Radford 17, Kaua‘i 7 – Radford High School kept Kaua‘i High School scoreless in the first half en route to its 17-7 win in last night’s First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Association State Football Championship quarterfinal game at Vidinha Stadium.
Radford 17, Kaua‘i 7 – Radford High School kept Kaua‘i High School scoreless in the first half en route to its 17-7 win in last night’s First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Association State Football Championship quarterfinal game at Vidinha Stadium.
The previously undefeated Red Raiders (8-1) had not been shutout in the first half in years nor have they trailed by that much in any of their tournament games at Vidinha within the last three years.
Radford’s long first drive lasted for 4:52 in which the Rams got off 11 plays for 64 yards resulting in a 5-yard touchdown by Phil Hogan. Kaua‘i’s first drive was unsuccessful — Kaua‘i was unable to convert a third down — forcing the Raiders to punt it away.
Radford (9-3) would go on to score on Kaua‘i’s second possession when Sean Ouchie intercepted Trey Shimabukuro and returned it for an 88-yard TD with less than a minute to go in the first quarter.
The Rams then closed the half with a 22-yard field goal by freshman kicker Cody Spraker.
Kaua‘i though came out of break looking very much motivated.
On the Raiders’ first drive out, Shimabukuro connected with Sheldon Sakai, Kaua‘i’s leading receiver, who ran 55 yards before finally being brought down by Radford’s Mosiah Manuma just shy of the goal line. Shimabukuro would then hit a wide-open Canaan Bernard for a 4-yard touchdown. That drive for Kaua‘i lasted five plays for 66 yards, which was a much needed change from the first half.
Radford answered that with another big run from Hogan. He finished the game the night’s leading rusher with 160 yards on 25 carries. But Kaua‘i came up with two huge defensive plays, stopping Radford at the 1-yard line twice. The first tackle came from Matt Parr and when Radford made the call to go for it on fourth-and-1, Hogan was stopped again only this time by Chad Koga.
Radford though was able to hold off Kaua‘i for the win to advance to the state semifinals to play No. 2 Lahainaluna at the War Memorial Stadium on Maui.
It was an unusually bad offensive night for the Red Raiders who were averaging at least 34 points a game heading into last night. What made a huge difference in the game was that Radford had much more time with the ball. Radford’s time of possession was just under 33 minutes, while Kaua‘i only had possession for 17.
Radford quarterback Manuma finished the night 8-of-13 with 82 yards passing. The Rams finished with 272 yards in total offense. Kaua‘i was held to 132 yards of total offense — 145 passing but minus 13 in rushing. Shimabukuro finished 9-of-24 with two interceptions.
This stands as Kaua‘i’s earliest exit from the tournament in three years. In 2006, the then top-ranked Kaua‘i received the first-round bye in the tournament and made it all the way to the title game. Last year, the Raiders were eliminated in the semifinals when they lost to the eventual Division II champions of ‘Iolani.
In other games, Division II No. 4 Campbell beat Konawa‘ena 25-15 and in Division I, Farrington beat No. 4 Kealakehe.
