Aina-Chaves guides Saints past Rams

Saint Francis RB Jonan "Bubbah" Aina-Chaves carries the ball against Radford Saturday night at John E. Velasco Stadium. Greg Yamamoto | SL

ALIAMANU — Jonan Aina-Chaves keeps rewriting the record books.

The junior running back carried the ball 28 times for 263 yards and two scores to power Saint Francis past Radford to a non-league 28-21 win at John E. Velasco Stadium in the first meeting between the two teams Saturday night.

Jonan Aina-Chaves, who earned the Male Pizza Hut Newcomer of the Year award last school year, also broke a school rushing record that he set against Iolani in 2017 when we he ran for 243 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.

The Saints (1-0) also backed up Jonan Aina-Chaves' performance by picking off Radford quarterback Hunter Copp three times.

Jonan Aina-Chaves scored the first two TDs of the game, but the Rams (0-1) were able to answer with two TD passes from Copp to Emmanual Stevenson (19 yards) and Carson Dean (45 yards) to make it a 14-14 game at the break.

Radford took its first lead of the game in the third quarter after Malik Rhines returned a fumble 75 yards, but the Saints scored on a TD run by Kain Lyman and a scoring connection between Jonah Aina-Chaves and Shepherd Kekahuna to pull off the win.

Saint Francis will begin its regular season next Saturday when it travels to Roosevelt to take on McKinley (1-0) in a 3 p.m. contest while the Rams will host Damien on Friday in an interleague matchup.