Aiea's iron men crumple Radford

Aiea's Babu Capanang (left) and Zacharia Kalahiki-Basque (right) combined for all three touchdown receptions in addition to grabbing three takeaways on the defensive side of the ball. Spencer Honda | SL

ALIAMANU — Aiea's two-way iron men players did it all as Na Alii crumpled Radford, 26-6, in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I matchup Friday night at John E. Velasco stadium.

Senior WRs/DBs Babu Capanang and Zacharia Kalahiki-Basque accounted for all four of Aiea's scores, combining for seven receptions, 118 yards and three touchdowns to go along with three total takeaways on defense. Capanang hit paydirt on catches of 17 and 47 yards while Kalahiki-Basque went for 33 yards to end the scoring with 4:23 left in the game.

The duo also closed it out with each nabbing a pick to end Radford's last two possessions of the game.

Kalahiki-Basque also had a 56-yard scoop and score on the Rams' game-opening drive from a forced fumble by LJ Vongsy to make it a quick 13-0 less than three minutes into the first quarter.

Na Alii had four additional takeaways with interceptions from fellow seniors Vongsy, Fabian Bautista and Shaydin-Kalani Keala-Sanchez, and junior Dan Soranaka's fumble recovery off a dropped backwards pass on Radford's first possession of the second half.

Starting quarterback Kayson Castillo was not available after exiting in the fourth quarter of their previous game against Moanalua back on Aug. 17. Bautista filled in and finished 10 of 16 for 139 yards with three TDs.

Bautista, Kalahiki-Basque, Capanang, Vongsy and Maalo Auvaa also combined on 35 carries for 63 yards, their highest rushing output since the two teams met a year ago on Aug. 25, 2017.

Midway through the second quarter, Bautista even swapped out with Vongsy to haul in a pair of catches for 29 yards. Vongsy finished 2 for 4.

Radford's lone score came from a two-way player of their own in Danneh Alpha's 1-yard plunge at the 7:09 mark in the final quarter. He finished with 49 yards on seven carries, as well as notching a fumble recovery from defensive lineman Menise Pase's strip tackle.

Makaala Sakimi also got a pick early in the game after Pase forced Aiea's Bautista out of the pocket to make a wild back-footed throw.

The Rams fell to 1-2 in the OIA (1-4 overall) and will travel to Kaneohe to take on Castle (0-3, 0-4 overall) next Friday night.

Aiea improved to 2-1 (2-1-1 overall) and will return home to host Waipahu (2-0, 3-2 overall).