No. 3 Iolani throws
off Damien

In a battle between pass-heavy Iolani and run-oriented Damien, the aerial assault proved superior. The third-ranked Raiders defeated the Monarchs 24-7 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II matchup last night at Aloha Stadium.

Iolani quarterback Kiran Kepo'o completed 20 of 28 passes for 257 yards. The Raider gunslinger threw for 176 yards in the first half alone, and distributed the ball to five receivers throughout the game.

"Everybody talks about our offense, that we've got a lot of weapons, but the defense won the game today," said Iolani head coach Wendell Look. "We put up 24 points, but without the defensive effort, we wouldn't have been able to get those (scoring) opportunities."

Iolani (4-1) found success on its second possession of the game when Kepo'o hooked up with slot receiver Kekai Kealoha for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 4 minutes to go in the first quarter. After a successful Kody Adams kick, the score stood at 7-0 in favor of the Raiders with one quarter in the books.

Damien (3-2) took the ensuing possession and marched down the field with the help of efficient passing from quarterbacks George Martin and James Skizewski, coupled with runs by Kealoha Pilares.

In his first three games, Pilares had gained 691 yards on 63 attempts, an average of almost 11 yards per carry. Last night, however, the Iolani defense held the versatile running back to 127 yards on 26 carries.

"He's such a slippery runner," said Look of Pilares. "He's so explosive and quick. We tried to just contain him and not let him penetrate up the field. It took a great defensive effort to contain him the way that we did."

At 11:55 in the second quarter, Pilares scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, after getting the Monarchs deep into the red zone on a 25-yard scamper on the previous play.

Just before the half, Kepo'o led Iolani's no-huddle offense down the field and with 25 seconds to play before intermission, he found Mike Hirokawa out of the backfield on a short pass that went for 53 yards and a touchdown to complete the 96-yard scoring drive. It gave the Raiders a 14-7 halftime lead.

The second half of the game belonged to Iolani.

In order to control the clock, and keep Pilares off the field, the Raiders looked to Hirokawa, who rushed 25 times for 118 yards.

Iolani added a short field goal by Adams with 6:08 left in the third quarter that put the Raiders up 17-7.

In a scary moment for the Monarchs, with 1:21 to go in the third period, Pilares was tackled and remained on the ground after he started to cramp up. The running back limped off the field under his own power a few minutes later. He returned to the game, but only carried the ball once more.

With 8:57 to play in the game, Kealoha found the end zone on a 4-yard run, and after the successful extra point, Iolani was ahead for good. Kealoha caught seven passes for 97 yards.

"Damien is a great team, they're very physical (which is just the) opposite of us," said Look.

"They've got some size and try to just pound it on you. They put us in a tough situation, but our kids stepped up and played a great game."