WAIPAHU — Roosevelt scored early and often on its way to a 37-18 win over Waipahu in the semifinals of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association White Division Tournament at Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex last night.

The Rough Riders (6-2-1) advanced to the first OIA championship game in school history. In doing so, they also earned one of the league's two state berths.

"We were lucky, we got off to a good start, we moved the ball right away and the kids did a tremendous job," said Roosevelt head coach Les Parilla. "The defense did good, too. It was a great team effort."

Roosevelt meets Kaimuki in the White championship, 4 p.m. Friday at Aloha Stadium.

Waipahu finished at 7-3.

"They were able to control the clock like crazy," said Marauders' head coach Sean Saturnio. "We just didn't do a good job of executing and they did."

Ranson Tuitama ran for 189 yards on 32 carries with three touchdowns.

"He's a hard kid to tackle. If you aren't there hitting and wrapping him up behind the line of scrimmage, there's a good chance, once he gets a good head of steam, that he'll tear off a lot of yards," said Saturnio.

Roosevelt, which avenged a 20-19 loss to the Marauders on Sept. 7, had 350 yards of total offense, 202 on the ground. The offense showed great efficiency, converting on nine of 13 third down opportunities.

The Rough Riders got on the board first with a 27-yard field goal by Alex Fowler at the 8:44 mark in the first quarter.

Waipahu's backfield duo of quarterback Troy Matautia and running back Keo Palimo'o did not start due to disciplinary reasons. By the time the two entered the game in the second quarter, Roosevelt led 10-0.

"It was real important," Tuitama said of the start. "Every game when we start, we don't start too good and this game, our coaches told us everyday in practice to start off strong."

Tuitama scored two touchdowns later in the second quarter and Lowen Kaho'oilihala connected with Justy Kalilimoku on a 5-yard TD pass with 24 seconds left before halftime for a 30-6 lead at intermission.

ROOSEVELT (6-2-1) 3 27 7 0—37

WAIPAHU (7-3) 0 6 6 6—18

Roos — FG Alex Fowler 27

Roos — Keenan Koizumi 15 pass from Lowen Kaho'oilihala (Fowler kick)

Roos — Ranson Tuitama 2 run (Fowler kick)

Roos — Tuitama 1 run (Fowler kick)

Waip — Gordon Cox 64 pass from I'olani Pancho (kick failed)

Roos — Justy Kalilimoku 5 pass from Kaho'oilihala (kick failed)

Waip — Troy Matautia 1 run (run failed)

Roos — Tuitama 17 run (Fowler kick)

Waip — Cox 21 pass from Matautia (run failed)

RUSHING — Roosevelt: Tuitama 32-189, Kaho'oilihala 5-2, Koizumi 9-(minus 2), Kalilimoku 4-12, Kyle Onaga 2-2, team 1-(minus 1). Waipahu: Jacob Ioane 3-7, Tyler Martin 4-12, Jordan Ocol 1-(minus 1), Palimo'o 18-110, Matautia 10-26, Cox 1-29.

PASSING — Roosevelt: Kaho'oilihala 10-14-2—148. Waipahu: Pancho 1-1-0—64, Palimo'o 0-1-0—0, Matautia 2-5-0—31.

RECEIVING — Roosevelt: Justin Otaguro 6-101, Koizumi 1-15, Matt Kuali'i-Moe 2-27, Kalilimoku 1-5. Waipahu: Cox 3-95.

JV score — Waipahu 40, Roosevelt 0.

Reach Kalani Takase at ktakase@honoluluadvertiser.com.