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‘Iolani’s state-tournament hopes now rest in its own hands.
The Raiders took control of the race for the ILH’s lone berth into the Division I postseason dance with a 38-21 victory over Damien on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.
At Aloha Stadium
‘Iolani (6-1, 4-1) 10 14 7 7 — 38
Damien (5-2, 3-2) 0 8 7 6 — 21
Iol—Brody Bantolina 3 run (Wailoa Manuel kick)
Iol—FG Manuel 32
Iol—Brock Hedani 13 pass from Jonah Chong (Manuel kick)
Iol—Trevor Kan 48 interception return (Manuel kick)
DMS—Jake Holtz 1 run (Jayce Jay-Pedro pass from Duke Hoohuli)
Iol—Hedani 1 run (Manuel kick)
DMS—Amo Sulu 80 run (Christian Souza kick)
DMS—Jarvis Natividad 14 pass from Logan Lacio (pass failed)
Iol—Bantolina 13 run (Manuel kick)
RUSHING—‘Iolani: Hedani 16-102, Bantolina 13-64, Chong 6-14, Cole Ichikawa 1-8. Damien: Sulu 29-225, Holtz 8-37, Lacio 4-13, River Iaea 2-8, Makanale’a Meyer 1-(minus 9).
PASSING—‘Iolani: Chong 6-14–0-85. Damien: Holtz 15-26–2-142, Lacio 7-11–0-73.
RECEIVING—‘Iolani: Manuel 3-59, Hedani 2-23, Ryan Sunada 1-3. Damien: Natividad 10-114, Meyer 5-33, Ezra Kaina 3-48, Iaea 2-10, Tino Atonio 1-7, Lacio 1-3.
Brock Hedani rushed for 102 yards and scored twice and Brody Bantolina added two rushing TDs for the Raiders (6-1, 4-1), who took a one-game lead on the ninth-ranked Monarchs (5-2, 3-2) with three games to play.
“It’s a big win, but next week is a bigger win and the week after that is even bigger,” ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look said. “The closer you get to the end you’ve got to keep with it.”
Amo Sulu rushed for 225 yards and a touchdown for Damien, which has lost two straight after matching a school-best 5-0 start to the season.
The Monarchs need to win out and hope for an ‘Iolani loss to force a playoff for a state berth.
“Now we don’t hold our destiny in our own hands,” Damien coach Eddie Klaneski said. “We’ve got to go back to work and hope somebody else beats these guys.”
Damien had the ball inside the ‘Iolani 20 down 24-8 early in the third quarter when Sulu dropped a pitch from senior quarterback Jake Holtz that was recovered by ‘Iolani’s Jayden Murata.
Holtz, who was involved in the scramble for the ball, got into a scuffle after he stood up and was ejected after throwing a punch.
“(Holtz) is a big-time player,” Look said.
‘Iolani controlled much of the first half and built a 24-0 lead with two touchdowns scored off Damien turnovers.
Holtz had been intercepted just twice in his first six games but threw two in the first half, including one returned 48 yards for a score by ‘Iolani’s Trevor Kan.
Damien looked out of sorts at times on both sides of the ball. The pick-6 came on a miscommunication between Holtz and a receiver, and Damien gave up a 13-yard TD pass from Jonah Chong to Hedani, who was uncovered out of the backfield for a walk-in TD.
Hedani’s touchdown came after Damien roughed the punter on a fourth-and-42 kick to give ‘Iolani a free first down.
“We made a lot of mistakes on our end,” Klaneski said. “We kind of gave them that first part of the game with a lot of mental errors.”
The Monarchs managed to put it together on a 75-yard scoring drive with Holtz’s 1-yard QB sneak, giving the Monarchs points before intermission.
Sulu added an 80-yard TD run in the third quarter and Logan Lacio, who replaced Holtz at quarterback, threw a 14-yard TD on fourth down to Jarvis Natividad in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 31-21.
Bantolina put the game away with his second TD run from 13 yards out.
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