On a good team, defense steps up when the offense is less than stellar. 'Iolani's defense did just that.

The Red Raiders held Aiea to a second-quarter touchdown and 150 yards of total offense and forced four turnovers for a 21-7 victory last night in a the Division II semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships at John E. Velasco Stadium on the Radford High campus.

“;Our defense was the difference. They stepped up big-time,”; 'Iolani head coach Wendell Look said. “;They held Aiea to seven points, which is a great accomplishment.”;

Look was less than enthusiastic about his offense, despite three touchdowns and 332 offensive yards, 197 from the arm of Jarrett Arakawa.

“;We turned it over four times offensively, which is very unusual,”; Look said. “;Our offense sputtered, but we ran the ball well when we needed to. This was probably one of G's (Arakawa's nickname) worst performances of the year, but that's a credit to Aiea's defense. They pressured him all night and mixed up their coverages very well.”;

'Iolani, the D-II top seed and ranked fifth in the Star-Bulletin Top 10, improved to 11-2 for the year and will face second-seeded Kauai on Friday at 4:30 p.m. for the D-II championship at Aloha Stadium.

Aiea, the OIA White Conference runner-up, finished the season at 9-4.

'Iolani struck first, recovering an Aiea fumble at Na Alii's 38 and scoring seven plays later on a 1-yard run by Ammon Baldomero. Andrew Skalman's extra-point kick was good to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead.

Aiea evened the score midway through the second quarter when Otto-Titan Salausa punched it in from the 5.

'Iolani got the ball back with a little more than 2 minutes left in the half and went on a 75-yard touchdown drive, culminating in a 24-yard scoring pass from Arakawa to Josiah Sukumaran.

Aiea threatened late in the game after an interception of an Arakawa pass at Aiea's 21-yard line, but went four and out and had to punt.

'Iolani got the ball back with less than 4 minutes on the clock and went on to drive in the final nail in the closing minute with a 12-yard touchdown run by Trevyn Tulonghari.

Two-time defending state champion 'Iolani appeared in four of the six previous D-II finals, winning three. Aiea's only trip to the final was back in 2003, when Na Alii won the inaugural D-II state championship.

Kauai 28, Hawaii Prep 14

No details were reported.