Steve Erler | Special to SL

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Steve Erler | Special to SL

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With a 10-0 lead over Radford six seconds into the second quarter of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football Championships, Kapaa had every reason to feel good about its state title chances on a rainy Friday night.

The Warriors, seeded first in the tourney, were riding a seven-game shutout streak and had not given up an offensive touchdown all year. In the first quarter against the Rams, Kapaa's defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive, a turnover on downs on the next and ended the next two Radford drives with two fumble recoveries.

It had all the makings of a Kapaa victory, but there was still much three quarters of football left to play. 

Radford was able to overcome its slow start and score the final 23 points of the game to defeat Kapaa, 30-16, for its first state title in school history. 

"We earned everything," said running back Ace Faumui. "It feels great and this is the best team that I've ever played with. I'd just like to thank God because this is a great feeling."

Even though the Rams had little success through the airwaves in the opening period, their confidence in the passing game never wavered.

Radford quickly energized its sideline and fans when Thomas Reid caught a slant route pass in stride from Quintin Iriarte for a 78-yard touchdown, just 42 seconds after Clifton Oliver gave Kapaa a 10-point lead on a 45-yard boot.

"We felt like we had our ways," said Radford coach Fred Salanoa. "If it wasn't raining, our game plan was to pass again. When it dried up a little, we tried to throw our balls — and if you see, that first touchdown was a pass. That was our plan going into this game."

Sure the Rams got on the board, but Kapaa was still up and was definitely going to make adjustments to prevent another easy score.

So when the Kapaa offense continued to struggle to move the ball, the defense took matters into its own hands and chipped in a score of its own. Jonathan Bilyeu, who had already recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass, scooped up a bobbled Radford snap for an 8-yard return to give Kapaa a 16-7 lead with 6:56 left before halftime.

With the threat of the long ball already established, the Rams were perfectly fine with taking what the defense gave them. Radford answered the Kapaa defensive score with a clock-consuming 19-play, 80-yard drive that saw the Rams convert on third down six times, the sixth of which resulted in Iriarte's 8-yard pass to Faumui with one second left before the break.

"We knew we was going to have our hands full coming in," said Kapaa coach Philip Rapozo. "They did what they had to do to beat us tonight."

Kapaa had a 16-14 halftime lead, but momentum was clearly on Radford's side. The Warriors failed to field the opening kickoff of the second half and Radford was able to pounce on the live ball. This resulted in a Roman Gennero 30-yard field goal to give the Rams the lead for good, 17-16

The Rams gave themselves some breathing room when their defense came through with a score of their own in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Jordan Walker was able to forced a fumble on a punt attempt and defensive lineman Dillon Sunday was able to return the loose ball 26 yards to give Radford a 23-17 lead.

"It was just who wanted it more at that point," said Sunday. "We worked so hard all year, from 12 in the afternoon till 8 at night. Hard work definitely pays off."

Faumui, the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II offensive player of the year, capped the Rams' scoring with a 45-yard run that was set up by Jonah Soakai's interception on Telii Fonua.

"We just had to play our game," said Faumui. "We just put our foot down, rolled it to the end and we came out with the win."