Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta stretches his arm out over the goal line for one of his two touchdowns of the night. Evan Asato | SL

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082413_EA_MCK-MOA_-_8-23-13_7__1.jpg - Evan Asato | SL

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In an OIA Red East opener for both teams, McKinley held off a Moanalua rally in the fourth quarter at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium. Moanalua drops to 0-3 overall, (0-1 in the Red East) while McKinley improves to 2-1 overall, (1-0 in the Red East)

The Tigers scored all of their touchdowns on the ground as they rushed for 247 yards.

"We figured we could run against them, we were in a lot better shape this week. Last week was our first game and we got a lot of stuff out," said McKinley coach Joseph Cho, referring to their first real game against Kapolei.

Leading the charge was bruising running back/linebacker Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta who rushed for 96 yards on 15 carries and 2 touchdowns.

"It was alright, I still need to improve, but all of us just worked as a team and that's how we came out with a victory. This wasn't given, we had to earn this and we worked hard this past week. We went through some struggles the week before, but we bounced back, picked our heads up and moved forward," said Tuitele-Iafeta.

McKinley got on the scoreboard first after Tuitele-Iafeta took the direct snap and rushed up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown.

In the second quarter, on a 4th-and-goal, Denzel Kalahiki-Gasper scored a 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak and Gerime Bradley's run made it 14-0.

Moanalua immediately answered back as Donald Lambert returned the kick off 86 yards and he ran it in for the 2-point conversion as the Na Menehune trailed 14-8.

Gerime Bradley rushed for a 34 yard touchdown and Liva Logoi made the PAT to make it, 21-8.
Bradley finished the game with 97 yards on 11 carries and 1 touchdown.

Moanalua drove it all the way to the McKinley 27 yard-line, but Micah Kaneshiro was intercepted by Malik Kuhia.

To open the second half, Moanalua drove it all the way to the McKinley 2-yard line after Kaneshiro threw a 37-yard pass to Jason Sharsh. However on the next possession, the Na Menehune fumbled the ball and Kennedy Togafau recovered it for the Tigers.

Moanalua managed to get into McKinley territory, but Kaneshiro's pass was intercepted by Malik Kuhia again. McKinley immediately took advantage of the turnover and seven plays later, Tuitele-Iafeta capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown, putting the Tigers up 28-8.

"He's tough," said Cho of Mathias. "We depend on him so much on offense, defense and kicking. Once in a while the kid gets tired and it's natural, but when he's playing, he's hard to beat."

Despite being down 20 heading into the fourth quarter, Moanalua did not give up.

Kaneshiro found a rhythm and 12 plays later, he found Jason Sharsh for a 4-yard touchdown and the Na Menehune trailed, 28-14 with 8:46 remaining.

After McKinley went three and out and a short punt, Kaneshiro found Sharsh for a 31 yard gain. Kaneshiro then hit Chad Aragon in stride for a 40-yard touchdown and they trailed 28-21 with 6:33 remaining in the quarter.

McKinley got all the way down to Moanalua's 25 yard line, but turned it over on downs after Kalahiki-Gasper's run came up short.

Moanalua used its hurry up offense and managed to get to McKinley's 31 yard-line after Kaneshiro found Ishmil Scott out of the backfield for a 14-yard gain.

However, on the next possession, the snap sailed over Kaneshiro's head and he fell on it for a 19-yard loss.

Facing a 4th and 29, from the 50 yard-line, Kaneshiro was intercepted for the third time tonight by Kiaipono Kini and the Tigers were able to run out the clock after taking a knee.