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Aiea dug deep to discover its playmaking abilities and spoiled the head-coaching return of Radford’s Fred Salanoa in the process.
Radford dominated the first half in its season opener, but host Na Alii turned in all the highlights after that to win their OIA Division I opener, 34-19 on Friday night.
“Take care of the little things, settle down. We’re beating ourselves. We cannot do that,” Aiea coach Wendell Say said of the mid-game turnaround, including 27 unanswered second-half points. “We did that last week (a 21-7 loss at Kaiser). We gave them big plays in the first half.”
Josh Canosa helped turn things around with a 95-yard catch-and-run touchdown from Kayson Castillo with a minute left before halftime.
“I noticed (the defender) was playing inside, and I knew what I had to run,” Canosa said. “I just took the outside and I caught it. I felt him on my back, so I just kind of lifted my legs and I was gone.”
Radford responded with a 95-yard kickoff return TD by Damon Nelson, but that would be the last score for the Rams as Aiea did a better job of containing quarterback JT Tafisi from there.
Na Alii intercepted the sophomore three times in the second half, including once for a 44-yard touchdown return by Mana Young-Tavai. The extra point by Tyla Mane put Aiea ahead for good, 20-19, 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Salanoa stepped down as head coach after leading the Rams to the Division II state championship in 2015.
The Rams went 3-24 over the past three seasons.
He picked up the mantle again this season, his 14th overall. He took a personal 13-game winning streak, and four-game streak in season openers, into the day, but saw those come to an end.
“It’s good (to be back),” Salanoa said. “Just trying to get these guys to buy into the expectations that we have. They played a decent first half, and I think they got too happy with the score at halftime (19-7). We gotta learn how to finish, and that’s what we gotta make sure we stress to these guys.”
Tafisi got the start at quarterback in Salanoa’s return. Tafisi showed no fear in his first varsity game, throwing a 36-yard touchdown to a wide-open Braden Kent on the Rams’ second series.
Radford took a 13-0 lead on DJ Alpha’s 1-yard plunge in the second quarter.
Na Alii successfully established its running game to start the second half. Javon Miller went 7, 23 and 2 yards — the last punching it in — in the span of four plays to get Aiea back within a touchdown.
Aiea had lost six straight going back to last season.
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Aiea 34, Radford 19
At Aiea High
>> Radford (0-1, 0-1) 7 12 0 0 — 19
>> Aiea (1-1, 1-0) 0 7 6 21 — 34
Radford — Braden Kent 36 pass from JT Tafisi (Kendall Saxton kick)
Radford — DJ Alpha 1 run (kick failed)
Aiea — Josh Canosa 95 pass from Kayson Castillo (Tyla Mane kick)
Radford — Damon Nelson 95 kickoff return (run failed)
Aiea — Javon Miller 2 run (kick failed)
Aiea — Mana Young-Tavai 44 interception return (Mane kick)
Aiea — Miller 62 run (Mane kick)
Aiea — Castillo 11 run (Mane kick)
RUSHING — Radford: Alpha 6-26, Ma’a Sunia-Pase 2-16, Tafisi 13-16, Saxton 6-12, Jonah Ongory 8-4. Aiea: Miller 16-127, Castillo 7-(minus 9), Team 2-(minus 28).
PASSING — Radford: Tafisi 19-42-3-199. Aiea: Castillo 6-24-0-199.
RECEIVING — Radford: Nelson 8-76, Benjamin Vaiaga’e 3-25, Alpha 3-24, Saxton 2-6, Kent 1-36, Sunia-Pase 1-25, Marcus Howard 1-7. Aiea: Canosa 4-165, Dylan Soberano 1-28, Miller 1-6.
*Junior varsity — Aiea 56, Radford 20
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