Fonua disrupts Farrington on both sides of the ball

With his white pants stained blue, Benny Fonua was bound to stick out in Friday’s OIA Red championship game.

The Kahuku linebacker made himself even more noticeable in a third-quarter sequence that helped the Red Raiders pull away from Farrington on their way to a 23-0 victory at Aloha Stadium.

With the Red Raiders protecting a 3-0 lead and Farrington putting together its most promising drive of the night, Fonua scooped up a fumble caused by teammate Rashaan Falemalu.

Six plays later, with the Red Raiders offense at the Farrington 15, the senior entered the game as a tight end and snuck into the middle of the field. He caught a short pass from Lasi Livai, taking the ball to the 1 for a 14-yard gain before being dragged to the turf.

Livai scored on a quarterback sneak to give the Red Raiders a 9-0 lead at the 2:57 mark of the third quarter and provided Kahuku some added cushion on its way to its seventh OIA Red title in nine years.

"We did it as a team, we did it as one," said Fonua, who had no idea when the blue dye stained his uniform. "And the community support behind us was really great."

Although happy to contribute to the offense’s output, Fonua was even more gratified by the Red Raiders’ fifth shutout of the season.

One of the two times the Red Raiders allowed an opponent to reach double digits was the 14-13 loss to Farrington on Oct. 1 at Roosevelt.

This time, the Red Raiders denied each Farrington threat.

"This time we really wanted to shut them out," Fonua said after finishing the game with seven total stops.

Usually a stand-up outside linebacker, Fonua spent much of the night lined up with his hand on the ground as a defensive end in Kahuku’s five-man front as the Red Raiders worked to contain Farrington’s running game, led by Tyler Taumua.

The scheme designed by defensive coordinator Kimo Haiola helped keep Taumua from breaking big gains between the tackles and limited his access to the perimeter.

"We changed it up this week. Our coaches told us something different’s going to happen so we had to adjust," Fonua said.

"Everything (Haiola) does is great," Fonua said. "His game plan, everything was great."

Fonua is accustomed to pulling double-duty at times, and his lone reception of the night turned out to be one of the biggest offensive plays of the game.

"We really needed that grab, we needed that first down, so I tried my best and had my teammates behind me," he said. "It was all the team."