In a battle of running backs, Iolani's Mike Hirokawa rushed for three touchdowns, caught a pass for one and threw for another as the Raiders outlasted Damien, 57-49, yesterday to clinch the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II championship.

A Kozuki Stadium crowd of about 700 saw the third highest-scoring varsity game in history. In 1998, Saint Louis beat Iolani, 77-42 and in 1999, Saint Louis beat Pac-Five, 84-28.

"What a game," an exhausted Iolani coach Wendell Look said.

Hirokawa rushed for 213 yards on 24 carries, scoring on runs of 63, 9 and 45 yards. He had two receptions for 41 yards, including a 19-yard TD strike from Kiran Kepo'o. Hirokawa also threw a 28-yard TD pass to Travis Nishioka.

"They played tough," Hirokawa said of Damien. "But our O-line came out and did their jobs."

Lost in the scorefest and the darkness of a quickly setting sun was Damien running back Kealoha Pilares, who almost single-handedly took down the Raiders. He had an astounding 50 carries for 300 yards with TD runs of 1, 69, 1 and 1 yards, as well a 76-yard kickoff return for another score.

The end of the half was an indication of what was to come in the second half. With Damien leading 21-15, Iolani pulled ahead with three seconds before intermission on Hirokawa's 19-yard TD reception from Kepo'o. Kody Adams' PAT gave Iolani a 22-21 lead.

Iolani's pooch kickoff took a high hop to Pilares, who spun out of one tackle, found a little gap and sprinted to the end zone to complete the 76-yard return with no time showing on the clock. David Tuiasosopo caught a pass from George Martin for the two-point conversion to give Damien a 29-22 lead at the half.

The Monarchs took the second-half kickoff to their 31, where on first down, Pilares scored on a 69-yard run. The two-point try on a run failed, but Damien increased its lead to 35-22.

But Iolani wasted little time, as 20 seconds later, Hirokawa scored on a 63-yard run on first down to pull the Raiders to 35-29.

A Mike Sipili interception of a Kepo'o pass set up another Damien scoring drive that ended with a 1-yard TD run by Pilares. Martin's pass to Sipili for the two-point conversion made it 43-29.

But Iolani stormed back on its ensuing drive that ended with Hirokawa's 28-yard TD pass to Nishioka to make it 43-36.

An interception by Brenton Kanno for Damien went for naught because Pilares lost a fumble on the Monarchs' next play at their own 13. Three plays later, Kepo'o hit Kekai Kealoha on a 7-yard TD pass with Adams' PAT tying the game at 43 with 6:54 left in the game.

Damien marched from its 34 to the Iolani 42 in four plays thanks to three rushes by Pilares for 24 yards. But Landon Patoc returned a Martin interception 56 yards to the Damien 9, where Hirokawa scored on first down to give Iolani a 50-43 lead with 5:14 left.

The Monarchs continued to march on the undersized Raiders. Pilares' 1-yard TD run with 1:48 left pulled them to 50-49. But the Raiders stopped Pilares on a run up the middle on the two-point try to preserve the lead. Damien was forced to go for two because a tie was still going to give Iolani the D-II title.

But Iolani put the game away on Hirokawa's 45-yard TD run with 51 seconds left to make it 57-49.

Damien failed to score on its final possession, which ended when Leo Shimizu intercepted a James Skizowski pass.

"To be physically outmanned, for these kids to step up and play the way they did, I mean, what can you say," Look said. "It's all on heart. It's all on pride."

DAMIEN (4-6, 2-5) 15 14 14 6 � 49

IOLANI (7-4, 4-3) 7 15 14 21 � 57

Dam�Kealoha Pilares 1 run (Mike Sipili run)

Dam�Freyton Castillo 33 interception return (Matt Tom kick)

Iol�Kekai Kealoha 24 pass from Kiran Kepo'o (Kody Adams kick)

Iol�Blayne Yama 16 pass from Kepo'o (Travis Nishioka pass from Kepo'o)

Dam�Kama Bailey 16 pass from George Martin (kick failed)

Iol�Mike Hirokawa 19 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Dam�Pilares 76 kickoff return (David Tuiasosopo pass from Martin)

Dam�Pilares 69 run (run failed)

Iol�Hirokawa 63 run (Adams kick)

Dam�Pilares 1 run (Sipili pass from Martin)

Iol�Nishioka 28 pass from Hirokawa (Adams kick)

Iol�Kealoha 7 pass from Kepo'o (Adams kick)

Iol�Hirokawa 9 run (Adams kick)

Dam�Pilares 1 run (run failed)

Iol�Hirokawa 45 run (Adams kick)

RUSHING�Damien: Pilares 50-300, Bailey 13-78, Timo Gasolo 1-2, Team 1-(minus 1). Iolani: Kepo'o 1-2, Hirokawa 24-213, Justin Yamamoto 1-7.

PASSING�Damien: James Skizowski 1-6-1�21, Martin 4-6-1�39, Team 0-1-0�0. Iolani: Kepo'o 22-33-3�271, Hirokawa 1-1-0�28, Team 0-2-0�0 .

RECEIVING�Damien: Bailey 2-32, Ota 1-3, Pilares 1-4, Bronson Sonico 1-21. Iolani: Nishioka 6-100, Blayne Yama 8-87, David Whitehouse 2-17, Kekai Kealoha 3-53 , Mark May 1-1, Hirokawa 2-41.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.