Damien comes back to keep control of ILH

Another week, another astounding Damien comeback.

Seven days after a 13-point second-half rally propelled the Monarchs past St. Francis and into the Star-Advertiser Top 10 for the first time in 14 years, they found themselves trailing ‘Iolani by 28 less than 11 minutes into the Raiders’ homecoming game on Friday at Kozuki Stadium.

Damien flipped the momentum with 21 unanswered points in the second quarter, caught the Raiders early in the fourth and took its first lead in overtime on Keoua Kauhi’s third touchdown run of the afternoon.

‘Iolani’s overtime possession ended with an interception by JT White to punctuate Damien’s 42-35 win and trigger another Monarch celebration.

“Man, I don’t know,” Damien coach Eddie Klaneski said when asked where the win ranked among the 30 in his seven-year tenure. “This is a huge one and just to do it against such a good team like ’Iolani on their field, it was amazing.

“I would say this is one of the best ones we’ve had and I’m glad we’re learning how to come back and finish games.”

Damien quarterback Marcus Faufata-Pedrina completed 19 of 23 passes for 254 yards, threw for a touchdown and ran for two more. Keoua ran for 106 yards, including 20 in overtime, and caught four passes for 59 yards as the two-time defending ILH Division II champion Monarchs (6-1, 4-0) overcame two ‘Iolani fumble returns for touchdowns in the Raiders’ opening surge.

“Me and my boys, we know we can come back,” said Kauhi, who hadn’t reached the end zone in 83 carries entering Friday’s game. “Even though we were down we never put our heads down, we kept fighting. Coach K said this is even more motivation to keep working harder and we gotta keep playing football and don’t worry about what happened and wipe it away.”

‘Iolani quarterback Tai-John Mizutani finished 27-for-37 for 303 yards with two interceptions. He fired a deep strike to Justin Genovia for a 63-yard touchdown on the game’s third play from scrimmage and ran for a score in the third quarter. Twelve of his completions went to Genovia for 165 yards for the Raiders (2-4, 1-3).

But Damien converted two second-quarter takeaways into touchdowns and tied the game at 35 with 10:43 left in regulation when Kauhi scored on a 7-yard run and Faufata-Pedrina found Jarvis Natividad for the 2-point conversion.

“We had the momentum and they came back and took it back,” ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look said. “That’s how this game is. Unless you’re going to put people away and keep the gas pedal floored, good teams are going to come back. (Damien) played with a lot of heart and they didn’t want to lose. They played like they were champions today.”

More photos of the game between Damien and ʻIolani.