PUKALANI — Not much more could have gone better in the first half for the Lahainaluna High School football team on Friday night at King Kekaulike Stadium.

The Lunas rolled to their 27th straight Maui Interscholastic League victory, dating to 2016, with a 48-7 win over King Kekaulike.

Lahainaluna rolled up 394 yards of offense and 21 first downs in the first 24 minutes of play to cruise to a 48-0 lead at halftime.

“The entire game, we were able to take advantage of field position, no doubt, and we’re sort of happy in that regard, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Lahainaluna co-head coach Dean Rickard said. “One thing I would like to say for sure is we got banged up, so we’ve got to take care of our injuries and get ready for Baldwin.

“I want to give credit to King K and their coaches and especially their kids because they’re a very physical team and this was a very physical game, so kudos to King K.”

The Lunas (2-0) scored on all seven of their first-half possessions, in all sorts of ways.

After forcing a three-and-out on the opening drive of the game by King Kekaulike (0-2), the Lunas had a short field after a 17-yard punt return by Ian-Jay Cabanilla.

They needed just three plays to go 36 yards, scoring on Cabanilla’s 32-yard run with 8:26 left in the first quarter.

After a 47-yard punt was downed on the 1-yard line, the Lunas went 99 yards in 13 plays on their next drive, pushing the lead to 14-0 on a 2-yard run by Kaulana Tihada with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.

Cabanilla broke free for a 78-yard run on the second play of the next possession to make it 20-0.

Na Alii fumbled on its next possession and the ball was recovered by Shaun Kana on the King Kekaulike 32-yard line. Noah Garcia caught a 31-yard scoring strike from quarterback Noa Gordon with 8:34 left in the half to make it 27-0.

After an interception by Avery Baybayan, the Lunas went 89 yards in 13 plays, increasing the lead to 34-0 with 3:00 left in the second quarter on a 3-yard run by Gordon.

After an interception by Christian Clarion and his 41-yard return to Na Alii’s 6-yard line, Cabanilla scored for the third time on a run on the next play.

The Lunas got the ball back one more time, with 47 seconds left in the half, and pushed the lead to 48-0 when Noah Arase caught a 9-yard pass from Gordon with 3 seconds left in the second quarter.

Cabanilla had 130 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, on seven carries. The Lunas had 256 yards rushing among nine ballcarriers in the first 24 minutes. Gordon was 8-for-10 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

The Lunas did not throw a pass in the second half, which ran quickly under the 35-point mercy rule running clock.

Lahainaluna had 21 first downs in the first half and 24 for the game. Sixteen Lunas carried the ball for 338 yards, although one off their stars, Blare Sylva-Viela, left the game after one carry for 1 yard and was on crutches with an ankle injury at the end of the game.

It was the first game at King Kekaulike Stadium in 735 days, the last one being a 40-0 win by Baldwin on Oct. 25, 2019.

Na Alii got onto the scoreboard for the first time in two games this season when Tysyn Estrella, a Lahainaluna transfer, bowled into the end zone from 2 yards out with 90 seconds left to play.

“I’m proud of these kids, they are young kids, I mean we have got 17 freshmen on this team,” King Kekaulike coach Tyson Valle said. “So it’s kind of like we’re starting all over again. The exciting thing for them is these guys don’t give up and that to me is the Na Alii way.

“We just keep pushing, we keep fighting, we keep working out on the field. You know, we fight all the way down to the end and I think that shows the character of these guys. Hopefully we get some ‘W’s’ coming up soon.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias @mauinews.com.

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Lahainaluna 14 34 0 0–48

King Kekaulike 0 0 0 7– 7

First Quarter

LL–Ian-Jay Cabanilla 32 run (Anatello Flores kick), 8:26.

LL–Kaulana Tihada 2 run (Flores kick), 0:42.

Second Quarter

LL–Cabanilla 78 run (kick failed), 10:48.

LL–Noah Garcia 31 pass from Noa Gordon (Flores kick), 8:34.

LL–Gordon 3 run (Flores kick), 3:00.

LL–Cabanilla 6 run (Flores kick), 1:33.

LL–Noah Arase 9 pass from Gordon (Flores kick), 0:03.

Fourth Quarter

KK–Tysyn Estrella (Kainalu Akinaka kick), 1:30.