Kailua offense starts to click
Sep. 24—Kailua woke up from an offensive slumber with a four-touchdown burst over an 8 minute, 31 second span of the second half to topple host Radford on Friday.
Kailua woke up from an offensive slumber with a four-touchdown burst over an 8 minute, 31 second span of the second half to topple host Radford on Friday.
Maa Fonoti passed for 266 yards and rushed for 116 and the Surfriders intercepted four passes in a 41-14 victory over the Rams in an OIA Division I game.
Koyo Kekauoha rushed for three touchdowns for the Surfriders (2-2-1, 2-1 ).
"That's what I feel we should have been doing in the first half, " Kailua coach Joseph Wong said of his team's offense. "Everything was there, but like anything else we stayed the course, trusted the process and we adjusted as a staff."
Kailua went up 14-7 on Kekauoha's 6-yard touchdown run with 4 :50 remaining in the third quarter.
On the first play following an interception by Romeo Ortiz, Fonoti hit Nainoa Smith-Akana, who took a short pass and broke numerous tackles on his way to an 89-yard touchdown with 1 :47 left in the third.
"That was amazing, " Fonoti said. "For me, it was a simple dump pass on the outside, but as you could see, he made a play 50 yards downfield and did his thing. He broke some tackles, and at the end of the day, that's my slotback and I expect him to do that. At the end of the day, he also gave me the stats."
Kekauoha had a 13-yard scoring run with 10 :35 left in the fourth and a 1-yarder with 7 :44 to go to make it 35-7.
Fonoti scored on a 2-yard run with 2 :16 remaining.
Radford's Brandon Euceda scored on a 4-yard run with 19 seconds remaining to make it 41-14.
Fonoti completed 15 of 29 passes.
"For me, I'd like to give it all to my team, " he said. "They kept me in the pocket and gave me time to do what I do. All around, it wasn't me, it was my team."
Riis Weber, Oren Tavares and Jathan Bejarano also had interceptions for Kailua. The Surfriders defense also recovered a fumble.
"That was a long time coming for our defense, " Wong said. "Over the past six games, they struggled in the turnover battle. Credit to them. They kept us in the game. They kept saying on the sideline, 'Let's just give them (the offense ) back the ball.' "
The Surfriders scored first on a 25-yard quarterback draw by Fonoti, who weaved through defenders with 44 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Kai Fraser's PAT kick made it 7-0.
The Rams (1-5, 0-4 ) tied it at 7-7 on Naalii Nicholas-Mattos' fade pass to Tyrese Miller from 4 yards out and Harrison Hoskins' PAT kick with 3 :30 left before halftime. The drive was set up by a strip sack and recovery by Radford's Waylon Allen at the Kailua 47.
On the next play, Michael Hayslett rushed for 37 yards to the Surfriders 10.
Radford's Jacob Sullivan had an interception and Elijah Falaniko forced a fumble, which was recovered by Kellen Fortson, before halftime.
Kailua had 130 yards of total offense and Radford had 66, including 5 passing, in the first half.
