In a battle of running backs, Iolani's Mike Hirokawa rushed for three touchdowns, caught a pass for one and threw for another as the Raiders outlasted Damien, 57-49, yesterday to clinch the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II championship.

A Kozuki Stadium crowd of about 700 saw the third highest-scoring varsity game in history. In 1998, Saint Louis beat Iolani, 77-42 and in 1999, Saint Louis beat Pac-Five, 84-28.

"What a game," an exhausted Iolani coach Wendell Look said.

Hirokawa rushed for 213 yards on 24 carries, scoring on runs of 63, 9 and 45 yards. He had two receptions for 41 yards, including a 19-yard TD strike from Kiran Kepo'o. Hirokawa also threw a 28-yard TD pass to Travis Nishioka.

"They played tough," Hirokawa said of Damien. "But our O-line came out and did their jobs."

Lost in the scorefest and the darkness of a quickly setting sun was Damien running back Kealoha Pilares, who almost single-handedly took down the Raiders. He had an astounding 50 carries for 300 yards with TD runs of 1, 69, 1 and 1 yards, as well a 76-yard kickoff return for another score.

The end of the half was an indication of what was to come in the second half. With Damien leading 21-15, Iolani pulled ahead with three seconds before intermission on Hirokawa's 19-yard TD reception from Kepo'o. Kody Adams' PAT gave Iolani a 22-21 lead.

Iolani's pooch kickoff took a high hop to Pilares, who spun out of one tackle, found a little gap and sprinted to the end zone to complete the 76-yard return with no time showing on the clock. David Tuiasosopo caught a pass from George Martin for the two-point conversion to give Damien a 29-22 lead at the half.

The Monarchs took the second-half kickoff to their 31, where on first down, Pilares scored on a 69-yard run. The two-point try on a run failed, but Damien increased its lead to 35-22.

But Iolani wasted little time, as 20 seconds later, Hirokawa scored on a 63-yard run on first down to pull the Raiders to 35-29.

A Mike Sipili interception of a Kepo'o pass set up another Damien scoring drive that ended with a 1-yard TD run by Pilares. Martin's pass to Sipili for the two-point conversion made it 43-29.

But Iolani stormed back on its ensuing drive that ended with Hirokawa's 28-yard TD pass to Nishioka to make it 43-36.

An interception by Brenton Kanno for Damien went for naught because Pilares lost a fumble on the Monarchs' next play at their own 13. Three plays later, Kepo'o hit Kekai Kealoha on a 7-yard TD pass with Adams' PAT tying the game at 43 with 6:54 left in the game.

Damien marched from its 34 to the Iolani 42 in four plays thanks to three rushes by Pilares for 24 yards. But Landon Patoc returned a Martin interception 56 yards to the Damien 9, where Hirokawa scored on first down to give Iolani a 50-43 lead with 5:14 left.

The Monarchs continued to march on the undersized Raiders. Pilares' 1-yard TD run with 1:48 left pulled them to 50-49. But the Raiders stopped Pilares on a run up the middle on the two-point try to preserve the lead. Damien was forced to go for two because a tie was still going to give Iolani the D-II title.

But Iolani put the game away on Hirokawa's 45-yard TD run with 51 seconds left to make it 57-49.

Damien failed to score on its final possession, which ended when Leo Shimizu intercepted a James Skizowski pass.

"To be physically outmanned, for these kids to step up and play the way they did, I mean, what can you say," Look said. "It's all on heart. It's all on pride."

DAMIEN (4-6, 2-5) 15 14 14 6 — 49

IOLANI (7-4, 4-3) 7 15 14 21 — 57

Dam—Kealoha Pilares 1 run (Mike Sipili run)

Dam—Freyton Castillo 33 interception return (Matt Tom kick)

Iol—Kekai Kealoha 24 pass from Kiran Kepo'o (Kody Adams kick)

Iol—Blayne Yama 16 pass from Kepo'o (Travis Nishioka pass from Kepo'o)

Dam—Kama Bailey 16 pass from George Martin (kick failed)

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

Dam—Pilares 76 kickoff return (David Tuiasosopo pass from Martin)

Dam—Pilares 69 run (run failed)

Iol—Hirokawa 63 run (Adams kick)

Dam—Pilares 1 run (Sipili pass from Martin)

Iol—Nishioka 28 pass from Hirokawa (Adams kick)

Iol—Kealoha 7 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol—Hirokawa 9 run (Adams kick)

Dam—Pilares 1 run (run failed)

Iol—Hirokawa 45 run (Adams kick)

RUSHING—Damien: Pilares 50-300, Bailey 13-78, Timo Gasolo 1-2, Team 1-(minus 1). Iolani: Kepo'o 1-2, Hirokawa 24-213, Justin Yamamoto 1-7.

PASSING—Damien: James Skizowski 1-6-1—21, Martin 4-6-1—39, Team 0-1-0—0. Iolani: Kepo'o 22-33-3—271, Hirokawa 1-1-0—28, Team 0-2-0—0 .

RECEIVING—Damien: Bailey 2-32, Ota 1-3, Pilares 1-4, Bronson Sonico 1-21. Iolani: Nishioka 6-100, Blayne Yama 8-87, David Whitehouse 2-17, Kekai Kealoha 3-53 , Mark May 1-1, Hirokawa 2-41.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.