Warriors roll by Raiders

From a high school athlete's perspective, Kamehameha's Jayson Rego has one of the most enjoyable jobs on a Hawaii football field this year.

He gets to carry the ball a lot.

Rego ran 16 times in the first half and 21 overall for 148 yards last night as the fourth-ranked Warriors rolled to a 51-20 Interscholastic League of Honolulu football victory over No. 8 Iolani last night in front of 3,625 at Aloha Stadium.

But Rego isn't the only one having a blast. Kamehameha's offensive line is feeling fine, too.

"It's all about teamwork on the O-line," Warriors lineman Ian Estrada said. "If we don't have teamwork, it's not going to happen. We take care of what we need to do and concentrate on our assignments."

Rego's 92 first-half yards and two 1-yard touchdowns helped the Warriors (4-1-1, 2-1) jump out to a 21-3 halftime lead. He went over the 100-yard mark with a 14-yard gain on his first carry of the second half, and then he added his third touchdown of the night late in the third quarter with a 5-yard run.

It was a case of missed opportunities for the Raiders, who cut it to 28-14 early in the third quarter in their first loss of the season. Iolani (5-1, 2-1) twice settled for Milo Kalama field goals after driving deep into Warriors territory.

"We played our hearts out, but sometimes heart isn't enough," Iolani linebacker Jon Takamura said. "We had a good game plan going in. They won it up front. On defense, we just couldn't plug the holes and Rego is a really good running back."

Led by quarterback Kiran Kepo'o, the Raiders successfully moved the ball much of the night, but were plagued by overthrows and drops. A lefty who lines up in the shotgun, Kepo'o went 14-for-38 for 182 yards. But he was sacked four times, including two by Andrew Taeoalii.

"Moving the ball (more) would have kept our defense off the field and that would have given us a better chance," said Takamura, who set up Kalama's second field goal when he took a short snap on a fourth-down punting situation and ran for 29 yards. "We'll come back next week."

Kepo'o's only interception of the night, by Gagamoe Manuma, set up Kamehameha's first touchdown less than 5 minutes into the game.

Ikaika Hardie put a damper on Iolani's comeback bid with a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown early in the second half.

After Michael Hirokawa's 1-yard TD run for the Raiders cut the margin to 28-14, Kamehameha quarterback Pono Kam hooked up with Waika Spencer for a 30-yard score and the Warriors began to pull away for good.

"This was no cakewalk," Kamehameha coach Kanani Souza said. "It was a big victory for us and I think (we have) an excellent football team. Our offensive line did the job. We've talked a lot about all the holding penalties we got last year and we only got one holding call all night. That's about a 100 percent improvement over last year."

The Raiders play Saint Louis next week, while the Warriors meet Punahou.