KAILUA — Castle jumped out to a 21-0 lead last night and held on to beat resilient arch rival Kailua, 21-14, in O'ahu Interscholastic Association football action.

The Knights evened their overall record at 3-3 and improved to 3-1 in the OIA's Red Conference Eastern Division. Kailua fell to 2-4 and 1-3 before a homecoming crowd of about 2,000.

"This was a pivotal game for us, coming off last week's devastating (12-9) loss to McKinley," said Castle coach Nelson Maeda, whose Knights still have powerhouses Kahuku and Farrington on the schedule. "Our backs were against the wall."

That adequately described Kailua's situation, even before the game started. The Surfriders were missing four starters — one from an ejection in last Saturday's loss to Farrington and three more who were arrested Wednesday in an off-campus theft case.

The latter three players were suspended from school on Thursday but returned yesterday, although they did not suit up last night. Surfriders athletic director Mel Imai said the three are still on the team pending a school administration decision on the matter.

Kailua coach Gary Rosolowich acknowledged it was a big, unwanted distraction.

"You could see they were not there mentally the past couple days," Rosolowich said. "Instead of talking about the plays and football on the sidelines (at practice), they were talking about the other stuff that was happening. You add that to homecoming, and it was a huge challenge for them to stay focused, and it showed tonight in the early part of the game."

The Knights struck on the game's second play from scrimmage, when Bryson Ukauka connected with receiver Scott Keiter-Charles on a 72-yard touchdown pass. The extra point attempt was blocked, but the Surfriders lost a fumble on their first play and Castle cashed in two plays later on Ukauka's 1-yard sneak. Ukauka scored the two-point conversion on an option keeper and it was Castle, 14-0, less than 90 seconds into the game.

The Knights made it 21-0 about three minutes later after Corey Paredes caught a 38-yard TD pass from Ukauka between two defenders.

But Kailua held firm from there, and converted a fumble recovery into a 4-yard touchdown run by Keelen Gonda to close to 21-7 with 8:56 remaining in the half. The Surfriders cut it to 21-14 with 1:51 left in the game after Billy Oden recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.

CASTLE (3-3, 3-1) 21 0 0 0 — 21

KAILUA (2-4, 1-3) 0 7 0 7 — 14

Cas — Scott Keiter-Charles 72 pass from Bryson Ukauka (kick blocked)

Cas — Ukauka 1 run (Ukauka run)

Cas — Corey Paredes 38 pass from Ukauka (Keiter-Charles kick)

Kai — Keelan Gonda 4 run (Joshua Ferrigno kick)

Kai — Billy Oden recovered blocked punt in end zone (Ferrigno kick)

RUSHING — Cas: Damian Spotkaeff 7-17, Paredes 1-1, Bronson Kekahuna 6-27, Ukauka 5-(minus-32), Andrew Fakatoa 1-3. Kai: Gonda 17-70, Kaleo Wong 7-11, Jackie Uemoto 6-(minus-16), William Kekauoha 1-4, Joseph Kekauoha 1-(minus-4).

PASSING — Cas: Ukauka 13-21-1—217. Kai: Uemoto 3-3-0—27.

RECEIVING — Cas: Keiter-Charles 4-108, Paredes 5-52, Kekahuna 2-25, Spotkaeff 2-32. Kai: Shaun Forges 1-8, Joseph Kekauoha 2-19.JV score: Castle 26, Kailua 0.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.