OIA Football
Roosevelt roughs up Kaiser to repeat as OIA Division II champs


Edward Zhang | SL
November 9, 2024, 11:49pm

  

Sat, Nov 9, 2024 @ Farrington [ 4:00 pm ]

Roosevelt

34

Kaiser

3

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Roosevelt (10-3-0) 7 13 14 034
Kaiser (10-3-0) 3 0 0 03
BJ Rezentes 40 yd
Ioane Kamanao 316 yd 2 TD



The OIA Division II plaque is staying in Makiki.

Roosevelt trailed early before scoring the final 34 points of the contest to dismantle Kaiser, 34-3, claiming a second straight league title.

The steady gusts at Edward 'Skippa' Diaz Stadium at Kusunoki Field should have favored the Cougars, whose three-headed rushing attack of Dillion Reis, Brady Kim, and Aiden Leong has racked up over 1500 yards and 20 touchdowns on their way to the OIA title game.

However, Roosevelt proved to be more than ready to stonewall Kaiser's dominant ground game. According to junior linebacker Ezekiel Soon, it all started in the film room.

"That was our game plan. We saw they were a decent running team, so we wanted to stack the box, take that away from them, and make them one-dimensional."

While Soon and fellow linebacker Taimane Souza-Fautanu lived in the Kaiser backfield, combining for 19 tackles (six for a loss) on the way to holding the Cougars to just 80 yards rushing on the day, make no mistake — it was brilliant corner play that allowed the Rough Riders' front seven to shine.

Outside corner duo Victor Silva and Kona Siamani were seen playing one-on-one press coverage on almost every snap. Forget deep safety help; on most plays, Roosevelt didn't have a defender past five yards of the line-of-scrimmage — a true testament to their dominance.

Lockdown coverage on the outside gave the Rough Riders enough confidence to put nine defenders in the box on every snap, which meant that running was a lost cause.

The result: a fumble recovery on the Roosevelt five-yard line leading to Kaiser's only three points of the game.

Immediately after that turnover opened the scoring, Roosevelt set the tone for what would be the offensive story of the night.

A 13 yard run by junior quarterback Ioane Kamanao, a 12 yard screen play to senior wideout Keawe Davis, a 28 yard jump ball corralled by junior receiver Jahsiah Souza-Armstead, who then caught a back shoulder fade in the endzone.

It was 7-3 in a flash, and Roosevelt's air raid offense would run rampant for the rest of the contest.

Although Davis finished the match with the game-leading seven receptions for 114 yards, Souza-Armstead perhaps had the greatest impact. After two field goals and a ten-yard slant put Roosevelt up 20-3 to enter the half, the first Rough Rider play of the second half saw the 5 foot 9 junior catch the ball a few yards behind the line on a bubble screen.

A few blocks and a broken tackle later, Souza-Armstead was 41 yards down the field as he waltzed into the endzone.

Kamanao passed for a career-high 316 yards in the contest, completing 19 of 37 passes with two of them for scores, both to Souza-Armstead, who continued his stellar play of late, hauling in six passes for 101 yards, giving him five scores and 350 receiving yards in his last three outings.

On the very next drive, linebacker Izaiah Nakamura picked off one of two Kaiser quarterbacks, BJ Rezentes, and then took it 49 yards for an untouched pick-six.

That would be the last score of the game.

These two teams could have a chance to settle the season series in the HHSAA Division II State Championship, provided they make it past the first two rounds.

"It aint going to be anything until we do it again," Souza-Armstead said when asked about the win.

Roosevelt will host Kamehameha-Hawaii, while Kaiser takes on PAC-5 at Farrington; both games are set for Nov. 16, at 6:30 p.m.




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.


IMAGE GALLERY


MORE STORIES

KIF on cusp of hosting D2 state tournaments in girls and boys volleyball

The Kauai Interscholastic Federation is expected to be included in the host rotations of the boys' and...

Track and field proposals among those being considered at HIADA conference

Athletics administrators from across the state are gathered at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, where the...

HHSAA inducts 44th class into Hall of Honor

Twelve student-athletes from 10 different schools and representing three of the state's leagues were...

Iolani's Nakanelua garners All-Hawaii Player of the Year honors

Senior setter Bailey Nakanelua was the engine that helped drive the Raiders back to the top of state...

Pearl City's Ngirmidol headlines All-OIA Division II picks

Chargers' setter Marley Ngirmidol named Player of the Year in OIA Division II; Pearl City head coach...

Moanalua sweeps All-OIA East Boys Volleyball top honors

Na Menehune outside hitter Lionel Gannon named Player of the Year and head coach Alan Cabanting named...