Iolani Alumni

On a Friday afternoon when nearly the entire senior class was off enjoying an early weekend at Molokai Ranch (for Senior Camp), the Iolani Football team was taking care of business at Aloha Stadium, defeating the Damien Monarchs 28-21 to remain undefeated in Division II.

The Raiders started out strong scoring the first 14 points of the game, but fell behind midway through the second half when the Monarchs scored their third consecutive touchdown to take a seven point lead at 21-14. Iolani tied the game early in the fourth quarter and went ahead for good with 1:26 remaining on a 13-yard TD run by junior QB Kela Marciel.

Marciel finished the game with 97 yards on the ground (1 TD) and 136 yards passing (1 TD). Senior running back Justin Yamamoto rushed for 136 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. On defense, the Raiders were able to “hold” Damien star running back Kama Bailey to 191 yards and one touchdown. It may not seem like an impressive feat, but compared to their previous meeting when Bailey rushed for 294 yards (215 in the first half) on 23 carries with touchdown runs of 72 and 41 yards, it was a significant accomplishment.

With the win, Iolani improves to 3-0 in ILH Division II (4-3 overall) and is two games up on the second place Monarchs with three games remaining. This Saturday, the Raiders will face Pac-5 at 5:00pm at Aloha Stadium.

Intermediate Football: The Intermediate Football team closed out their season with a 30-22 win against the Punahou Buffanblu on Saturday morning at Kozuki Stadium. The team finished with a record of 3-1-1 in the ILH, second only to league champion Word of Life.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]