Iolani QB Tai-John Mizutani attempts a pass against Kaimuki. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Aug 26, 2017 @ Iolani [ 3:00 pm ]

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Kaimuki

34

Iolani

57

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kaimuki (5-4-0)	6	8	7	13	34
Iolani (4-6-0)	13	23	14	7	57

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Tai-John Mizutani 503 yd 3 TD

Jordan Solomon 296 yd 2 TD

Kaua Nishigaya 32 yd 2 TD

Ieke Seei-Cleveland 97 yd 1 TD

Justin Genovia 153 yd 1 TD

Kaulana Kaluna, Jr. 110 yd

It was confidence-booster for one, a learning experience for the other.

Quarterback Tai John Mizutani passed for 503 yards and three touchdowns and Iolani romped Kaimuki, 57-34, Saturday afternoon in the Father Bray Classic at Kozuki Stadium.

Mizutani completed 30 of 44 passes before giving way to backup Jonah Chong early in the fourth quarter.

Justin Genovia led all receivers with nine catches for 153 yards receiving, including a 65-yard TD.

Mika Makekau kicked three first-half field goals of 32, 24 and 35 yards. She later missed a 32-yarder in the second half.

For the Raiders (1-1), executing their short-passing game helped the team rebound from a 62-35 loss to Hilo two weeks ago.

"We emphasized just getting better," Iolani coach Wendell Look said. "Two weeks ago against Hilo, we were terrible. It takes small steps and just get better everyday, get better every game. Build some confidence in ourselves, a little bit belief in what we can do. I thought they did a good job today."

For the Bulldogs (2-1 overall, 2-0 OIA D2), the non-league loss made them realize areas of concern.

"I can't anything away from these guys," Kaimuki coach David Tautofi said of the Raiders. "These guys executed on the smallest things. They made us pay for the things we didn't do well. Mistackles and just kind of keeping them under control on offense."

Tautofi did not see depth as an issue. Kaimuki listed 33 players on its roster, Iolani had 37.

"I see them having same issues with us when it comes to how many people we have on the field," Tautofi added. "Regardless, we still played them. There was a lot of things going on, but too many little mistakes affects the mindset."

It wasn't as if Mizutani was pumping it up for the long ball. Most of his damage came on short passes. His receivers did the bulk of the work on runs-after-catches.  The short passes worked because Kaimuki did not press cover the Iolani receivers.

"Majority of the plays were just run-after-catch," Mizutani said. "We've got six, seven guys who can make plays all the time. And our (offensive) line played a hell of a game today."

it wasn't easy for Iolani early. Its first two series of the game resulted in field goals of 32 and 24 yards by Makekau, who also kicked off and had a touchback.

It was looking like it was going to be a soccer-fest when Kaimuki's Richard Burton attempted a 36-yard field goal that fell short. 

On Iolani's ensuing series, Mizutani hit running back Kaua Nishigaya on a short pass. Nishigaya then broke a tackle at midfield to complete the 76-yard TD play to increase Iolani's lead to 13-0 with 2:22 in the first quarter.

Josiah Antolin's 30-yard return on the ensuing kickoff put Kaimuki at Iolani's 38. Five plays later, QB Jordan Solomon, brother of former Bishop Gorman QB Anu Solomon, scored on a 1-yard run to pull Kaimuki to 13-6 with 42 seconds left in the first.

Iolani continued to march on Kaimuki. The Raiders went 63 yards in six plays, ending with a 36-yard TD from Mizutani to Jonah Miyazawa to make it 20-7.

Kaimuki came back later, scoring on Solomon's 2-yard TD run. Ieke Seei-Cleveland rushed in for the 2-point conversion to pull the Bulldogs to 20-14 with 4:37 in the half.

Iolani again turned a short pass into a long TD. Mizutani hit Justin Genovia on a 65-yard pass to make it 26-14.

An interception by Micah Shikada to the Kaimuki 10 set up Mizutani's 5-yard TD run that make it 33-14.

Another turnover, a fumble at the Kaimuki 32 with 1:09 left in the first half was recycled into Makekau's 35-yard field goal to end the half to give Iolani a 36-14 lead.

"She's getting stronger every day," Look said. "She's getting close to getting it in the end zone, but she's accurate."

As for having to make tackles on kickoffs?

"She's tried (to make tackles); she's not going to shy away," Look said.

Antrone Cliff returned the second-half kickoff for Kaimuki to its 47. Three plays later, Seei-Cleveland scored on a 2-yard run to pull the Bulldogs to 36-21.

Iolani cashed in on another turnover, a fumble at the Iolani 32 after a 12-yard pass completion to set up Nishigaya's 1-yard TD run making it 43-21.

Mizutani continued to pick apart the Bulldogs with short passing to move the Raiders downfield to set up Nishigaya's 5-yard TD run with 30 seconds in the third quarter to make it 50-21.

Kaimuki started moving on Iolani's reserves, scoring on Solomon's 10-yard TD pass to Saburban Castillo. The 2-point conversion run failed, keeping it 50-27.

Chong got in the stats when he threw a 29-yard TD pass to Jake Kameda with 3:25 left to make it 57-27.

Kaimuki scored with 2:42 left on Solomon's 30-yard TD pass to Elijah Lemalu to pull to 57-34.

Kaimuki got the ball with 55 seconds left, but lost a fumble on first down, allowing Iolani to run out the clock.

"It was a healthy loss for us," Tautofi said. "We definitely got to get back to the drawing board on Monday and work on to Roosevelt."

Kaimuki resumes OIA D2 play at Roosevelt on Friday. Iolani will open its ILH D2 season against Damien on Friday at Farrington.