Iolani-41 Word of Life-40 In Football Thriller!
by Al Linsky
This was the last game of the short intermediate football season.
Word of Life was good. They had a huge, fast, running back that ran through and around would-be tacklers. They had a small, jitterbug type running back who did a great job of hiding among the giants and then racing to daylight. I lost him a few times myself.
The Raiders were undefeated coming in to this game. Could they meet this challenge and make it a perfect season?
With 6:28 left in the first quarter, it was WOL racking up the yards on the ground and taking the lead. Especially effective was a pitch back to #33 who ran wide left. 7-0 WOL.
At 4:08, Trevyn Tulonghari got momentarily free out on the right side about 15 yards out. He scooted in for the touchdown. Andrew Skalman made the extra point. 7-7.
In the second quarter, first play from about the one, WOL punched it in. 14-7 WOL.
At 8:34 it was Sheldon Lee's turn to show his stuff with a nice catch and run. The extra point was missed. 13-14.
And so it went. We couldn't stop their running game. They couldn't stop our passing game. It was looking like whoever had the ball last would win.
7:28 13-21
5:29 20-21 (Trevyn wide open this time)
2:11 20-28
End of half
At 7:44 of the third quarter, on what might have been a broken play, QB Jarrett Arakawa was chased out of the pocket and showed his speed and versatility running it in for the score. 27-28.
At 2:44 Iolani finally took the lead for the first time with a nice pass play from Jarrett to Sheldon. 34-28.
It was 34-34 with 8:17 to go in the game. And that's when I left...yes, the kids were calling.
I imagine it was an amazing finish, 41-40 the Raider won!
