ILH Football
No. 12 Iolani pulls away in second half to down Saint Louis II


Brandon Ching | ScoringLive
October 1, 2021, 9:26pm

  

Fri, Oct 1, 2021 @ Iolani [ 3:15 pm ]

Iolani

52

Saint Louis II

28

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Iolani (11-0-0) 14 7 17 1452
Saint Louis II (4-1-0) 7 14 7 028
Chevas Gregory Jr. 82 yd 1 TD
Brody Bantolina 126 yd 5 TD
Onosai Salanoa 171 yd 1 TD
Taniela Taliauli 66 yd 1 TD



ALA WAI—Brody Bantolina scored a season-high five touchdowns and No. 12 Iolani outscored Saint Louis II, 31 to 7 in the second half en route to a 52-28 win at Eddie Hamada Field Friday.

The Raiders passed their toughest test of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season to finish 6-0 overall. Iolani clinched the league and their Division I state berth the previous week over Damien and the game against Saint Louis II had no bearing in the standings.

The Crusaders, who played their second game of the season, dropped to 1-1 overall.

"I think we did really well in the first half and we started out pretty good in the second half and the three turnovers just killed us. We were leading at one point in the third quarter. I told the team during the week that Iolani waits for you make mistake and they capitalized on it and that's what they did," Saint Louis II coach Dillard Spray said.

Keao Miyahira took the opening kickoff deep into Crusader territory and Iolani scored on their opening drive with Nela Taliauli's 12 yard touchdown pass from Micah Hoomanawanui for an early 7-0 lead.

The Crusaders answered after freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele's tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Sai Salanoa to tie the game at 7.

Bantolina broke through multiple tackles on his way to the end zone to give the Raiders a 14-7 lead after the first quarter. He rushed for his second touchdown 33 seconds into the second quarter that was set up by a pass interference call in the end zone to put Iolani up, 21-7.

Bantolina finished with 23 carries for 126 rushing yards— all are season highs.

"It was all my linemen and the defense created turnovers," Bantolina said. "I wouldn't be able to without the line and the receivers were blocking."

Salanoa, who was one of Sagapolutele's favorite targets of the afternoon with 11 catches for 171 yards, set up Kache Kaio's 7-yard touchdown.

Pupualii Sepulona recovered Bantolina's fumble with over a minute left in the quarter and Sagapolutele found Salanoa again, this time with a toe-tapping catch, to set up the Crusaders on the Iolani 1. Chevas Gregory, Jr. punched it in with 13 seconds to go before halftime to tie the game at 21.

"I can't make excuses. It was a bad play for me," Bantolina said of the fumble. "We had to pick it up after and move on from there."

"That was huge," Spray said of the turnover. "The defense stepped up. They were getting pushed around in the first half. They came away with the turnover in the red zone for us. I was a little scared and surprised with the play call since we ran the ball with no timeouts left. That was huge the kids were pumped up, they felt like they were in a good place."

Allison Chang went 7 for 7 on extra points, drilled a 21-yard field goal in the third quarter for a 24-21 lead.

Kaio hauled in his second touchdown from Sagapolutele 16 yards out to put the Crusaders up, 28-24. Sagapolutele, who stands at 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, threw for 312 yards on 28-of-33 passing.

"I think we played our game and do what we had to do. Saint Louis played a great game," Bantolina said.

Bantolina reclaimed the lead with a rushing touchdown following Asher Matsui's interception to make it, 31-28 with 2:58 left to go in the quarter.

"We held them to a field goal and we scored and we thought we were in it. No matter what, three turnovers are going to kill you all the time," Spray said.

Kaio finished with seven catches for 92 yards and hauled in a catch and appeared to cramp up at the 2:22 mark and did not return to the game.

Jacob Gaudi intercepted Sagapolutele at the 2:01 mark and the Raiders got points off the turnover after Tristan Martinez converted the screen pass from Hoomanawanui into a 24-yard touchdown to give Iolani breathing room heading into the fourth.

Hoomanawanui threw for a season-high 229 yards on 20-of-33 passing. 

A bad snap to Kapono Rivera on the punt attempt gave Iolani great field position and the Raiders capitalized with Bantolina's 38-yard touchdown that took 11 seconds off the clock.

Brayden Morioka picked off Sagapolutele for the third time and returned it all the way down to the Crusader 1 and Bantolina eased into the end zone for his final touchdown of the afternoon.

Iolani can use the off time to recover and focus on school work as it waits and sees if opportunities open up to play exhibition games before December's state tournament.

Saint Louis II plays Kamehameha II twice and PAC-5 in between to round out their schedule for the rest of October.

"A game like this is good for these young kids, most are in ninth grade. It's good to feel this type of defeat and it will help them grow. It's life lessons you can't win all the time. How will you react when you come across adversity? It's not great we lost, but there are silver linings in everything. These kids are resilient," Spray said.

Spectators were not permitted at Kozuki Stadium.


Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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