OIA Football
Leilehua downs Radford, will face No. 12 Waipahu next


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
October 21, 2023, 12:41am

  


Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ Leilehua [ 7:30 pm ]

Radford

14

Leilehua

43

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Radford (1-7-0) 0 7 0 714
Leilehua (5-6-0) 9 13 7 1443
Cole Northington 178 yd 1 TD
Jacob Sullivan 44 yd 1 TD
Timothy Arnold 160 yd 2 TD
Jacob Sullivan 32 yd

WAHIAWA — Cole Northington ran for 178 yards and Hanohano Plunkett threw five touchdown passes to help Leilehua pull away from visiting Radford for a 43-14 win Friday night. 

A crowd of about 1,000 fans at Hugh Yoshida Stadium saw the Mules improve to 5-5 on the year. They will play No. 12 Waipahu in next week's semifinal round of the OIA Division I tournament. 

The Rams' season is over at 1-7. 

Leilehua rolled up 562 yards of total offense, including season-high 344 through the air from Plunkett, a junior quarterback. The lefty connected on 23 of his 29 pass attempts and was intercepted twice. His previous single-game high was 297 passing yards in a win over Nanakuli last month. 

Plunkett tossed touchdown passes of 16, 4, 16, 24 and 25 yards. He completed passes to seven different pass-catchers. Timothy Arnold led the way with eight receptions for 160 yards, including TD grabs of 16 and 24 yards. Camren Flemister tallied eight catches for 83 yards and one touchdown. 

The Mules got on the board first thanks to their defense. Linebacker Josh Simbre sacked Radford quarterback Afi Togafau in the end zone on a third-and-8 to record a safety less than five minutes into the contest. 

Leilehua cashed in on the ensuing extra possession, which covered 73 yards in eight plays. Northington carried six times for 31 yards on the drive and caught one pass for a couple of yards. He converted a pair of third downs on the drive, which culminated with his 6-yard TD plunge. Maci Rivera added the extra point to make it a 9-0 lead for her team with 3:00 left in the first quarter. 

The Mules added to their lead with Plunkett's 16-yard TD pass to Arnold on the first play of the second stanza. On the scoring play, Plunkett eluded the Rams' pass rush, then found Arnold in the back of the end zone, who made a one-handed catch against the end line. 

Radford got on the board with 7:30 left in the second quarter with a 38-yard TD run by Jacob Sullivan. The touchdown came just two plays after a penalty against Leilehua for roughing the punter kept the Rams' drive alive. 

Leilehua answered the score with a 4-yard TD pass from Plunkett to Camren Flemister on third-and-goal. The PAT was no good to give the Mules a 22-7 lead with 3:44 left until halftime. 

Late in the third quarter, Leilehua cashed in on a takeaway. Two plays after a fumble recovery by the defense, Plunkett targeted a wide-open Logan Peters, who came down with the 16-yard TD reception. 

The Mules got a couple of insurance score in the fourth quarter on TD passes from Plunkett to Arnold for 24 yards and another to Warren Alejado for 25 yards. 

Radford closed out the scoring with a 1-yard TD run by Togafau in the final minutes. 

Togafau finished 10-of-20 passing for 58 yards and was not intercepted. 

The Mules limited Rams' rushing back Wendell Harrison, who ran for 152 yards and three touchdowns against Castle a week ago, to 52 yards on 13 carries. 

Northington carried 23 times and averaged 7.7 yards per rush. It was the third consecutive game that he ran for more than 100 yards and the fifth time this season he eclipsed the century mark. 

Leilehua ran for 218 yards. It ran for 14 first downs, passed for 14 and picked up three by penalty. 

Radford finished with 159 total yards, including 101 rushing. It registered 16 total first downs, including six via penalty. 

The Mules totaled 16 penalties, including seven personal fouls, for 167 yards and converted three of their seven third downs. 

The Rams were 1 of 11 on third downs. 

Zeke Schulz led Radford defensively with four tackles for loss and one sack. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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