Week 2 of the Hawaii high school football season begins Friday with five games on Oahu and two others involving Oahu teams taking place on Maui.
It’s a new era for the Divison II state champion Radford Rams, who have moved up to Division I and left their old coach, Fred Salanoa, behind.
Salanoa turned the program into an annual force, but he was never able to accomplish one goal: Beat Castle coach Nelson Maeda without the ball in his hands.
Radford has not beaten the Knights since 1995, two years before Maeda took over. Salanoa was the Radford quarterback back then and threw for 119 yards in a 27-7 win. The Rams have not scored a touchdown against Castle since Justin Rellin plunged in from the 3 in 2000.
Castle has won the five meetings after that, but the two teams have not clashed since 2010.
Castle leads the all-time series 9-7, Radford won the first six but only once after that.
Radford, which lost to Iolani last week, has not started a season 0-2 since its winless 2007 campaign. Castle beat kalaheo last week and hasn’t started a season 2-0 since 2009 with Jaymason Lee airing it out.
Game time is approximately 7:30 p.m. and live updates will follow below:
10:19 p.m.: Castle taking knees with 1:03 left. Big win for the Knights, back to the drawing board for Radford. It’s the most points the Rams have given up since Kaiser put 51 on them in 2013. They recovered to become a championship team, though.
Castle has both Nakamura-McCoy and Smith rush for more than 100 yards, the first time the Knights have had two players over the century mark since Brent Taniguchi had 110 and Varcus Labatte had 107 against Roosevelt in 1976. That’s right, 1976.
10:16 p.m.: Israel Pakele 20 yd rushing TD. Costa PAT God. 47-6 Castle, 4:05 to go. It’s Castle’s most points in a game since scoring 48 against Roosevelt in 2011. They have scored more than 47 points only nine times in school history. The record is 60, that number is safe.
10:07 p.m.: Radford QB Randy Wright throws a pick that is returned to the Castle 36. 8:11. Still 40-6, Castle. Radford is sticking and moving to avoid the knockout blow.
10:04 p.m.: Castle backup QB Jaylen Uyemura-Lee throws a pick at his own 23. Radford ball, 40-6 8:55
9:43 p.m.: Castle hasn’t been over 40 points since a win over Waipahu early in 2014.
9:36 p.m.: McGoldrick 24 yd TD on a sweep. PAT is… no good. 40-6, 7:44 left in Q3. No running clock yet.
9:33 p.m.: Castle starts its next possession after a Radford punt on the Rams’s 37 and we are reaching running clock territory.
9:29 p.m.: Annnd 4 yd rushing TD by Nakamura McCoy. 10 rushes for 102 yards and a TD. Costa kick is good. 34-6, 9:43 left in 3q
9:26 p.m.: Loss of 3 by McCoy, he’s back to 98. Have to do some more work to get 100.
9:26 p.m.: Castle Offensive Lineman Bronson Barba (#50) was down for a few minutes, was able to walk back to sideline on his own
9:22 p.m.: Castle’s Nakamura McCoy with a 3 yard rush, pushing his total to 101 on 8 carries. Nelson Maeda is breaking out a running game. Knights driving to start 2H, on Radford 24
8:58 p.m.: RAMS ON THE BOARD! Jonah Soakai 74 yd punt return for a touchdown for Radford, 27-6, 5 seconds left. Looked explosive on that one
Small break in the action. Castle’s Israel Pakele (21) is down with an injury from a vicious block. Ryan Wahl PAT blocked. 27-6 Castle.
8:52: Castle hasn’t had a 100-yard rusher since Garrett Paredes in 2009, a span of 57 games. Smith is two yards away but has to avoid a sack.
8:48 p.m.: VERY NEXT PLAY: 20 yard TD pass to McGoldrick, he is unstoppable. Costa PAT good. 27-0 Castle, 1:51 Q2. Smith is 10-12, 98 yards 2 TD 1 INT so far.
8:47 p.m.: Smith is pretty fast and VERY elusive. Escapes about three Radford D-lineman from an almost sure sack and runs it 17 yards to the Rams 20. 7 rushes for 98 yards on the day. 20-0, 1:55
8:40 p.m.: Smith throws a pick down the field to the Radford 21 on the run, the Knights still up 20-0, 5:31 left in the third. Rare mistake by Smith.
8:28 p.m.: Smith up to 8-9 passing for 68 yards and a touchdown. 5-52 on the ground with a touchdown. Either he is a legitimate dual-threat QB or Radford can’t stop a nosebleed. How far the Division II champions have fallen over the summer.
8:26 p.m.: Smith 14 yd Pass to Chris Sakuma. 10:05 left. 2 point conversion failed, but Castle up 20-0 in the second.
8:14 p.m.: Smith so far: 4 rushes for 39 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and 6-7 for 46 yards in the air. Maeda is riding his horse.
8:13 p.m.: QB Makana Smith is running wild for the Knights. 15 yd rushing touchdown, 54 seconds left in first quarter. 2 point conversion is good, McGoldrick 1 yd rush on a jet sweep after pass interference penalty. Castle leads 14-0 with 54 seconds left in the first.
8:01 p.m.: Castle QB Makana Smith 15 yd TD run. Cheyden Costa PAT is blocked. Knights up 6-0, 6:35 left in Q1
7:42 p.m.: OC16 having technical issues with the game, it will air when they get them resolved.
7:10 p.m.: Castle taking knees late in the JV game and will win 21-7.
“Windward Skys” Castle has home field advantage and Castle should be using that straight from the start and dont stop until the last whistle blows.