Castle 45, Radford 33, FINAL
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Castle wins for the second straight week. Big pickup for the Knights. Turnover on downs at the Castle 38. Knights will take a knee to end it.
Punivai throws his FOURTH touchdown toss of the night on just FOURTEEN attempts to put this thing away. Paul Omengebar is open in the end zone from 34 yards out with 1:33 left.
Onside kick recovered by Castle. Punivai promptly carries it for 26 yards into the Radford red zone to try to put this away.
Rams all the way up to the 1 .. looked like they might’ve had the TD from Copp to Taias Savea, but it was a 35-yarder instead of the requisite 36. Copp gets it in on the QB sneak with 2:24 left, but his 2-point conversion toss is no good. Five-point game, onside kick coming.
Radford with their last chance to make something happen. Matai Suitonu picks off Punivai in the end zone on a fourth down heave and the Rams take over at their 20.
Huge defensive play by Castle’s Braxton Wilcox. He strips Kendall Saxton AND recovers the fumble while on the ground in one swift motion. Castle takes over at the Radford 29 with 6 minutes left.
Everyone forgot about Castle RB Bruce Pakele. After Punivai picked up 28 yards himself, the QB hands off to anyone for the first time all night and Pakele is GONE for 56 yards and a 38-27 lead with 7:14 left.
Huge stop for Castle in its red zone. Hunter Copp is forced to scramble and is brought down for a loss of 2. Turnover on downs at the 16 with 7:35 left.
BAM. Senituli Punivai 41-yard strike in stride to Jonah Figueroa, TD connection between them GOOD for the second time tonight. XP good by homecoming court all-star Makana Kiakona, even after a penalty knocks the yardage back. Figueroa with five grabs for 115 yards and the two TDs.
This game’s back-and-forth nature continues well into the third. Hunter Copp, on 4th and 12 from the 18, throws a dart to Carson Dean in the middle of the end zone, surrounded by four maroon jerseys. Copp got hit right after he threw, too. Great play. XP is good and now it’s the Rams up by a 3-pointer. Second TD pass for Copp against one interception.
Cheyden Costa MAKES a 36-yard field goal, but the Knights are dinged with a false start. He’s trying again from 41 … HE IS GOOD AGAIN. Good show, Costa.
Copp picks up a first down with his legs, a nice 13-yard keeper. But the Rams are forced to punt and it is BLOCKED by a swarm of Knights. They return it to the Radford 20 looking to capitalize.
Castle gets a nice return coming out of halftime. The Knights advance to the red zone and Cheyden Costa gets a 26-yard field-goal attempt, which was no good, looked to be wide left. Radford ball.
HALFTIME
Radford nearly scores it going into the half, when EHVEN MARQUES gets a screen pass and takes it 36 yards up to the Castle 22. But Copp is picked off on a tipped ball; Castle’s fightin’ hyphens in the secondary, Kanaipono Kahala-Giron and Nakoa Gaspar-Takahashi, collaborated on the turnover.
Coming out of the timeout, Punivai heaves it cross-field to the left-side pylon to Raiden Wong, who might have gotten away with a pushoff. XP is good, though, and Castle is back out front with under a minute left in the half.
Punivai gets dropped for a loss of 7 back to the Radford 34. John Hao calls timeout with 1:01 left in the half and his team facing a 3rd and 16.
Castle gets a nice return, plus a personal foul on Radford. Great chance for the Knights to get even going into the half.
After Castle punts it away, Copp goes deep to CARSON DEAN for a 59-yard pickup. Nice tackle by the Castle secondary to save the touchdown. Copp advances the ball to the 5, after which Matai Suitonu takes over and rolls out for a 4-yard keeper to the left-side pylon. TD, but the XP is no good this time. Rams up by six.
Copp finds TAIAS SAVEA across the middle and he takes some contact going across the goal line but holds on for the 13-yard score. XP good and we’re tied up again.
The Rams’ other QB, passing-inclined Hunter Copp, is in for the second quarter, and he’s got his team on the move. He’s 3-for-3 passing and the Rams are up to the Castle 28. Knights call for time to make adjustments.
Radford gets a nice return on the kickoff and is near midfield as the second quarter begins.
My goodness. The fireworks were damp at first, but they’ve been lit now. Senituli Punivai’s first pass completion of the game is a 57-yard BOMB to Jonah Figueroa, who catches it perfectly in stride over the shoulder on the post route and is unscathed the final 20 yards.
Wow. It appeared that Radford got backed up and had to punt again, but the Rams FAKE IT and MAKA’ALA SAKIMI weaves his way in all the way from 38 yards for the impressive touchdown. We’re all tied up.
Radford picks up its first first down on a nice tackle breaking run by KENDALL SAXTON, but the drive stalls approaching midfield. However, Castle muffs the punt return and Radford takes over at the Castle 25. Let’s see if they can return the favor.
Castle capitalizes instantly on the gaffe by the Rams as Senituli Punivai keeps it around the right edge and breaks a couple tackles to go in 15 yards on the first play. XP is good and Castle leads by a TD on its homecoming.
Three-and-out (even with a Castle encroachment penalty) for Radford. But this one comes with a bad snap and Castle takes over at the Radford 15.
Three-and-out for Castle.
Three-and-out for Radford.
The Knights have running QB Senituli Punivai run it three straight times, and go three-and-out. Could be a lot of punts in this game, folks.
Castle kicks off to open the game. Radford doesn’t field it cleanly and Castle appears to recover the kick, but there’s a scrum and JARED DEVINEY comes out with it for the Rams. However, they go three-and-out.
Radford felt the effects of Tropical Storm Olivia, as heavy rain made its field unusable in recent days. The Rams had to practice in their gym until yesterday. Hunter Copp and Matai Suitonu are expected to switch off at QB.
Castle had some potentially bad injuries last week at Nanakuli, but passing quarterback Samuel Judd became available two days ago and running quarterback Senituli Punivai is good to go.
Varsity kickoff should happen roughly on time, if not a few minutes later.
JV final: Castle 41, Radford 0
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For Radford’s roster, click here.
For Castle’s roster, click here.
SERIES RECORD: Radford leads 18-12
Congratz to the Knights for second straight win but there still alot to do and improve if they want to be a tops in the OIA like in years past. The knights gotta be more balanced at offense with more plays both run and pass, misdirection, etc. to keep defenses on their toes and on the run. The defense needs to be more aggressive, disciplined and aware especially in situations where some sort of trickery may happen (fakes, hook and ladder, etc.) They are just allowing too many points scored on them.