honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, November 27, 2005

No. 7 Iolani thumps Moanalua, 48-20

Photo gallery
 •  Reserve QB Lord propels Radford
 •  No. 2 Punahou beats No. 3 Baldwin
 •  Kahuku whips Wai'anae, 43-0

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Iolani's Kekai Kealoha is off and running with Moanalua's Quinton Tang in hot pursuit during a Division II state semifinal game.

JOAQUIN SIOPACK | The Honolulu Advertiser

spacer spacer

Well-rested Iolani and muggy weather wore down Moanalua, 48-20, yesterday in a semifinal of the First Hawaiian Bank Division II state football tournament.

A crowd of about 1,500 at Iolani's Kozuki Stadium watched the No. 7 Raiders (8-4) advance to the title game for the second consecutive year. They lost to Campbell, 28-7, last season. Iolani will play Radford on Friday at Aloha Stadium at 5 p.m.

Na Menehune (9-3) end their season having won more games than any previous Moanalua team.

"We've played in this kind of weather," Moanalua all-purpose player Stanford Leti said. "We can't blame the weather, but they (the Raiders) came prepared."

After a downpour during pregame warmups, the atmosphere became muggy. But unlike Iolani, Moanalua had a number of players play offense, defense and in some cases special teams. Leti played quarterback, running back and slot on offense, safety on defense and was also on special teams. It didn't help that Iolani also uses a no-huddle offense.

"We were pretty sluggish from the beginning," Moanalua coach Arnold Martinez said. "But they (the Raiders) have to play in it, too, so if it affected us, it had to affect them."

But it was Iolani's first game since Nov. 4.

"People were worried about us coming out and being a little rusty," Iolani coach Wendell Look said. "But the rest was good for us physically and mentally."

Especially for senior quarterback Kiran Kepo'o. He passed for a season-high 353 yards and matched a season-best four touchdowns. He had TD strikes off 61 and 50 yards to Travis Nishioka (5 for 132 yards), 19 to Mike Hirokawa and 35 yards to David Whitehouse.

Kepo'o completed 17 of 25 passes with no interceptions, doing all his damage in three quarters.

His four TD passes came in the first half and running back Hirokawa's 10-yard TD run propelled Iolani to a 35-7 lead at intermission. Leti's 39-yard TD run tied the score at 7 at 4:56 of the first quarter. He finished with 169 yards on 17 carries.

The Raiders scored on their first series of the second half on a 1-yard run by Hirokawa to make it 42-7 and start the running clock because of the 35-point differential mercy rule. But relentless Moanalua delayed its demise, moving 80 yards in 11 plays with Leti scoring on a 3-yard run to make it 42-14 with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.

Iolani nearly got the running clock started again with 5:55 left when backup running back Justin Yamamoto scored on a 42-yard run. But the Raiders missed the PAT, keeping the score 48-14.

Na Menehune scored on their ensuing series on a 7-yard run by running back Jordan Monico, but they were short on the 2-point conversion run, leaving the score 48-20.

The Raiders scored on their first series when Nishioka beat Na Menehune secondary on his 61-yard TD catch. After Leti's TD tied the game, Iolani scored again, when Hirokawa beat a linebacker on a medium-range pass to the left for a 19-yard play that made it 14-7.

Iolani scored again early in the second quarter when Kepo'o hit a wide-open Nishioka down the right sideline for a 50-yard TD.

Kepo'o's 63-yard pass to Kekai Kealoha (5 catches, 120 yards) set up Hirokawa's 10-yard TD run on a two-play drive that made it 28-7, and Kepo'o closed the half with his 35-yard TD strike to Whitehouse.

MOANALUA (9-3) 7 0 7 6—20

IOLANI (8-4) 14 21 7 6—48

Iol—Travis Nishioka 61 pass from Kiran Kepo'o (Kody Adams kick)

Moan—Stanford Leti 39 run (Landon Watanabe kick)

Iol—Mike Hirokawa 19 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—Nishioka 50 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—Hirokawa 10 run (Adams kick)

Iol—David Whitehouse 35 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—Hirokawa 1 run (Adams kick)

Moan—Leti 3 run (Watanabe kick)

Iol—Justin Yamamoto 3 run (kick failed)

Moan—Jordan Monico 7 run (run failed)

RUSHING—Moanalua: Leti 17-169, Quinton Tang 6-22, John Estores 8-33, Jarin Salvador-Atabay 6-23, Monico 4-51, Watanabe 2-10, Jim Mateo 1-3. Iolani: Kepo'o 5-29, Hirokawa 10-44, Yamamoto 11-84, Ryan Dung 2-6, Reid Furukawa 2-6, Alex Lim 1-(minus 2), Team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING—Moanalua: Leti 1-7-1—1, Estores 1-4-0—11, Salvador-Atabay 0-1-0—0, Monico 1-1-0—(minus 2). Iolani: Kepo'o 17-25-0—353, Dung 1-2-0—10.

RECEIVING—Moanalua: Salvador-Atabay 2-(minus 1), Leti 1-11. Iolani: Scott Wada 1-10, Nishioka 5-132, Hirokawa 2-27, Kekai Kealoha 5-120, Blayne Yama 3-24, Whitehouse 1-35, Mark May 1-15.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.