Quintin Iriarte passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns as second-seeded Radford held on for a wild 48-46 win over Konawaena on Saturday night at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.
The win advances Radford, the OIA champion, into the Division II final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships. The unbeaten Rams (12-0) will face top-seeded Kapaa on Friday at Aloha Stadium.
Wildcats sophomore quarterback Austin Ewing was smooth and savvy as he eluded Radford’s pass rush. He completed 20 of his 34 pass attempts for 265 yards and five touchdowns with one pick. Konawaena finished with 315 total yards.
Radford finished with 541 yards of total offense, but nearly let this slip away.
"We had some turnovers that hurt us in the end. Konawaena capitalized on it. They’re a scrappy team," Radford coach Fred Salanoa said. "There’s a reason why they’re here, why they had only one loss throughout the season. They played Division I teams. They did a good job."
Radford had balance offensively and had a 36-26 lead at the half. Konawaena had trouble stopping the ground game — the Rams rushed for 249 yards, powered by Kodi Ongory-Mathias and RB/LB Ace Faumui. Iriarte, though, came through in a big way.
"Q’s a really good player. It’s a matter of what night he’s on or off, and tonight he had the on switch on. He did a good job with moving the ball and getting those strikes in there," Salanoa said. "He’s been getting a lot of grief from me at practice, but I’m really proud of him tonight."
Konawaena finished the season 11-2.
"Congratulations to Radford. What a great team they are. They’re well-coached, physical, everything we expected. We lost to a good team tonight. We battled in there," first-year head coach Brad Uemoto said. "I’m going to miss these kids. We have a young team and hopefully we build momentum for next year."
They needed every last play against a scrappy Konawaena squad that rallied from a 15-point deficit in the final quarter. The BIIF champs trailed 48-33 and Radford was knocking on the door when a minor miracle changed momentum. Iriarte’s long pass near the left pylon to Thomas Reid was bobbled and snatched out of the air by Konawaena defensive back Jeriah Cacal. The sophomore returned the ball 57 yards to the Radford 40, and after a roughing-the-passer call on the Rams, Konawaena got a 15-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Ewing to tight end Tristan Fleming-Nazara — only after the pass was deflected by Radford safety Jonah Soakai.
That brought the Wildcats within 48-40 with 10:50 remaining.
It was that kind of a game, with an unusually high number of wild sequences and turnovers. Radford had another oddball mistake later, when wide receiver Blaise Manabe lined up at quarterback and the quick shotgun snap slipped out of his hands. The ball kept going backward during the wild chase and Konawaena recovered at the Rams’ 4-yard line.
Senior Algene Kelekolio scored on the next play with a second-effort run to make it 48-46 with 6:40 left. But the 2-point conversion pass fell out of the hands of wide receiver Kupono Kane as the Konawaena sideline asked for an interference call.
Radford then ground out its longest drive of the contest, handing the ball to Kodi Ongory-Mathias 11 times during a 15-play drive. But it ended with an incomplete pass in the end zone, falling through the arms of Manabe with 12 seconds left.
It wasn’t enough time for Konawaena, which moved the ball to the 34-yard line as time expired.
