HONOLULU — Only one team was ready to claim the mantle of the best upward mobility in Hawaii high school football.
Make that “One Team.”
Iolani lived up to its school mantra and then some in a 38-0 blanking of Lahainaluna on Thursday for the First Hawaiian Bank / HHSAA Division I championship at Farrington on Thursday. The Raiders became the first team to win a state title at both the D-I and D-II levels.
Five different players scored touchdowns and kicker Allison Ching contributed a field goal for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champs in completing an 11-0 season.
Senior hybrid Sterling Sakashita led his team’s defense to a 2-for-2 effort in shutouts in this year’s state tournament to emphatically claim a trophy that all schools in the state were denied last year when the season was canceled due to the coronavirus threat.
“It feels amazing. We worked so hard for this,” said Sakashita, who recorded six tackles and a pass breakup against the run-heavy Lunas on Thursday. “The lost season last year, it pretty much was a year of practicing without games. … It’s the payoff.”
Longtime Iolani coach Wendell Look, the state’s winningest active head coach at 217 games according to Hawaii Prep World, became emotional when he spoke about the 2020 class of seniors that did not have a chance to do what this team did.
Many of those 2020 players joined the team on the field in postgame celebration.
“This one is very special,” Look said. “They’ve waited almost two years for this.
“These kids keep us young,” he added as he teared up. “Do it for the kids. I’m just so happy for them.”
Iolani and Lahainaluna had similar trajectories in the state tournament era, having dominated the bottom division in different years. Going into Thursday, they’d combined for 12 of the 17 D-II titles.
When the Open Division was introduced in 2016, it offered a middle path for both. Iolani moved up that first year and lost in the 2016 and 2019 D-I title games. Lahainaluna, which was previously in D-I in the years prior to winning four straight D-II titles from 2016 to 2019, would’ve gone back up last year before the season cancellation; they made that official this year.
On a sunny, breezy afternoon, Iolani inexorably wore out the visitors from Maui in all three phases. The Raiders controlled the ground game to roll up 313 yards of offense to the Lunas’ 132, and they averaged nearly 15 yards on five punt returns to help turn the tide in the special teams field position battle that was waged for most of the first half. The teams combined for only seven first downs before intermission.
Iolani, which lost starting quarterback Micah Hoomanawanui to an injury prior to the state tournament, gained confidence as it went in being guided by sophomore backup Kualau Manuel. Manuel went 13-for-16 for 174 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions, with another score on the ground.
Running back Brody Bantolina was his steady, effective self with 87 yards on 23 carries.
Lahainaluna, which forced 10 turnovers in a rout of Konawaena on Saturday, managed just one.
The Raiders enjoyed a two-touchdown lead at halftime as Tristan Martinez scored on a 22-yard end-around and Kai Preusser caught a 28-yard TD from Manuel.
The Lunas’ offensive struggles were exacerbated by a shaky punting game, especially when the ball was directed into the wind blowing from the Kapalama hills. A handful of shanked punts set the Raiders up with excellent position.
“We emphasize all three phases of the game,” Look said. “The way these kids have been executing all year, it’s just amazing. … They’ve been so resilient, they’ve persevered, they never lost focus, and they were purposeful every single day. I can’t say enough about it.”
It became a no-doubter in the third quarter.
Iolani scored 17 in the third, with Taniela Taliauli catching a 29-yard TD, Keao Miyahira going in on a 41-yard scoring pass and Chang chipping in a 19-yard kick through the uprights.
Kualau added the finishing touch with a 6-yard keeper TD in the fourth.
Look said three crossover games added against OIA teams prior to the state tournament helped keep the Raiders sharp.