Iolani Advances To HHSAA Division II Finals, 35-21

Al Linsky, for Digital Sports Hawaii

VIEW:    More photos at www.coach-photos.com
LISTEN: Audio broadcast (Archive available from Nov.26, 2007)

Before
the game, it was absolutely steaming at Kozuki stadium. When the sun
came out you could just feel the temperature rise, and with no breeze
it was pretty uncomfortable for the fans who started filling the
stadium as early as two hours before the game.

Kauai
brought a large contingent of fans. With both teams’ fans showing lots
of red it looked like the stadium was packed for one side, but nothing
could be further from the truth.

Kauai
not only brought their football team and fans, they brought their
varsity boys soccer team who played the Raiders in an early morning
game.

Kauai was coming off a 40-9 blowout of Roosevelt played at Vidinha Stadium.

The
Raiders were coming off a few week layoff as they earned a bye for
being the #2 seed. This rest allowed some injuries to heal, and most
importantly, it gave quarterback Kela Marciel time to recover from that
vicious hit in the Punahou game.

There were more penalties and errors in this game, from both teams, than expected. But, the Raiders capitalized on the
Kauai errors more efficiently which earned them the win.

At the quarters it was 7-7, 14-14, 28-14 and 35-21.

For
the Raiders, Lionel Fujioka had a huge game, catching 5 for 139 yards,
scoring a touchdown on a 71 yard pass play, and getting an interception
to end the game. Aaron Fong scored the last two touchdowns and caught 3
passes to total 67 yards on the day. Workhorse Justin Yamamoto got the
Raiders on the board with one of his 25 rushes for 138 yards. The other
Raider touchdown was scored by Reid Furukawa who caught 2 passes for 14
yards and also rushed 3 times for 12 yards.

Raider
quarterback Kela Marciel had another good game as he was 14 for 21 for
a total of 253 yards with one interception. He also ran 6 times for 20
yards.

As
the score indicates, this was a close game in the first half. The Red
Raiders matched the Raiders touchdown for touchdown as John Gebauer
caught an 11 yard pass from Trent Allianic in the first quarter. In the
second quarter, Andrew Renaud caught an 8 yard pass from Allianic.

The
third quarter was where the Raiders pulled away. The key play was a
fumble recovery by Andrew Skallman. The Red Raiders had just held the
Raiders on downs, helped by a few penalties, to force a punt. The
momentum was switching, the Raiders punted, but a good hit and the
fumble recovery by Andrew switched that momentum right back in the
Raiders’ favor, resulting in Furukawa’s touchdown to make it 21-14.

Any
doubt as to the momentum was completely erased as J.R. Bunda caused
another fumble, recovered by Peter Takara, which led to Aaron Fong’s
first of 2 touchdowns.