Young receivers step up to lift Aiea over Nanakuli

Given the opportunity to fill in for absent upperclassmen, the younger members of Aiea’s receiver corps contributed to an efficient season-opening performance in a 27-14 Na Alii victory over Nanakuli on Friday.

With two returning receivers out of action, Aiea sent a junior, two sophomores and a freshman onto the field on its opening possession. By the end of the night, eight receivers had caught at least one pass from senior quarterbacks Zelius Maae-Liupaono and Kobe Kato, who combined to complete 25 of 34 attempts for 217 yards and three touchdowns.

“The young kids stepped up and they did a god job,” Aiea coach Wendell Say said.

“We told the kids you have to compete every day and we expect them to compete and we have these younger guys pushing (the returnees). The younger kids get a taste of playing, they don’t want to give it up.”

In all, Aiea had 15 players sidelined due to injuries and academic probation. But Maae-Liupaono chipped away at the Nanakuli defense, completing 20 of 25 passes for 197 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown to Sam Okamoto on the second play of the third quarter. Okamoto paced the receiver unit with eight catches for 106 yards and Ty Matsunami caught two short touchdown passes.

Maae-Liupaono also started at middle linebacker and Say said he started cramping in the second half, which sent Kato into action behind center. Kato returned from a baseball trip to California a week ago and shook off the rust well enough to lead a 12-play, 54-yard drive that ended with Matsunami’s second score early in the fourth quarter that gave Aiea a two-touchdown cushion.

Kato, a pitcher on the Na Alii baseball team, said his mind-set in the relief appearance was “just to keep the momentum.”

“Our offense was doing good, our defense was holding them down. So I just wanted to make sure we kept everything going smoothly,” said Kato, who went 5-for-9 for 20 yards off the bench.

The Na Alii defense managed to hold off Nanakuli’s march to the Aiea 5 to effectively seal the win with less than two minutes left in the game.

Nanakuli quarterback Nainoa Banks led the option attack with 79 rushing yards and a touchdown and running back Charleston Mahoe capped the game’s opening possession with a 2-yard touchdown run.

But Aiea scored on three of its next four possessions to take command against the Golden Hawks, who are making the transition to Division I competition this season.

“I think they did a good job of picking us apart,” Nanakuli coach Keala Watson said. “We haven’t seen teams like this too much in recent years — they have deep game and the short game and they were picking us apart with their short game.”

Castle 47, Radford 6

Makana Smith rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another in the first half as the Knights beat the Rams.

Smith went 12-for-14 for 126 yards in the air and rushed nine times for 105 yards.

Smith scored on a pair of 15-yard runs and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Sakuma.

Castle’s Henry Nakamura-McCoy rushed 14 times for 103 yards and a touchdown.

Pearl City 35, Kalani 20

The Chargers scored the final 22 points and Patrick Nunez caught nine passes for 144 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over the Falcons.

Nunez hauled in a 4-yard scoring pass in the first quarter, and 10- and 12-yard touchdown passes in the fourth.

Kalani’s Ikaika Andaya finished with four receptions for 152 yards.