Punivai, Castle light it up against Radford

Castle QB Senituli Punivai combined for five total touchdowns to help the Knights reach their second win. Leighland Tagawa | SL

KANEOHE — Senituli Punivai may have only completed eight passes but half of those went for six points each.

After using a carousal of four different players lined up behind center through their first five games, the Knights went with senior Punivai Friday night as Castle and Radford lit up the scoreboard with the Knights coming out on top, 45-33, in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I matchup.

Punivai completed touchdown passes of 57, 33, 41 and 34 yards while carrying the ball himself 26 times for 151 yards and adding another score. Jonah Figueroa was the recipient of two TD throws while Raiden Wong and Paul Omenegbar grabbed one each.

In a game that saw five lead changes, Radford QB Hunter Copp got in on the action going 22 of 40 for 304 yards and two touchdowns while also adding one on the ground himself.

Emmanual Stevenson led the Rams with nine receptions for a game-high 118 yards while Taias Savea and Carson Dean nabbed TD catches of 13 and 18 yards, respectively.

Castle had a narrow 31-27 lead entering the fourth quarter when its defense came up big to stop Radford on fourth down inside their own red zone.

Bruce Pakele soon followed with a 56-yard dash to the end zone on his lone carry of the game. Following a pair of turnovers for each side, Copp snuck the ball in the end zone on a 1-yard run to make it a five-point game, but Punivai took the ensuing onside kick attempt and returned it to inside the Radford 20. He would hit Omengebar for his last TD pass and final score of the game to put it away.

Radford dropped to 1-3 in league play and will travel to Iolani next Friday.

Castle improved to 2-3 in the OIA and will host east side-foe Kailua.