Punahou 38, Leilehua 7 The Punahou Buffanblu in this year alone have won air riflery, baseball, basketball, paddling, golf, swimming, tennis, water polo and wrestling state championships. But last night, the No. 1 athletic department in the country won their
Punahou 38, Leilehua 7
The Punahou Buffanblu in this year alone have won air riflery, baseball, basketball, paddling, golf, swimming, tennis, water polo and wrestling state championships. But last night, the No. 1 athletic department in the country won their first ever state football title in school history to add to their list of incredible accomplishments, by crushing last year’s champions of Leilehua, 38-7, at Aloha Stadium.
The No. 1 Buffanblu (12-1) were led by Cayman Shutter completed 24-of-41 passes for 400 yards, threw two touchdowns rushed a 6-yarder in for a TD himself.
This First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association win came the same day that star player Manti Te‘o received the first ever high school Dick Butkus award.
In a special assembly held at the school’s campus, the legendary NFL Hall of Famer himself presented the award to top linebacker in the country, Te‘o.
The Mules (11-3) fell behind early in the game, going down 21-0 after the first quarter. They were able to get off a score just as time expired to end the half, but that was all they would get.
Leilehua quarterback Andrew Manley was picked off four times and was 30-of-54 for 205 yards and a touchdown.
With a second left, coach Nolan Tokuda called a timeout to regroup his Mules, and on the last play Manley fired into the endzone. Punahou was called for past interference and Leilehua got one more shot. Manley’s pass was incomplete.
Leilehua’s only score came from Rico Newman when he caught a 5-yard pass from Manley.
Punahou, which had 518 total yards of offense, had three players go over 100 yards. Running back Dalton Hilliard had 17 carries for 101 yards and a TD. Receiver Mark Silverstein finished with 9 catches for 146 yards and a TD.
Robby Toma finished with seven carries and 147 yards and a TD.
Punahou’s other scores came from Robert Izuta who hit a 29-yard field goal and Galen Arakawa, who scored on a 7-yard run with 1:51 left in the game.
Izuta was also a perfect five-for five in extra point attempts.
‘Iolani 35, Radford 20
Kellen Imada finished with 17 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns as the ‘Iolani Red Raiders won their second straight Division II state football title — their third since 2005 — to beat the Radford Rams, 35-20, last night at Aloha Stadium.
It was almost a rematch of the last time the two teams met in the championship game, which ended similarly with ‘Iolani winning 34-20.
Radford (10-4), playing just down the street from its campus and home stadium, had the longest route getting to last night’s final. The Rams first had to travel to Vidinha Stadium to face No. 3 Kaua‘i High School, then to the War Memorial Stadium on Maui to face the No. 2 Lahainalunas the very next week.
The Rams were the first to get on the board last night, scoring on the first drive of the game when Andrew Forester caught a 22-yard pass from starting quarterback Mosiah Manuma.
The Raiders (11-3) answered on their drive, capping off seven plays for 65 yards with a Imada’s first touchdown of the game — a 37-yard run.
Both teams would hold each other off throughout the second quarter until Trevyn Tulonghari caught a 27-yard pass from Harrett Arakawa to go up heading into the half.
The Raiders continued to break away in the second half to run off with the win.
Radford made incredible efforts to finish strongly. Down two scores and refusing to concede, the Rams played to the final seconds.
Manuma threw up a long pass as the clock counted down, but was incomplete for what seemed to be the last play of the game. But a penalty called on the Raiders moved the Rams up to the 9-yard line and gave them one more shot at the end zone. Manuma’s pass this time was complete to Brad Osborne for the score.
‘Iolani’s Andrew Skalman was five-for-five in extra point attempts and the Raiders finished with 259 yards of total offense (194 rushing, 65 passing).
The Rams finished with 274 yards of total offense (207 passing, 67 rushing).
Next up for prep football is the annual star games, to be played at Aloha Stadium next week.
