[ OIA WHITE ]

Radford powers its way
past Moanalua in opener

A burly Radford offensive line cleared the way for Alex Daniels to rush for 173 yards and powered the Rams to a 27-7 victory over Moanalua in last night's Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference opener at the Menehunes' field.

The Rams' line of Matthew Ortogero, Ramsey Feagai, Kellen Tugade, Chad Afi and Ian Scheuring averages 279 pounds per man and wore down a smaller Moanalua squad to lead Radford to a win over its neighbors down Salt Lake Boulevard.

"That was our game plan since camp," Radford coach Fred Salanoa said. "Seeing our size, we want to control the line of scrimmage and we want to get those big boys up front blocking for Alex.

"I'm glad they showed it tonight because they haven't shown it all camp and they didn't show in the preseason game. This was a good motivator going into our next game."

Daniels carried the ball 28 times and scored two touchdowns in leading the Radford attack. Rams quarterback Ryan Burciaga and Russell Wantowski also ran for scores in the first half as Radford built a 20-0 lead and played keep-away for the rest of the game.

Moanalua had opportunities to cut into the Radford lead in the second half, but had two possessions stall deep in Rams territory.

"We had a couple missed assignments and we're definitely going to have to get on the film and fix those," Moanalua coach Arnold Martinez said.

"It's the little things, especially when you get close. One or two blown assignments on a given play and you're just giving it away."

Radford scored on three of its first four possessions and took a 20-0 lead on Daniels' 6-yard run to open the second quarter.

Moanalua's option offense struggled against an aggressive Rams defense, but the Menehunes got a break when Quinton Tang recovered a fumble at the Radford 17 with 1:17 left in the half.

Moanalua converted on a fourth-and-13 play to get to the Radford 5, and got on the scoreboard when Justin Dillinger ran behind the left side of the offensive line and bulled into the end zone as time expired.

The Menehunes were granted a golden opportunity early in the third quarter when a bad snap on a Radford punt attempt gave Moanalua the ball at the Rams 5. But the Radford defense stuffed the Menehunes on four running plays to maintain a 20-7 lead.

"I played college ball and I played high school, and the worst teams we faced were option teams because they have ball control," Salanoa said. "We were really looking forward to this game to test our run-stopping ability."

Radford was content to grind out yardage on the ground and run time off the clock as Daniels followed his blockers for 152 yards in the second half.

"They're very physical on both sides. They got great surge of the line of scrimmage," said Martinez, whose team suited up 33 players. "The depth got to us a little bit. We're asking a lot of our kids."

Campbell 54, Kalaheo 0: Quarterback Shaye Asoau threw for 160 yards without an interception to lead the Sabers to a lopsided win over the Mustangs.

Asoau connected with Issac Laupola for both of his touchdown passes of the game, including a 64-yard reception.

The Sabre defense held the Mustangs to just 117 yards of total offense. Campbell's Kealiiohokakea Basham collected seven tackles, including two for a loss of yardage.