Leighland Tagawa | Special to SL

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Leighland Tagawa | Special to SL

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The Castle and Radford football teams are finding themselves in unfamiliar spots after the first two weeks of the 2016 season.

Following the Knights' lopsided 47-6 win over the Rams in both team's regular-season opener Friday night, their current paths couldn't be more different.

Castle is off to its first 2-0 start in seven years, since it opened its 2009 campaign with wins over Pearl City and Iolani. Meanwhile, the Rams are 0-2 for the first time since 2007, when it ended up going winless in an 0-8 season.

The Rams' struggles were somewhat expected after a promotion to Division I following a perfect 13-0 record last year that culminated in a D2 state title.

After Friday's loss to the Knights, Radford first-year coach Lon Passos said it's back to the drawing board for his group.

"We go back to basics," Passos said. "We have a bye week now and we have to recover (because) it's going to be a tough season. It's not going to get any easier from here."

Radford gave up 437 yards defensively to Castle, a week after allowing 482 in a 42-6 loss to Iolani. The offense is averaging just 137 yards per game.

"You've just got to tackle and on offense we've got to keep our defense off the field," Passos said. "We've got to be more consistent on our drives."

Castle is finding success is an unlikely way: a running game.

The Knights pounded out 269 rushing yards against the Rams and saw two players go over 100 yards. Quarterback Makana Smith ran for 105 yards and running back Henry Nakamura-McCoy pumped out 103 yards.

Smith has shown flashes of Willie Ewaliko-like escape-ability, if you will. He scrambled for a pair of 15-yard touchdowns in the first quarter Friday night that set the tone for the rest of the game. He also threw a couple of scoring strikes in the win.

Offensive line was an area of concern for Castle coming into the season with many new faces, but Smith praised the unit after the game.

"They're doing their jobs and they're just doing what they have to do and I'm grateful for them," Smith said.

The Knights ended up going 6-5 in 2009. Their best start came in the 2000 season, when they won their first six games and finished with a 9-4 record.

They'll face their toughest opponent to date when they visit seventh-ranked Mililani Saturday.

"We're pretty confident, but Mililani is a new challenge," Smith said.

"This is the real test that we're coming up to, but all in all, we're pretty confident going into this next game."