RIVALS WAIKIKI GAME OF THE WEEK
High school football is back in Hawaii.
The ILH returned to action — after a nearly two-year break due to COVID-19 — Friday afternoon at Kozuki Stadium on the campus of ‘Iolani School, and the host Raiders stopped Damien 28-0.
For the visiting Monarchs, it was Anthony Tuitele’s first game as head coach. He replaced Eddie Klaneski, who resigned earlier this month.
And it was a typical ‘Iolani outing: Accurate, short-passing quarterback, tight offensive line, talented defensive backfield. And one more ingredient: running back Brody Bantolina, who kept the chains moving to divert attention away from the throws.
For the Monarchs, it was the defense who kept them in the game for a good, long time. They trailed just 7-0 until ‘Iolani began to pull away in the second half.
‘Iolani’s Brody Bantolina drags a Damien defender with him en route to some of his 138 yards rushing in the
Raiders’ season-0pening victory over Damien on Friday. (Image credit: Brien Ing/ScoringLIve.com).
“The score didn’t indicate what kind of game it was,” ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look said shortly after the final whistle. He was talking to a media scrum that included Billy Hull from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Kalani Takase of ScoringLive.com and Christian Shimabuku of KHON2. “It was a competitive game. Both sides played hard. They played clean. It was really nice to see.”
Aside from BedrockSportsHawaii.com‘s presence, Brien Ing of ScoringLive.com and photographer Craig Kojima from the Star-Advertiser were also there. THIS WAS A FOOTBALL HAPPENING, after all. First game back, right?
“First one for me,” Tuitele said about his coaching debut. “But It’s not about me. It’s more about the kids. I was more happy for them to actually play football. They didn’t have football for two years. I told the kids — fly around and have fun, man. If you are going to make a mistake, make a mistake, just give 100 percent at least. We kept it close. On offense we couldn’t get it going.”
Brody Bantolina was the man of the day, so to speak, rushing for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
Bantolina’s 1-yard TD run with 3:04 left in the first quarter broke a scoreless tie and gave the Raiders the momentum they needed. Micah Hoomanawanui’s 17-yard pass to Keao Miyahira made the TD possible.
It wasn’t until 8:19 remained in the third quarter that Bantolina put the proverbial dagger into the Monarchs, speeding for a 59-yard touchdown around right end. That made it 14-0.
Bantolina added a 3-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter to cap a 47-yard drive. Later on, Cainen Torres put the finishing touches on the scoring with a 4-yard TD run.
Jensen Tanele, a tough running QB, had a big game for Damien, rushing for 39 yards and passing for 80. He was hard to bring down. In the second half, the ‘Iolani defensive backfield of Mason Mizuta, Brayden Morioka, Hudson Della-Lucia and Jacob Gaudi made a bunch of breakups to shut down the Monarchs.
“We didn’t really execute on offense,” Damien’s Tuitele said. “And our kids were playing both ways. Now they know, they gotta get in shape. That’s why we do the running (in practice).”
Two Damien defenders had outstanding games, with multiple sacks — Braeden Faurot and Jayce Jay-Pedro.
Defensive standouts Braeden Faurot and Jayce Jay-Pedro after Damien’s loss. (Image credit: Nick Abramo/Bedrock Sports).
“We hadn’t played in over two years, so we were excited, but we kind of lost the feel of the game,” Jay-Pedro said “We had to find that again. ‘Iolani is just a very disciplined team. They’re not the biggest or the fastest.”
For the Raiders, Look was happy with his team’s performance that included a 150-yard passing performance from Micah Hoomanawanui.
“It was nice to be out there, nice to see the kids competing again,” he said. “They were happy that they got to hit someone else other than their teammates. I think Damien felt the same way. For the first game back, it wasn’t too bad. Obviously the tackling needs a lot of work. We executed pretty much how we wanted to.”
‘Iolani 28, Damien 0
At Kozuki Stadium
Damien (0-1). 0. 0. 0. 0. — 0
‘Iolani (1-0). 7. 0. 7. 14. — 28
‘IOLANI—Brody Bantolina 1 run (Allison Chang kick)
‘IOLANI—Brody Bantolina 59 run (Chang kick)
‘IOLANI—Bantolina 3 run (Chang kick)
‘IOLANI—Cainen Torres 3 run (Chang kick)
RUSHING—Damien: Jensen Tanele 17-39, Peyton Dalmacio 6-20. ‘Iolani: Brody Bantolina 21-138, Keao Miyahira 5-48, Cainen Torres 11-34.
PASSING—Damien: Tanele 13-30-1-80. ‘Iolani: Micah Hoomanawanui 17-29-0-150.
RECEIVING—Damien: Kamalii Labanon 4-22, Sylas Alaimalo 3-29, Dalmacio 3-5, Ian Sera 2-12, Kela Chinen-Zablan 1-12. ‘Iolani: Kai Preusser 7-57, Lathan Mokiao 3-40, Keao Miyahira 3-27, Tristan Martinez 2-14, Bantolina 2-12.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com: Punahou Vanquishes Kamehameha On John-Keawe Sagapolutele’s Late TD Pass, 33-28
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