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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveDecember 17, 2021, 11:45pm
Fri, Dec 17, 2021 @ Farrington [ 7:00 pm ]
KALIHI — No QB1, no problem.
With its starting quarterback out with an injury, the Iolani football team turned to No. 1 Friday night.
Brody Bantolina amassed 232 all-purpose yards and three total touchdowns to lead No. 8 Iolani to a workmanlike 21-0 win over No. 15 Aiea in a semifinal game of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division I state tournament.
A crowd of about 900 fans at Farrington's Edward ‘Skippa' Diaz Stadium at Kusunoki Field saw the second-seeded Raiders (10-0) punch their ticket to the state championship game Thursday, where they will play Lahainaluna, the top seed in the tournament.
Na Alii (4-3), the third seed, had their season come to an end just six days after they narrowly defeated Moanalua for the Oahu Interscholastic Association title.
Bantolina, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior running back who wears the No. 1, ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. His 64-yard TD pass from Kualau Manuel accounted for Iolani's only other trip to the end zone.
Manuel, a 5-foot-9, 140-pound sophomore, started at quarterback in place of junior Micah Hoomanawanui, who was unavailable to play Friday. Manuel completed his first two passes, but missed on his next four. He strung together seven consecutive completions — including the long TD play on a screen pass to Bantolina — and went on to finish 11-of-16 passing for 96 yards with one interception (that came on a pass that was tipped in the secondary).
"Next man up, you know, and if anyone goes down, it's just the next man up," Bantolina said of Manuel, who had attempted just 39 passes and thrown for 214 yards entering Friday.
"Kualau did a great; he's only a sophomore, he stepped up," Bantolina said. "There's a lot of inexperienced guys out there and he just did his part and executed."
Manuel got a lot of help from his durable running back, to be sure, as well as a clean sheet from a defense that was up to the task despite a four-week layoff.
The Raiders tallied nine tackles for loss, including five sacks — two apiece by hybrid linebackers Jacob Gaudi and Zion Junk — and a pair of takeaways.
It was the first time that Aiea was shut out this season.
"It's a heck of a job," Iolani coach Wendell Look said the defense and coordinator, Delbert Tengan.
"(Aiea's) got playmakers out there and for us to how we contained them, these guys executed the game plan to a T and coach Del did a heck of a job prepping these kids and you can't say enough about the effort they put out defensively," he said.
Iolani's first takeaway led to the game's first score. Two plays after Mason Mizuta pinned Na Alii at their own 1-yard line with his 59-yard punt, Stirling Sakashita stripped quarterback Ezekiel Olie on a quarterback run and Nikolas Yim recovered the fumble for the Raiders at the 5. On the very next play, Bantolina bounced a run outside the tackles for a touchdown.
"That's been all year, our defense has created turnovers for the offense to put us in great field position and the offense has been able to take advantage of that," Look commented.
Allison Chang tacked on the extra point to give her team a 7-0 lead with three minutes and nine seconds left in the first quarter.
The score held until the final minute of the first half. Bantolina hauled in the quick pass from Manuel and carved his way along the left sideline with an escort of several teammates for the 64-yard scoring play.
"I'm just thankful that I had blockers there to block for me and I had a whole wall — especially Kai Preusser, Rayne Passi, Tristan Kim and Brodie Iwasaki," Bantolina said. "They were all there helping me out, so all thanks to them, really."
Bantolina scored with only 18 seconds left in the second quarter; the touchdown came on a third-and-8 and after Aiea had forced three consecutive Iolani three-and-outs.
"It was great for us," said Bantolina, whose team took a 14-0 lead into the intermission. "We needed the momentum."
Bantolina finished off the scoring with his 46-yard TD run on another third-down play with just under five minutes left in the third quarter.
Of his 29 carries Friday night, Bantolina was dropped for a loss only once. He averaged 5.8 yards per rush and accounted for eight total first downs.
Look praised the maturity of Bantolina and the rest of his teammates to avoid any type of rust from nearly month-long break between games.
"They kept focus, they knew what (was) the purpose, they knew what the process was gonna be and they stuck to the path, stayed on the journey and you know, we got one more to go," Look said. "One more to go."
Two years after a heartbreaking 20-17 loss to Hilo on a last-second field goal, the Raiders will get their shot at redemption Thursday.
"You know, it feels great. Honestly, after a loss like we had two years ago, it just feels great to be back," Bantolina said. "We've all worked really hard, you know, long season, especially with the whole effects of COVID, you know, it just feels great to be back and to have such an opportunity is truly grateful and I just thank God and the team and the coaches for everything they've done for me."
Look's squad has had a long time to reflect upon the crushing loss to the Vikings. With the cancelation of the 2020 prep football season, Iolani was resigned to an intrasquad scrimmage last spring. This fall, it has run the table through a mix of ILH and non-league games, which sets up a pair of undefeated teams in the Raiders and Lunas (7-0) in the D1 final Thursday at Farrington.
"Hey, that's what these kids have been working for — for two years — and I can't say enough about them," Look said. "I'm so proud of them, how they persevered and the resilience they showed, the maturity they showed through all this, I think they were better than some of the adults sometimes and that says a whole lot about this group of guys; can't say enough about them."
Kickoff for Thursday's title game is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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