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Radford battled the elements and emerged victorious, beating host Castle 14-13 on Friday night to claim its first win in Hawaii this season.
The Rams (2-6, 1-5) last won on the road in Week 3, when they traveled to California for a 42-6 win against Magnolia.
“We’ve competed all year long, and it shows the resilience of our young men,” Radford coach Fred Salanoa said. “We have a lot of guys who are hurt. They pushed through. These guys came out and they played hard tonight. They dealt with the elements. I’m just proud of our young men playing all the way through to the end.”
With the rain pouring down throughout the entire game, running back Michael Hayslett was called upon to carry the load for Radford. Hayslett carried the ball 27 times, gaining 138 yards and scoring both Rams touchdowns.
“Michael has been doing good. He came out strong toward the end of the season,” Salanoa said. “We told him in practice the past two weeks that we were going to ride him. He needed to carry us to victory tonight, which he did.”
Neither team was able to gain much traction early in the muggy conditions. The game began with four straight punts. To make things worse, Castle starting quarterback Daunte Ching was hurt on a 3-yard sack on the Knights’ second drive.
Backup quarterback Ayden Bruhn checked in for Castle’s third drive. The Knights’ fortunes began to change, starting with the very first play of the drive. Bruhn connected with Coby Tanioka for a 57-yard catch-and-run. Three plays later, Tanioka scored on a 23-yard touchdown run. Tanioka bounced out right, met resistance, then cut all the way back through the middle to reach pay dirt.
The breakthrough on the scoreboard was brief, however, as three of the next five drives ended with turnovers. With the ball finally on the move, Radford receiver Rylan “Makana” Dayton caught a pass for 10 yards, but coughed the ball up for a recovery by Castle’s Ryder Kapuwai-Mapu.
Radford quarterback Kalon Victorino-Avilla threw an interception to Castle’s Jordan Bruhn on the next drive, and the ensuing Knights drive ended with a turnover on downs.
After a slow first half, Radford raced out to touchdowns on each of its first two second-half drives, which ultimately decided the game. Rams returner Jacob Sullivan opened the second half with a big 18-yard return, setting Radford up in Castle territory. Victorino-Avilla pushed the advantage with a 40-yard completion to Hayslett on the first play of the drive. Hayslett finished off the drive with two carries, the second of which found pay dirt from 5 yards out.
The second scoring drive looked a bit different. The Rams drove 75 yards on 11 plays, scoring on Hayslett’s 34-yard touchdown run.
“I don’t think too much changed,” Salanoa said about the second-half turnaround. “When we’re playing in these kinds of elements, it comes down to who’s going to run the ball, who’s going to protect the ball, who’s going to be able to move the ball and move the chains. Fortunately, our offensive line was playing an awesome game, our running back did a good job, not overdoing it and wanting to do more than he was capable of.”
Castle managed to tack on a potential game-tying score in the fourth quarter, a 33-yard touchdown pass from Bruhn to Tanioka. But the holder couldn’t corral the snap on the ensuing extra point, leaving the Knights one point behind Radford.
The Knights had two more chances to close that one-point gap but couldn’t manage to gain positive yardage over two drives.
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RADFORD 14, CASTLE 13
At Castle
Radford (2-6, 1-5) 0 0 14 0 — 14
Castle (1-8, 1-5) 0 7 6 0 — 13
Cast—Coby Tanioka 23 run (U’ilana Shimabukuro kick)
Rad—Michael Hayslett 5 run (Harrison Hoskins kick)
Rad—Hayslett 34 run (Hoskins kick)
Cast—Tanioka 33 pass from Ayden Bruhn (run failed)
RUSHING—Radford: Hayslett 27-138, Brandon Euceda 2-18, Kalob Victorino-Avilla 2-0, Joel Gillies 1-(minus 1), TEAM 2-(minus 11). Castle: Tanioka 16-50, Xavier Kekahuna 3-38, Bronson Pakele 3-4, Nathaniel Medina 1-4, Benjamin Domingo 1-4, Daunte Ching 2-3, Sebastian Weeks-Lapinad 1-(minus 3), Nathaniel Seth-Rombawa 1-(minus 15), Bruhn 3-(minus 24).
PASSING—Radford: Victorino-Avilla 5-11-1-55. Castle: Bruhn 5-9-0-116, Tanioka 1-3-0-8, Ching 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Radford: Hayslett 1-40, Gillies 3-14, Jhonathan Kekua-Cobb 1-1. Castle: Tanioka 5-116, Roman Skonecki 1-8.
Junior varsity—Castle 35, Radford 13
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