Football
No. 13 Iolani overwhelms No. 15 Waipahu


  



Sat, Aug 11, 2018 @ Iolani [ 3:00 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Waipahu (10-4-0) 0 0 7 714
Iolani (8-3-0) 28 20 7 055
Jonah Chong 221 yd 4 TD
Cody Marques 177 yd 1 TD
Kaua Nishigaya 34 yd 1 TD
Jonah Miyazawa 89 yd 2 TD
Matthew Fiesta 68 yd 1 TD

KAPIOLANI — The 55th Annual Father Bray Football Memorial Classic saw the home team score 55 straight points to pick up the win.

No. 13 Iolani did all of its scoring before No. 15 Waipahu could find the end zone as the Raiders dominated the visiting Marauders for a 55-14 interleague win at Eddie Hamada Field at Kozuki Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Iolani scored in all three facets of the game — which included a 95-yard kickoff return by Kyler Mento to start the second half — to improve to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the ILH Division I standings.

Both teams struggled with turnovers early on in the contest, but the difference was that the Raiders was able to redeem themselves after making a bad play.

Iolani quarterback Jonah Chong lost a fumble inside the Raiders' 30-yard line on the team's second play of the game, but the Marauders gave it right back on the next play when Shayden Molina forced a fumble on Waipahu star running back Alfred Failauga. The Raiders' Lanakila Pei scooped up the loose ball and took it all the way to the Marauders' 8-yard line to set up Kaua Nishigaya's 1-yard touchdown run.

The Raiders lost another fumble on their next series, but the defense came up big and the Marauders for no gain on back-to-back plays to force a turnover-on-downs inside Waipahu territory. Iolani capitalized on the favorable field position on Chong's 27-yard TD pass to Rayden Kaneshiro down the right sideline.

"That was something good to see … when we had bad plays, we were able to come back from them," said Iolani coach Wendell Look. "That's what we talk about, just one play at a time. For a young group like this to be able to do that, that was kind of a little surprising to me. Normally teams would fold.

"We fumbled the ball almost in our red zone, usually that would be six, but defense came back and made a turnover and we kept the momentum from there."

Defense set the tone for the Raiders in their win. Iolani held Failauga in check with 60 yards rushing — only 12 in the first half — and recorded 12 total tackles for loss and six sacks. Mento was a frequent visitor in the Marauders' backfield with 6 1/2 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks.

"They moved all over the place and made some plays," Look said of the defense. "They have to continue to do that in order for us to stay in games."

The Raiders also recovered two Waipahu fumbles and got two interceptions from Pei, which included a 12-yard pick-six.

"He's going to be one of our playmakers, him and Kyler Mento," Look said of Pei. "Those two guys, we rely on them heavily, and expect them to make plays and they do."

Iolani quarterback Jonah Chong (right) tossed four scores in the first half with each going for at least 15 yards. He finished 18 of 24 for 221 yards. Brien Ing | SL    Purchase image

Other than the lost fumble, Chong did a solid job leading the Iolani offense as the Raiders never punted in the first half. The junior QB completed 18 of 24 passes for 221 yards and four TDs, two of which went to Jonah Miyazawa. Chong's other scoring pass went to Carter Kamana, who caught a screen pass on the left side of the field before crossing the width of the field and scoring near the right pylon for a 28-yard TD.

"Offensively we just have to be efficient," Look said. "With Jonah being new at the starting role, it's just a matter of letting the offense work with him and for him. He's got a lot of weapons that he can use. He cannot go out there and try to force plays. The plays will come and the plays are there. He just has to let it work for him. For the most part, he's been doing a pretty good job."

For the Marauders (1-1), Saturday's loss didn't count towards their OIA Division I standings, Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said it was "a humbling experience" for a team that was coming off a 34-13 win over Open Division-opponent Waianae last weekend.

"How we lost today, of course we're disappointed, but I think there's no better lesson than to lose, and have the whole season ahead of you," said Carvalho. "When you play a quality team like Iolani — they're well coached and they're fast — it's always going to be tough, but I'm proud of my kids."

Waipahu quarterback Cody Marques threw a 49-yard TD pass to Matt Fiesta and ran in a 2-yard TD to get the Marauders on the scoreboard in the second half.

"Second half I thought we played a little better," said Carvalho. "We had a sense of urgency, guys weren't giving up, so that's a positive."

Iolani travels to Kailua (0-2, 0-1) next Friday while the Marauders face Radford (0-2) at John E. Velasco Stadium on Saturday.



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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