Two designed plays from the ‘Iolani football “engineering department” gave the Raiders the needed edge on Thursday.
Otherwise, the whole first half of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships’ Division I title game at Skippa Diaz Stadium was a punt-fest and a slug-fest rolled into one.
In the end, though, ’Iolani strutted past Lahainaluna 38-0 for the D-I koa trophy.
‘Iolani’s Kai Preusser and Tristan Martinez set the stage for the Raiders’ 38-0 win with first-half TDs.
These two schools have gone at it numerous times over the years at state tournament time, formerly at the D-II level. After hearing calls from fans to move up within recent years, both decided to jump on the elevator up and then they worked their way into the state D-I final two days before Christmas in the first season played since COVID-19 hit the world.
“As a team, we played a great game,” receiver Kai Preusser said. “We did what we came to do and handled business just like we’ve been doing. It’s a team effort. Everyone showed up and did their job and that’s all we needed.”
The ILH champion and second-seeded Raiders (11-0), the No. 7-ranked team in the state by Bedrock Sports Hawaii, wound up with all the presents under the tree. And that was because of those two aforementioned plays that set the tone early.
The 2021 state Division I champion ‘Iolani Raiders hoisted the koa trophy Thursday.
The first huge early play was Tristan Martinez’s 22-yard touchdown run on a fourth-down-and-1 reverse after a timeout that allowed the ‘Iolani braintrust to talk it over.
The second difference-making moment came thanks to the hops of receiver Kai Preusser. He went high to snare a lofted, wind-blown pass from quarterback Kualau Manuel and it resulted in a 28-yard second quarter TD and an all-important 14-0 lead.
“We’ve been practicing those plays for a while and waiting for the moment to unveil them” said Martinez, who is the son of former Moanalua and Kaiser head coach Arnold Martinez. “We didn’t want to show any of it to other teams. My teammates blocked well on that reverse and Kai, he just makes plays and he went up and grabbed that. The rest is history.”
In the third quarter, ’Iolani padded its lead when Taniela Taliauli broke free to a wide-open area and caught a 29-yard TD pass from Manuel, and then Keao Miyahira took a short pass from Manuel and got around the right end for a 41-yard score.
Later, Allison Chang added a 19-yard field goal and Manuel scored on a 6-yard run for the 38-0 final.
The MIL champion, top-seeded and sixth-ranked Lunas (7-1) could never get anything going on offense. Their top ground gainer was Kaulana Tihada with 41 yards.
“I’m proud of the team that we made it here,” said Lahainaluna cornerback Christian Clarion, who finished with five tackles.
Lahainaluna quarterback Noa Gordon and cornerback Christian Clarion were disappointed with the loss, but happy about getting to the title game.
Bronson Morioka was ‘Iolani’s leading tackler Thursday, with eight.
Brody Bantolina, like he has been doing all year long, was the ‘Iolani workhorse, carrying the ball 23 times for 87 yards.
In the past four seasons, the Lunas are now 40-3. They had previously won 18 straight games overall and 10 state tournament games in a row, including the last four D-II championships. Lahainaluna’s previous loss was a 38-31 nonleague game against Damien on Aug. 3, 2019.
The Raiders’ victory was the fourth against Lahainaluna in a state championship final. Previously, in D-II title games, ‘Iolani topped the Lunas 28-21 in 2007, 36-33 in 2012, and 31-14 in 2014.
“At chapel this morning, these guys got together and talked about how they were playing this game not only for them but also for those guys who missed out in 2020,” an emotional ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look said after the final whistle. “That shows you what kid of guys they are.”
‘Iolani coach Wendell Look fielded questions after the victory Thursday. He got emotional about how his boys worked through a very difficult COVID-19 year, among other things.
In 2017, although it was only a D-II state semifinal game, Lahainaluna upended ‘Iolani 35-27.
“Iolani was a really tough team,” Lunas quarterback Noa Gordon said. “You can tell they watched a lot of film. I’m pretty happy we got this far, but I’m sorry for my team. I’m sorry I let them down.”
