OIA Football
Uiliata's prolific night leads Waipahu past Radford in OIA D1 opener


  



Fri, Aug 26, 2022 @ Waipahu [ 7:30 pm ]


Final 1 2 3 4 T
Radford (2-6-0) 7 0 0 07
Waipahu (11-2-0) 7 21 0 735

WAIPAHU — There was little that the Radford Rams could do to slow down Liatama Uiliata and the Waipahu Marauders Friday night. 

Uiliata was on the receiving end of three touchdown passes before halftime and Waipahu rallied from an early deficit on its way to a 35-7 win over visiting Radford in the regular season opener for both teams. 

A crowd of about 1,200 fans at the Masa Yonamine Athletic Complex saw the Marauders improve to 2-1 overall (1-0 OIA Division I), while the Rams fell to 0-2 (0-1). 

Waipahu racked up 432 yards of total offense, including 369 passing from quarterback Joshua Manu, who completed 24 of 43 passes. He threw four touchdown passes before halftime, but was intercepted twice after the break. 

Uiliata turned in a prolific performance, to say the least. The 5-foot-9, 176-pound senior wide receiver hauled in 15 receptions for 172 yards, including TD grabs of 5, 3 and 11 yards. In the first half alone he caught 10 passes for 104 yards. 

"He's just a playmaker for us. I mean, really we just want to put him in positions to make plays just because he can," Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said of Uiliata, who also registered an interception while on defense in the game's closing minutes. 

The Rams, however, jumped out to an early lead after they marched 62 yards in eight plays to open the game, capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Kalob Victorino-Avilla to Joel Gillies. 

Radford converted both a third-and-6 and a third-and-10 on the scoring drive.

Carvalho said it was just the wake-up call his team needed. 

"Oh yeah, for sure. I think any time guys kind of move the football on you, that's a coachable moment because you can fix things and make sure that doesn't happen again," he said. "I thought our defensive staff did a good job shoring up some things and that really helped when our offense started moving the ball."

The Marauders had an answer for Radford's score with a 14-play drive that included three third-down conversions and one on fourth. Manu connected with Uiliata on an easy pitch-and-catch for a 5-yard touchdown with four minutes and 26 seconds left in the first quarter. Xavier Transfiguration tied the score at 7 with his extra point. 

"It was important for us because we really had to put our foot on the gas," said Uiliata, who set his team up with solid field position after his kickoff return of 37 yards to just beyond midfield. 

The Manu-to-Uiliata connection thrice extended Waipahu's scoring drive. The pair hooked up for a 15-yard pick-up on a third-and-8. Later in the drive, they linked up for a 13-yard completion on another third-and-8. Finally, on the scoring play Manu fired a well-placed pass to Uiliata, who ran a quick slant inside of the defensive back. 

The score was tied at 7 after the first quarter, but it was all Waipahu in the second. 

The very first play of the second stanza saw Manu complete a pass for 30 yards to Tai Aipia-Barrett to put their team in the red zone. Four plays later, Manu found Uiliata for a 3-yard TD pass. The duo reconnected for an 11-yard touchdown on another quick slant to finish off Waipahu's next drive, which stretched it to a 21-7 lead for the Marauders. 

"They were double-teaming me, they were playing outside, inside and all over me, but I feel like with my craft, with this coaching staff helping me on my craft, I feel like it really helped me just dominate," Uiliata said. 

A few possessions later, Radford started its penultimate drive of the first half after the Waipahu 45-yard line. The Rams went for it on fourth-and-2 from the 37, but Elijah Falaniko was dropped for a five-yard loss on a toss play and it resulted in a turnovers on down. The next play saw Manu find Aipia-Barrett for a 49-yard pass play, which set-up Manu's nine-yard TD pass to Chazen Rodillas-Vesido with 1:14 until the half. 

The Marauders led 28-7 at the break and added a defensive score with Faapaia Fualema's 22-yard interception return for touchdown early in the fourth quarter. 

Carvalho pointed to the end of the first half as being a pivotal sequence in the contest, but also expressed his displeasure with the fact that the offense failed to score after halftime. 

"That was super important to try and get up and stay ahead as much as we could, so I was just glad our kids played (but) I wasn't really happy with our offensive production in the second half," Carvalho said. "There was a lot of missed opportunities, but it's early in the season, it's our first regular season game so definitely stuff to watch on film and coach up and get better at."

Fualema's pick-six was in contrast to his start to the game. Carvalho cited team rules as the reason that Fualema, a senior linebacker, was not on the field for Radford's one and only scoring drive. 

"He just missed one practice. It was excused, but it's just team rules kind of stuff, but yeah, once we settled down, put everybody in, I think the guys did pretty good," Carvalho said. 

Uiliata was like the Marauder most happy for Fualema. 

"We had our key player out for one series, so that really made a difference. After that, he helped us in a big way," he said. "That one drive really made a difference without him, so he came back in and did his stuff."

Radford was held to 142 total yards, including minus-10 rushing. It was only 4 of 14 on third downs. 

Arjay Kelemete had three of Waipahu's four total sacks. 

"I think they're playing exceptional. I just like the energy they bring and I think if they have high energy like that, I think that things will be good for us," Carvalho said. 

Radford will have a bye next week before it visits Roosevelt on Sept. 9. 

Waipahu will host Farrington that same night. 



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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