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‘Iolani’s offense reclaimed the lead in the final seconds of the first half.
The Raiders defense then took command in the first minute after the break to spark a 56-41 win over Radford in the 57th Father Bray Memorial Classic on Friday afternoon at ‘Iolani’s Kozuki Stadium.
“It’s a game that has deeper meaning than just a football game, especially for this football program and for the alumni,” ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look said.
“I talked to these guys (Thursday) about I hope they make those guys proud of what they see on the field. And it’s not necessarily wins and losses, it’s how they handle themselves, and they did a good job today.”
After Radford surged to a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter of the Rams’ opener, ‘Iolani (2-0) reached the end zone on its next three possessions and took a one-point lead after running back Keao Kawaakoa scored the third of his four touchdowns with 25 seconds left in the first half.
The ‘Iolani defense forced turnovers on three of Radford’s first five possessions of the second half to feed a Raiders offense led by a trio of quarterbacks. Senior hybrid Jacob Gaudi came up with an interception 44 seconds into the third quarter and returned another pick 70 yards for a touchdown in the fourth to cap a 49-6 ‘Iolani run.
“We wanted to come out with fire and momentum,” Gaudi said of the Raiders’ mindset at halftime. “(His first interception) gave the offense a chance and they went down and scored and we just did our jobs.”
‘Iolani rotated quarterbacks with each possession and senior Micah Hoomanawanui, freshman CJ Villanueva and junior Kualau Manuel combined to complete 17 of 25 passes for 287 yards and four touchdowns.
Hoomanawanui led ‘Iolani on a six-play, 62-yard scoring drive to open the game and finished 6-for-10 for 57 yards and two touchdowns. Villanueva missed on his first two throws, then went 6-for-6 to finish with 141 yards and a score. Manuel went 5-for-7 for 89 yards and a touchdown.
“We’ve got three guys that are truly capable of playing. We’ll see how it goes,” Look said.
“You can’t force it. You let it play out and these kids are competing and making each other better.”
Kawaakoa finished three drives with short touchdown runs and also scored on a 26-yard screen pass. Junior wideout Nela Taliauli caught five passes for 127 yards and two scores.
Radford senior quarterback Kalob Victorino-Avilla threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in the first half and finished with 323 yards through the air. Tyrese Miller racked up 110 yards on six receptions and two touchdowns, including a 44-yard score on the final play of the game.
Victorino-Avilla went 15-for-24 in the first half and extended drives on the ground (finishing with 85 rushing yards). But ‘Iolani turned up the pressure in the second half as the defense came away with Gaudi’s two interceptions, set up a score with a fumble recovery at the Radford 7 and forced two punts and a turnover on downs.
“We have to teach them how to finish a whole game and the good thing it’s happening now in a preseason situation,” Radford coach Fred Salanoa said. “We should be able to make some corrections when we come back on Monday and look forward to our first (regular) season game.”
Both teams have a bye week coming up. ‘Iolani plays at Castle on Aug. 26 and Radford opens OIA Division I play at Waipahu.
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‘IOLANI 56, RADFORD 41
At Kozuki Stadium
Radford (0-1) 7 20 0 14 — 41
‘Iolani (2-0) 7 21 7 21 — 56
Iol—Nela Taliauli 25 pass from Micah Hoomanawanui (Allison Chang kick)
Rad—Joel Gillies 15 pass from Kalob Victorino-Avilla (Harrison Hoskins kick)
Rad—Tyrese Miller 14 pass from Victorino-Avilla (Hoskins kick)
Rad—Victorino-Avilla 3 run (Hoskins kick)
Iol—Keao Kawaakoa 25 pass from Kualau Manuel (Chang kick)
Iol—Kawaakoa 1 run (Chang kick)
Rad—Olijah Gomez 23 pass from Victorino-Avilla (kick failed)
Iol—Kawaakoa 1 run (Chang kick)
Iol—Kawaakoa 4 run (Chang kick)
Iol—Taliauli 26 pass from CJ Villanueva (Chang kick)
Iol—Tristan Martinez 6 pass from Hoomanawanui (Chang kick)
Iol—Jacob Gaudi 70 interception return (Chang kick)
Rad—Michael Hayslett 59 run (Hoskins kick)
Rad—Miller 44 pass from Victorino-Avilla (Hoskins kick)
RUSHING—Radford: Hayslett 22-120, Victorino-Avilla 14-88, Elijah Falaniki 1-8. ‘Iolani: Kawaakoa 10-71, Daniel Asada 6-10, Manuel 1-10, Hyrum Horita 2-4, Villanueva 1-(minus 15)
PASSING—Radford: Victorino-Avilla 26- 47-2-337. ‘Iolani: Villanueva 6-8-0-141, Manuel 5-7-0-104, Hoomanawanui 6-10-1-57.
RECEIVING—Radford: Miller 7-114, Jhonathan Kekua-Cobb 7-51, Gomez 4-98, Hayslett 4-19, Gillies 2-26, Roch Schaefer 1-15, Brandon Euceda 1-14. ‘Iolani: Taliauli 6-132, Martinez 3-63, Tyger Hayashi 3-42, Kawaakoa 3-37, Jazz Preister 1-26, Asada 1-2.
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