After a 24-year wait, Radford can finally add another championship to its proud football history after last night's 9-7 victory over rival Moanalua for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association White Conference title.

The Rams (8-2) also earned a bye in the Division II state tournament, which begins next week. Moanalua (7-2) will host Kamehameha-Hawai'i, which won the Big Island Interscholastic Federation DII championship game against Konawaena yesterday, 41-6.

Radford won Rural OIA titles in 1960 and 1961 and OIA crowns in 1968, 1976 and 1981, long before the era of Division II.

"Our coach said it had been over 20 years, so it feels great to bring a trophy back to Radford," said Rams defensive end/linebacker Russell Wantowski, who helped limit Moanalua to 43 yards rushing and 62 yards passing.

That total includes 31 yards gained on three fake punts. Moanalua, which recently changed its school nickname to "Na Menehune," tried a fourth fake punt with 24 seconds remaining but the punter was ruled down when he crouched to scoop up a low snap that took two short hops.

Moanalua had no timeouts left, so Radford was able to run out the clock. Na Menehune coach Arnold Martinez said his punter's knee did touch the ground briefly, but only before he fielded the ball.

Moanalua was on its own 30-yard line, however, and had struggled all night to move the ball on the Rams' defense. Its only touchdown came on Quinton Tang's 32-yard interception return with 1:12 remaining in the half.

That gave Na Menehune a 7-3 halftime lead, after Jamie Whitworth's 23-yard field goal had put Radford up 3-0 two minutes earlier.

The Rams scored the go-ahead touchdown on Alex Daniels' 1-yard run with 10:39 left in the game. The extra point failed.

Daniels finished with 138 yards rushing on 28 carries, including 48 yards on 11 carries in the fourth quarter after starting quarterback Ryan Burciaga left the game with a broken collarbone. Radford coach Fred Salanoa said Burciaga will miss the rest of the season.

Daniels suffered a leg injury with 8:20 remaining, but returned on the next series to gain 33 yards on six carries to help the Rams milk the clock.

"Alex Daniels is a tough kid," Salanoa said. "He's small (5 feet 7, 155 pounds), but he packs a big punch and is very tough."

That also is a good description of the Rams' defense, which did not allow any gains of more than 25 yards all night and surrendered only one of more than 15 yards against Moanalua's triple-option offense. Na Menehune quarterback Stanford Leti, a dangerous runner, was held to 1 yard rushing on eight carries.

"We knew we had to shut down Stanford," Wantowski said. "We watched three different game tapes (of Moanalua) and we knew we had to contain him and not let him get outside."

Martinez said Radford did not do anything surprising with its defensive scheme.

"They just have good players who fly around to the ball, and a lot of times we were not making the right reads," Martinez said.

Salanoa, a former Rams quarterback whose brother Thor played on the 1981 OIA and Prep Bowl championship team, said he knew what it would take to win.

"The last thing I told the team at our meeting today was, 'Defense wins championships,' " Salanoa said. "It's something we've stressed all year, and that's exactly how it turned out."

RADFORD (8-2) 0 3 0 6 — 9

MOANALUA (7-2) 0 7 0 0 — 7

Rad — FG Jamie Whitworth 23

Moa — Quinton Tang 32 interception return (Landon Watanabe kick)

Rad — Alex Daniels 1 run (kick failed)

RUSHING — Rad: Daniels 28-138, Ryan Burciaga 10-56, Trevor Maldon 1-1, Jeremy LeClair 2-(minus-1), Justin Lord 1-1. Moa: John Estores 11-2, Tang 2-11, Jarin Salvador-Atabay 3-4, Jordan Monico 4-23, Stanford Leti 8-1, Jose Molestina 1-2, Watanabe 1-0.

PASSING — Rad: Burciaga 9-19-2—90. Moa: Leti 3-7-0—50, Estores 0-1-0—0, Monico 1-1-0—12.

RECEIVING — Rad: Joe Brundidge 2-24, Justin Lord 5-60, Nelson Benigno 1-2, Mike Goodman 1-4. Moa: Savai'i Eselu 1-25, Watanabe 2-25, Tang 1-12

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.