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A career day for sophomore Jonan Aina-Chaves made all the difference for St. Francis.
The compact running back rushed for 215 yards on 27 carries and scored all four of his touchdowns in the second half as St. Francis held on for a 43-26 win over ‘Iolani at Eddie Hamada Field.
Aina-Chaves scored on runs of 27, 1, 65 and 2 yards as the Saints improved to 2-0 in ILH Division II play (4-1 overall). They will face co-leader Damien next week. ‘Iolani dropped to 0-2 (1-3) in their first season back from the D-I ranks.
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* Hawaii high school football scoreboard, Sept. 8
>> Pac-Five vs. Damien, 3 p.m., Aloha Stadium
>> Kahuku vs. Bingham, 4 p.m., at Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas
>> Campbell vs. Moanalua, 5:30 p.m., at Roosevelt
>> Punahou vs. KS, 6 p.m., Aloha Stadium
>> Kapolei at Kailua, 6:30 p.m.
>> Waianae at Radford, 6:30 p.m.
“We got good blocking from our linemen,” Aina-Chaves said. “With the team, hard work and dedication pays off.”
‘Iolani’s Tai-John Mizutani passed for 251 yards (28-for-43) but was intercepted three times. Justin Genovia hauled in 13 passes for 113 yards and two TDs.
The Raiders rallied from a 19-point deficit to within 29-26 after Mizutani scored on a 16-yard run, then connected with Jonah Miyazawa on the PAT pass with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter.
After the kick return and a no-gain toss sweep by Aina-Chaves, he took the handoff from Bubba Akana up the middle and saw nothing but daylight. He went into another gear and burst up the middle for the 65-yard TD run to give the visitors a 35-26 lead with 5:21 remaining.
“Once I saw that big hole my linemen created, I felt good running the ball, so I turned up the jets and I went,” Aina-Chaves said. “ ‘Iolani swarms to the ball and gets some low tackles.”
On ‘Iolani’s next play from scrimmage, Mizutani was intercepted by Alek Miyasato for the second time. Miyasato returned the ball to the Raiders’ 15-yard line, and six plays later, Aina-Chaves scored from the 2 for his final TD with 1:55 to go.
“We felt we could run the ball. ‘Iolani is gritty, tough, but a little bit undersized,” Saints coach Kip Akana said. “Our defense set the tone for the game and they came up big today. Turnovers and mistakes against ‘Iolani is a bad recipe.”
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