Both Moanalua and Radford entered Friday night’s contest at 0-2 in OIA play.
Na Menehune made sure that they weren’t the ones leaving 0-3.
Moanalua (2-2, 1-2 OIA Blue) poured it on with an aggressive offense and relentless defense, jumping out to a 28-0 halftime lead on the way to a 40-0 rout over the Rams (0-4, 0-3), spoiling Radford’s homecoming.
“We wanted to try and get a jump on it because we always come out slow.” Moanalua coach Savaii Eselu said. “I wanted to make sure that we came with some kind of ‘oomph’ or whatever you call it.”
Moanalua set the tone offensively when it scored on the game’s opening possession. Quarterback Alaka’i Yuen and Brandon Bender connected on a 21-yard fade in the end zone with 7:37 left in the first quarter. Na Menehune subsequently went for 2 and converted when Yuen connected with Ryan Ramones.
Yuen finished 18-for-27 with 299 passing yards and five touchdowns in addition to 10 rushes for 82 yards.
“We just wanted to spread the ball out more,” Yuen said. “Just giving it to multiple guys and bringing up our lead so we don’t have to worry come second half.”
Na Menehune established their aggression in the first quarter, going for 2 twice in addition to two fake punts.
The Moanalua defense was just as aggressive. Radford ran 21 plays in the first half, six of them for positive yards. Five went for no gain and 10 of them were for losses.
As a team, the Rams gained just 57 yards of total offense.
“It’s always good to get a goose egg,” Eselu said. “Everything is all execution and assignment football, and it worked out well.”
After going 13-0 on its way to a Division II state championship in 2015, Radford is still seeking to get in the win column. It doesn’t get any easier for the Rams, who host defending Division I state champion Kahuku (3-0) on Friday.
Moanalua hopes to develop a win steak when it hosts Kaiser (2-3, 1-3), also on Friday. The Cougars
defeated Radford 34-7 on Aug. 26.