Raiders Advance To Division II Finals, 35-21
by Al Linsky
Before the game, it was absolutely steaming at Kozuki stadium. When the sun came out you could just feel the temperature rise, and with no breeze it was pretty uncomfortable for the fans who started filling the stadium as early as two hours before the game.
Kauai brought a large contingent of fans. With both teams' fans showing lots of red it looked like the stadium was packed for one side, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Kauai not only brought their football team and fans, they brought their varsity boys soccer team who played the Raiders in an early morning game.
Kauai was coming off a 40-9 blowout of Roosevelt played at Vidinha Stadium.
The Raiders were coming off a few week layoff as they earned a bye for being the #2 seed. This rest allowed some injuries to heal, and most importantly, it gave quarterback Kela Marciel time to recover from that vicious hit in the Punahou game.
There were more penalties and errors in this game, from both teams, than expected. But, the Raiders capitalized on the Kauai errors more efficiently which earned them the win.
At the quarters it was 7-7, 14-14, 28-14 and 35-21.
Lionel Fujioka had a huge game, catching 5 for 139 yards, scoring a touchdown on a 71 yard pass play, and getting an interception to end the game.
Aaron Fong scored the last two touchdowns and caught 3 passes to total 67 yards on the day.
Workhorse Justin Yamamoto got the Raiders on the board with one of his 25 rushes for 138 yards.
The other touchdown was scored by Reid Furukawa who caught 2 passes for 14 yards and also rushed 3 times for 12 yards.
Kela Marciel had another good game as he was 14 for 21 for a total of 253 yards with one interception. He also ran 6 times for 20 yards.
As the score indicates, this was a close game in the first half. The third quarter was where the Raiders pulled away and the key play was a fumble recovery by Andrew Skallman. The Red Raiders had just held the Raiders on downs, helped by a few penalties, to force a punt. The momentum was switching, the Raiders punted, but a good hit and the fumble recovery by Andrew switched that momentum right back in the Raiders' favor, resulting in Furukawa's touchdown to make it 21-14.
Any doubt as to the momentum was completely erased as J.R. Bunda caused another fumble, recovered by Peter Takara, which led to Aaron Fong's first of 2 touchdowns.
It was a great victory, but there is no time to savor it. The finals will be Friday, 5pm, Aloha Stadium against the #1 seed, Lahainaluna, who beat Kaimuki 52-20 to reach the finals.
To see more photos, please visit iolani-events.org.
