HHSAA Division II FOOTBALL: ‘Iolani races past Radford, 43-0

By Wes Nakama
HHSAA

Reece Foy completed 13 of 17 passes for 215 yards and four touchdowns — all in the first half — Saturday night as ‘Iolani raced past Radford, 43-0, in the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Division II Football State Championship semifinals.

A crowd of 2,536 at Aloha Stadium’s Hawaiian Airlines Field watched the five-time defending champ Raiders improve to 8-3 and advance to Friday's 4 p.m. title game against Lahainaluna (9-1). Radford, which won the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association’s White Conference, ends its season at 11-2.

The Rams opened the game by marching 64 yards in 10 plays, but lost the ball on downs when a pass on fourth-and-goal from the 6 fell incomplete. Radford forced an ‘Iolani punt on the ensuing series, but on the first play afterward Josiah Situmeang made an interception and returned it 45 yards for a pick-six. Four plays after the ensuing kickoff, Raiders defensive back Kevin Togami recovered a fumble at the Rams 27.

Two plays later, Foy completed a 20-yard TD pass to Austin Ohira and Max Look ran in the two-point conversion to make it 15-0 with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter. Defensive lineman Joshua Gonzaga then recovered another Radford fumble near midfield and Foy struck again four plays later, connecting with Chad Hanaoka on a 20-yard scoring pass. Jordan Genovia’s PAT put ‘Iolani ahead, 22-0 with 2:03 still left in the quarter.

Foy threw his third touchdown pass — a 42-yarder to Tanner Nishioka a split-second before being leveled — a minute into the second quarter to help extend the lead to 29-0, then later tossed a 21-yard TD to Yuuya Kato to stretch it to 36-0 with 7:28 still remaining in the half.

Kato capped the first-half scoring barrage with a 1-yard plunge eight seconds before halftime.

Nishioka led all receivers with eight catches for 125 yards.