third in the league in rushing and Tuitele-Iafeta (47 carries, 277 yards, 8 TD) fifth.
Waipahu has owned this series, winning 14 of the 20 matchups since 1973. However, if you take away the eight meetings played at the Marauders’ field, McKinley is a much more respectable 5-7. McKinley has allowed more than 25 points in a game once all year, letting up 44 against Farrington. Waipahu ended its season giving up 66 points to Leilhua last Friday and has given up at least 35 points in a game five times, losing by scores of 59-8 to Westlake (Calif.), 39-12 to Mililani and 39-0 to Waianae.
The West is clearly the better division in the OIA this season and should win most of the matchups against its East foes. This might be the best chance for the East to pull out a win. The Tigers are coming off a convincing 21-point win over Kailua while Waipahu got flattened by the Mules.
Stopping the run game will be critical for the Marauders. If Bradley and Tuitele-Iafeta, who also threw a touchdown pass against Kailua, get it going early, it could be a long night for coach Eric Keola‘s team.
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