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Wendell Look called the three-way battle at quarterback for ‘Iolani a nice problem to have after a season-opening win against Kaiser.
Three weeks later, the battle looks to have been won, but not in the way he had hoped.
Senior Micah Hoomanawanui and freshman CJ Villanueva were supposed to rotate drives in the first half of the Raiders’ final interleague game on Friday night at Castle.
Instead, an injury to Villanueva on his first drive left Hoomanawanui to run the offense for the majority of ‘Iolani’s 31-7 win over the Knights.
Hoomanawanui finished 11-for-16 for 152 yards and two touchdowns and junior quarterback Kualau Manuel, who entered the game on ‘Iolani’s second drive of the second half, added a touchdown run for the Raiders (3-0), who own the state’s longest active winning streak at 14 games entering their ILH opener in two weeks against Saint Louis I-AA. The reigning Division I state champions have not been defeated since before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
“I think (these three games) have been good preparation. It’s shown our weaknesses, for sure,” Look said. “We have some good things going for us and we’ve just got to build on that. Mentally, we’ve got to get a little bit better.”
Villanueva, who led the team in passing yards and averaged 28.1 yards per completion entering Friday, completed six of seven passes on his lone drive before he was hurt on a pass attempt while running to his right near the ‘Iolani sideline.
He was on crutches for the second half.
“He’s developing and coming along, so hopefully it’s something minor,” Look said. “Hopefully it’s only a couple of weeks.”
Hoomanawanui, who was ‘Iolani’s starter last year as a junior until he was hurt in their final game before the state tournament, has been pushed by both guys.
He threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to junior Taniela Taliauli on his first throw of the game and dropped in a nice ball in the back corner of the end zone to Tristan Martinez for an 11-yard TD to put the Raiders ahead 17-0 in the second quarter.
“We played decently well. It wasn’t our best performance, but we’ll get better,” Hoomanawanui said. “Offensively we had some rough moments, but as a team we always have things to do better and we’re going to fix those things Monday.”
‘Iolani took a 24-0 lead into halftime after running back Keao Kawa‘akoa took a handoff on third-and-14 and turned it into a 77-yard touchdown just before the break.
He had been bottled up for the entire half, with only 25 yards on eight carries before busting loose on a run in which he broke between two defenders and powered through their tackle attempts before racing to the visiting sideline and outrunning the rest of the Castle defense.
“It was pretty crazy, to be honest. I was getting destroyed the whole game,” Kawa‘akoa said. “Every time I was getting the ball there were like two or three guys on me. I think they were bringing a lot of blitzes and a lot of pressure and I think their goal was to stop the run.”
Castle quarterback Daunte Ching rushed for a team-high 93 yards and senior Coby Tanioka scored Castle’s second touchdown of the season on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Knights have started the season 0-3 but haven’t backed down from major competition, losing to Open Division teams Punahou and Waianae and the reigning Division I state champions.
‘Iolani’s Taliauli, who entered the game leading the state in receiving yards with 335 in two games, finished with four catches for 117 yards and the one TD. He had a 41-yard reception that nearly ended in a touchdown, but he was tackled at the 1-yard line.
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IOLANI 31, CASTLE 7
At Castle
‘Iolani (3-0) 10 14 7 0 — 31
Castle (0-3) 0 0 0 7 — 7
Iol—Nela Taliauli 50 pass from Micah Hoomanawanui (Allison Chang kick)
Iol—FG Chang 25
Iol—Tristan Martinez 11 pass from
Hoomanawanui (Chang kick)
Iol—Keao Kawa’akoa 77 run (Chang kick)
Iol—Kualau Manuel 1 run (Chang kick)
Cast—Coby Tanioka 4 run (Avah Navares kick)
RUSHING—’Iolani: Kawa’akoa 11-116, Jones Vierra 12-35, Hoomanawanui 2-6, Hyrum Horita 1-3, team 1-(minus 2), Manuel 2-(minus 5). Castle: Daunte Ching 12- 93, Xavier Kekahuna 1-25, Ezekiel Totten 5-16, Levi Issacs 3-11, Tanioka 3-8, Nathaniel Medina 1-7, Bronson Pakele 1-3, Chayse Nakayama-Hose 1-3, Ayden Bruhn 1-0, team 1-(minus 7).
PASSING—’Iolani: Hoomanawanui 11-16-0-152, Manuel 5-8-0-74, CJ Villanueva 6-7-0-7. Castle: Ching 8-29-1-76, Bruhn 1-3-0-4.
RECEIVING—’Iolani: Taliauli 4-117, Keon Preusser 4-68, Martinez 5-44, Tyger Hayashi 2-6, Sean Weiss 1-5, Daniel Asada 1-1, Kawa’akoa 4-(minus 2), Horita 1-(minus 6). Castle: Tanioka 5-47, Medina 2-17, Zayden Uyemura 1-12, Benjamin Domingo 1-4.
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