ALA WAI — Aloha Friday brought with it some prep football.

A long-awaited return to play became a reality for the Iolani and Damien football teams on a sun-drenched afternoon at Eddie Hamada Track and Field at a mostly empty Kozuki Stadium.

For the record, the Raiders (1-0) — who were technically the visiting team — scored 21 points after halftime to come away with a 28-0 win over the Monarchs (0-1).

But on a day in which the state saw more than a thousand new active COVID cases and a single-day record nine deaths reported, the fact that the teams were able to play a game once again, nearly two years since the last one took place, was a win in itself.

"It was nice to be out there," said Iolani's Wendell Look, who begins his 29th season as the program's head coach.

"It was nice to see the kids competing again and they were happy that they finally got to hit somebody else other than their friends and their teammates and I think Damien felt the same way," Look added.

Indeed, the Monarchs did, according to Anthony "Bones" Tuitele, who was making his debut as interim coach of his alma mater.

"At the end of the day, I told the kids it's not about me, it's more about them," said Tuitele, a 2009 Damien graduate.

"I was more happy for them to actually play football. They didn't have football for two years, so I just told the kids, ‘fly around, have fun and if you're gonna make a mistake, make a mistake at 100 percent, at least,' " he added.

Tuitele's squad — which lists 30 players on its roster — held its own for two-plus quarters and kept it to a one-score game until Brody Bantolina busted free for a 69-yard touchdown run at the 8:30 mark of the third quarter.

On the scoring play, Bantolina was aligned offset to the right of quarterback Micah Hoomanawanui in the shotgun. He took the handoff from Hoomanawanui, made one would-be tackler miss in the hole, before finding open space along the right sideline on the long run to paydirt.

Damien turned it over on downs, but got Iolani to return the favor on its ensuing possession.

The Monarchs gained possession near midfield and picked up some momentum with back-to-back spectacular catches to moves the chains by Kela Chinen-Zablan and Sylas Alaimalo. They drove all the way down to the Raiders' 15-yard line — their deepest penetration for the game — but saw quarterback Jensen Tanele's pass on third-and-four intercepted by Iolani defensive back Hudson Della-Lucia.

The junior picked off Tanele's pass at about the 2-yard line and returned it for an apparent pick-six, but the touchdown was negated due to an illegal blindside block penalty against Iolani after the change of possession. Seven plays later, Bantolina recycled the turnover into his a 3-yard TD run, his third of the game.

"It changed the game," Look said of Della-Lucia's pick. "We were up at that time, only 14-0, so it could have gone back to a one-score game and it was tight, third quarter, so that was nice to see that they were able to dig deep and make a play when we needed it to be made and we capitalized on it."

Bantolina finished with career-highs of 153 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior also recorded two receptions for 14 yards.

"I think he's really worked hard during this pandemic and he has really put some strength into his running; He runs hard now," Look said of Bantolina, whose 1-yard TD run opened the scoring with 3:04 left in the first quarter.

Bantolina's first trip to the end zone culminated a 10-play drive for the Raiders that included a pair of third-down conversions. Hoomanawanui's pass completion for six yards to Kai Preusser moved the chains on third-and-four and three plays later, Keao Miyahira carried for a 10 yards on a run up the middle to convert a third-and-three.

"Miyahira, he's got some giddy-up about him and the other kid, (Cainen) Torres, they moved him (to running back) from being a wideout and he's a plugger — if he gains two, three yards, that's good, but yeah, Brody, we expect big things from him and good things from him," Look said of his trio of ball carries, who combined for 37 carries and 234 rushing yards.

Torres tallied 11 carries for 35 yards in mop-up duty and closed out the scoring with his 3-yard TD run with just over four minutes left to play. Miyahira produced to the tune of 46 yards on just four carries.

Iolani averaged 5.7 yards per rush and ran for 216 of its 388 yards of total offense despite five sacks by the Damien defense, including two apiece by edge rushes Braden Faurot and Jayce "JayBoy" Pedro.

"Those two guys, that's our two key guys, that's the guys we expect them to get home," Tuitele said of the pair of seniors. "If they can get home, we don't have to blitz, we can cover the pass."

The Monarchs allowed 161 yards through the air on 20-of-29 passing by Hoomanawanui, the Raiders' first-year starting quarterback, and got one takeaway on a first-quarter fumble recovery by Kahiau Young.

Iolani not find the end zone through the air.

"We kept it close, (but) on offense we just couldn't get it going," said Tuitele, who serves as offensive coordinator. "Finally at the end we got a drive and then we finally turned over the ball, but I'm proud of my defense — you only can hold it for so hold when we, on the offensive side, are not doing our part — but again, the kids are playing both ways, so now they know they gotta get in shape; that's why we do the running."

The Monarchs finished with 149 total yards. Tanele, a converted running back, completed 13 of his 29 pass attempts; He also ran the ball 17 times — much of it on read-option keeps — for a team-high 42 yards.

Look gave credit to the undermanned Monarchs, who saw longtime coach and athletic director Eddie Klaneski resign just two weeks ago.

"The score didn't indicate what kind of game it was," Look said. "It was a competitive game. Both sides played hard, played clean; it was really nice to see."

Seeing is believing for Look — the league football coordinator for the ILH — who was still in a bit of disbelief that the game went off, seemingly without any glitches.

"No, yeah, I still can't believe it happened," Look laughed.

"It's been a long process and a lot of hard work on these kids' part and you can say the same for Damien, you know everybody's gone through, it's not only us — everybody is going through the same things — and these kids have just been resilient, they've persevered, you know, everything you want to teach them about life, they're experiencing it through this and you give them credit, man, they're growing up fast," he added.

That growth was evident before Friday's long-awaited season opener during a pre-game speech by a player to the rest of his teammates.

"He said, ‘Hey, you never know, this might be the last game that we get to play so play it like it's your last game,' " Look explained. "They said that, I didn't think about that, they told me that and that clicked in my head and that was a great thought. We've always said, ‘What has this (pandemic) taught us? It's taught us to appreciate things and not take things for granted and to be grateful for the opportunities that we have,' and these kids have embraced that."

Both teams are scheduled to play their next game on Friday. Iolani will host PAC-5 at Kozuki Stadium — that game is scheduled to kickoff at 3:15 p.m. — and Damien will face Kamehameha II at Aloha Stadium at 5 p.m.

In accordance with the City and County of Honolulu's ban on large gatherings, fan attendance is not permitted at this time.