No. 10 Iolani pins back No. 12 Damien

Brody Logan Bantolina (14) ran in the Raiders' first and last scores of the night to give Iolani the win. CJ Caraang | SL

HALAWA — Brody Logan Bantolina dashed in for his second touchdown with 4:20 left in the game to put a stamp on the Raiders' 38-21 victory over Damien in Friday evening's Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I contest at Hawaiian Financial FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

The 10th-ranked Raiders jumped out to a 24-0 lead and maintained it to a 31-8 arithmetic late in the third quarter before No. 12 Damien mounted a two-touchdown rally to make it just a 10-point game with under 10 minutes remaining.

However, Iolani's special teams proved the importance of the third aspect of a football game as receiver/punter Wailoa Manuel pinned the Monarchs with a 36-yard punt downed at the Damien 5 yard line. Six plays later, Shayden Molina bulled his way through the middle to block Dippy Souza's punt as K C Bell downed the ball at the Damien 24 yard line.

Bantolina closed the game out with runs of 11 and 13 yards to put it away at 38-21.

"Damien made some nice adjustments. They came out, ran the ball well on us," Iolani coach Wendell Look said. "We had to hold the line of scrimmage and play a little better assignment football. We took care of the ball on our side. We were able to run the ball effectively and that always helps."

Damien running back Amo Sulu had just 44 yards rushing at halftime. He finished the game with 234 yards on 28 carries, including a quick one-play 80-yard dash to the end zone to start the Monarchs' rally in the third quarter.

The Monarchs also had to turn to sophomore Logan Lacio in the second half as starting quarterback Jake Holtz was ejected earlier in the period after losing a fumble on a mishandled option pitch and taking out his frustration on an Iolani player's helmet.

Lacio was formidable, finishing 7-for-11 for 73 yards and a touchdown throw to Jarvis Natividad for 14 yards to make it a 31-21 game.

But the Raiders early lead was just too much to overcome.

After trading three and outs to start the game, Damien got the ball back and facing third and 11, Holtz's intended throw to Natividad was deflected up, bobbled and intercepted by Stirling Sakashita. Nine plays later, Bantolina made it 7-0 after his three-yard rushing touchdown.

Manuel added three more points on a 32-yard field goal that was aided by a late hit penalty on third and 10 after quarterback Jonah Chong was hit near the left sideline by Damien's River Iaea as Chong was stumbling forward for the first down. Iolani also escaped a fourth and 42 situation with a roughing the punter call. Running back Brock Hedani later found himself wide open on a 13-yard score from Chong.

Both teams were penalized eight times each with the Raiders racking up 98 yards and the Monarchs with 111 yards. The difference was seven of Iolani's penalties occurred when it had the ball, moving the ball back in the wrong direction. Five of Damien's flags was when it wasn't in possession, giving the Raiders chunk yardage and ample opportunities to score.

Holtz' ejection gave Iolani the ball near midfield instead of what would have been its own 26. On the ensuing play, Hedani's 23-yard run plus a 15-yard penalty put the Raiders already in the red zone. Hedani later punched it in from one yard out to make it 31-8.

Despite the Raiders still scoring on three of their drives that were hampered by penalties, Look wasn't keen on looking at the positives of his team being able to overcome its mistakes.

"We didn't overcome it," Look said. "Those kinds of things are going to kill us when the games are tight. We got to do a much better job of being a little bit more disciplined and fundamentally sound and not get stupid penalties."

Trevor Kan returned a Holtz pass 48 yards for a pick-6 to make it 24-0 before Holtz hit Natividad on a 41-yard bomb to get the Monarchs on the scoreboard.

With the win, Iolani improves to 4-1 in the ILH Division I standings and now bests Damien's record of 3-2 for the league's lone spot in the state tournament. Both teams will only have a playoff if they finish with the same league record, regardless of Friday night's result for a head-to-head tiebreaker.

Iolani next hosts Radford (0-4) at Kozuki Stadium next Friday while Damien returns to Aloha Stadium against Kailua (2-2) on the same day.

ScoringLive photographer CJ Caraang contributed to this report.

Reach Spencer Honda at [email protected].