Nobody would have guessed that last night's OIA White Division regular season finale between the high powered offenses of both the Pearl City Chargers and Radford Rams would be a low scoring 7-6 ball game won by the Chargers that was decided by an extra point conversion.
The Chargers entered John. E. Velasco Stadium with a regular season record of 5-2 and after beating the Rams, forced a 3-way tie for second place with Radford (6-2) and Kalani (6-2). A couple coin flips are scheduled for today tha will decide seeds 2,3,and 4 in next week's OIA White Division Championship Semifinal Playoffs.
Pearl City's two losses were to Kalani to open the season and Kaiser last week. Radford lost to Kaiser and Pearl City. Kalani lost to both Kaiser and Radford. The Kaiser Cougars sit in first place at 8-0.
The game was packed with high intensity drama and several opportunities on both sides to put points on the scoreboard. The Rams went 0-5 on fourth down attempts with the big blow coming with :50 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter with the ball on the Pearl City 6 yard line. Radford QB Cody Liu-Yuen threw a pass to the right side of the end zone that missed it's mark and resulted in the ball being turned over to the Chargers on downs. Pearl City ran out the clock for the win.
In a bizarre sequence of offensive possessions and defensive takeaways, the ball ended up changing hands four times on four consecutive snaps in the first quarter. Pearl City's Kristian Vaana Kikuyama picked off a Liu-Yuen pass with 9:05 on the clock. Pearl City took over on the Chargers own 41 yard line. QB Jordan Taamu fumbled the ball away on the next snap with 9:00 on the clock. Cody Crail picked off Lui-Yuen with 8:47 on the clock and returned it to the Pearl City 17 yard line. On the next play, Pearl City running back Justin Dupio coughed up the ball with 8:40 on the clock. The Rams took possession on the Pearl City 27 yard line. The Chargers stopped the Rams scoring threat on 4th and goal from the 5 yard line with 7:16 on the clock.
The Pearl City defense forced three turnovers with two picks and a fumble recovery. The Radford defense forced two Pearl City turnovers with an interception and a fumble recovery.
Overall Pearl City Chargers Head Coach Robin Kami was once again proud of his team's performance against a tough opponent. "Tonight was a good win," said Coach Kami. "It was a good day for the Pearl City community. I thought it would have been a higher scoring game but once again our defense put them against the wall and they came through for us. Our offense struggled a bit but our defense came through. On last series they dug real deep, all heart. I give credit to my coaches who did a good job on game planning this week."
GO CHARGERS!
GAME STATS:
Radford outgained Pearl City 342 – 213 of net offense.
NET PASSING: Pearl City 133 Radford 187
Radford QB Cody Liu-Yuen completed for 187 yards and 1 TD and 2 INT's.
Pearl City QB Jordan Taamu completed for 133 yards and 1 TD and 1 INT.
RECEIVING:
Pearl City: Matt Dulatre 3 REC for 37 yards; Kierren McGhee 3 REC for 31 yards, 1 TD; Timothy Rivera 4 REC for 28 yards; Paul Martin 1 REC for 22 yards; Reno Abero 1 REC for 15 yards.
Radford: Absolom Henry 7 REC for 70 yards; Justin Lugo 6 REC for 59 yards and 1 TD; Thomas Reid 3 REC for 22 yards; Chance Cacatian 2 REC for for 20 yards; Dylan Frank 1 REC for 16 yards.
NET RUSHING: Pearl City 80 Radford 155
Pearl City: Reno Abero 6 for 54 yards; Blake Cooper 5 for 28 yards; Justin Dupio 6 for 17 yards; Timothy Rivera 2 for 6 yards.
Radford: Chance Cacatian 11 for 65 yards; Tobias Powell 9 for 47 yards; Cody Lui-Yuen 7 for 36 yards; Rashone Osborne 3 for 7 yards.
@ Radford High School
Pearl City (6-3, 6-2) 0 7 0 0 7
Radford (7-2, 6-2) 0 0 6 0 6
SCORING SUMMARY:
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City's Kierren McGhee runs away from Rams DB Izaiah Lavatai on a 26 yard touchdown pass from
QB Jordan Taamu in the second quarter. The Chargers took a 7-0 lead after Dominic Maneafiga's PAT.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Dominic Maneafiga's converts the PAT out of the hold of Timothy Rivera.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Radford's Justin Lugo hauls in a 28 yard touchdown pass from QB Cody Lui-Yuen in the third quarter.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Rams QB Cody Lui-Yuen flips the ball back to Andrew Killen on a fake PAT that was stopped on
the two yard line.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City's Kainoa Kahilihiwa closes in on Andrew Killen on the Ram's failed 2-point conversion attempt.
KEY PLAYS
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Kristian Vaana Kikuyama picked off a pass with 9:05 on the clock in the first quarter.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
#26 Reno Abero moves the ball through the grasp of a Radford defender while chewing up the
clock in the third quarter. Abero led the Chargers ground game rushing for 54 yards on 6 carries.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City's Blake Cooper played a key role on both offense and defense as well as special teams.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Cooper is also the Chargers punter pictured here punting the ball away in the first quarter.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
The Pearl City defense attacks the ball carrier on third down and goal from the Pearl City 6 yard line
with less than a minute remaining in the ball game. The Chargers stopped the Rams on 4th down.
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]
Pearl City QB Jordan Taamu is set to take a knee to run out the game clock and seal the win.
JUNIOR VARSITY
PEARL CITY 12
RADFORD 33
Photo by Barry Villamil | [email protected]