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Lunas defeat Na Alii 42-14 as both teams prepare for playoffs

By Robert Collias 7 min read

PUKALANI -- The final Maui Interscholastic League football game of the regular season on Saturday night at King Kekaulike Stadium served both teams well.

Lahainaluna rolled to a 42-14 win over King Kekaulike on Na Alii's homecoming night, but each team took the opportunity in the game that didn't mean anything in the standings to work on some new twists for meaningful games ahead.

The Lunas (9-0 overall, 8-0 MIL) -- winners of a record 39 MIL games in a row -- expect to draw the No. 3 seed when the state brackets are announced. That would mean they will host the Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up in the Division I state quarterfinals on Nov. 11 at Sue Cooley Stadium.

"Happy with the win," Lahainaluna co-head coach Dean Rickard said. "We were trying different packages, different formations, just trying to see how things would work out because we've been working on it, even from last week. Not that we didn't prepare for King K, we knew that they would bring it tonight and they did.

"They usually give us an odd-man front, but they went in to the even and a lot of teams on Oahu do that. The teams that we expect to face play a four-man front so, yeah. Then offensively we had some packages that we kind of experimented with, that we want to polish up. We've still got some more work to do."

King Kekaulike (3-6, 3-5) will play Kamehameha Maui on Saturday night in a 6 p.m. start at King Kekaulike Stadium in an MIL Division II championship playoff for the league's lone D-II state berth.

The winner of that game is expected to be seeded No. 3 in the D-II state tournament and would host a quarterfinal on Nov. 12. The Warriors made their first state final last season, while Na Alii haven't been to the state tournament since they won the 2006 D-II crown.

"We had a plan, we've got our eyes set on next week, so that's kind of what our focus is," King Kekaulike coach Tyson Valle said. "Not taking anything away from Lahaina, they're a tough, tough team."

The Lunas' MIL win streak is now more than double the previous record of 19 that Baldwin accomplished twice -- Lahainaluna's impressive streak dates to the end of the 2016 season when it won the first of its four straight D-II state crowns before moving to D-I prior to the 2020 season that was wiped out by the pandemic.

The Lunas took command early with three touchdowns in the first quarter, two on short runs by Kaulana Tihada and Lehia Tihada, and a 1-yard dive by Anu Kaina, whose primary position is linebacker.

The King Kekaulike defense stopped the Lunas on downs at their own 3-yard line to start the second half when they stuffed Kaulana Tihada for no gain on fourth-and-1.

They were forced to punt, however, and Kalelepono Wong's 19-yard punt sailed out of bounds, giving the ball to the Lunas on the Kekaulike 20-yard line.

Kuola Watson capped the drive with a 4-yard scoring run with 5:24 left in the third quarter to turn on the 35-point mercy rule running clock.

Na Alii turned off the running clock with 2:35 to go in the game when Wong dove in from a yard out on fourth down. It was Wong's MIL-best 11th touchdown of the season.

Wong broke off a 54-yard run on the final scoring drive and showed he is ready to go after sitting out Na Alii's 34-14 loss to Maui High on Oct. 15 because he was slightly banged up. He finished with 67 yards rushing on seven carries.

James Lukela-Kobatake scored on a nifty 40-yard run in the second quarter to push the Lunas' lead to 28-0 with 8:31 left in the first half.

King Kekaulike's defense stopped the Lunas on downs late in the first half and then put together a 10-play, 43-yard drive that was capped by Tysin Zackious' 9-yard scoring run on fourth-and-6 with 44 seconds left in the first half.

Kade Cunningham, a blocker for the deep men on the Lunas' kickoff team, picked up a squib kickoff and returned it 79 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-7 at halftime.

The bottom line for both teams on this night was to get to the postseason healthy.

"We've got three weeks and still a lot of time to prepare," Rickard said. "We're just fortunate that we can go down and scout next week's games and we plan to go down there and see them in person."

Lahainaluna had several key players in street clothes, including quarterback Noa Gordon, and defensive back/running backs Avery Baybayan and Ian-Jay Cabanilla. Rickard is hopeful that the three weeks until the state tournament will give them time to heal.

"With some of them we're just taking a little more caution, taking a little bit more precautionary measures," Rickard said. "They actually suited up during practice, we had them out there on the field, but then we decided last-minute decision to just hold them out of the game."

King Kekaulike had Wong back and offensive guard Nui Crozier, a 6-foot-4, 410-pound senior, was dressed for the first time in several weeks as he recovers from a knee injury, although he did not play. Center Kimo Moniz-Kekumu was back after missing last week for family reasons.

Valle said Crozier has a chance to play this week, which is huge for Na Alii's wing-T offensive attack.

"We're kind of still being conservative with those guys, we definitely want them available -- we wanted to win this one and come away with a 'W,' but next week's the most important game," Valle said.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

Lahainaluna 21 14 7 0--42

King Kekaulike 0 7 0 7--14

First Quarter

LL--Kaulana Tihada 2 run (Owen Garcia-Olea kick), 9:45.

LL--Lehia Tihada 6 run (Garcia-Olea kick), 5:25

LL--Anu Kaina 1 run (Garcia-Olea kick), 0:42.

Second Quarter

LL--James Lukela-Kobatake 40 run (Garcia-Olea kick), 8:31.

KK--Tysin Zackious 9 run (Kaleo Gallen kick), 0:44.

LL--Kade Cunningham 79 kickoff return (Garcia-Olea kick), 0:31.

Third Quarter

LL--Kuola Watson 4 run (Garcia-Olea kick), 5:24.

Fourth Quarter

KK--Kalelepono Wong 1 run (Gallen kick), 2:35.

LL KK

First downs 17 12

Rushes-yards 42-316 39-136

Passing yards 15 34

Total offense 331 170

Return yards 104 34

Comp-Att-Int 1-3-0 3-16-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 9-60 3-15

Punts-avg 1-33.0 4-32.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Lahainaluna, Lukela-Kobatake 3-97, Watson 7-79, Talan Toshikiyo 2-57, Kaulana Tihada 13-48, Lehia Tihada 6-20, Aukai Hokoana 4-12, Ikaika Gonzales 4-3, Kaina 1-1, Lyris Kahula 2-(minus 1); King Kekaulike, Wong 7-67, Zackious 21-48, Ikea Sumibcay 2-7, Kaleo Gallen 1-5, Ahe Sumibcay 2-4, Caysie Rosaga 1-4, Kamakalei Stone 3-2, Kalani Puu 2-(minus 1).

PASSING--Lahainaluna, Kahula 1-3-0--15; King Kekaulike, Wong 3-16-0--34.

RECEIVING--Lahainaluna, Kanaau Castro 1-15; King Kekaulike, Jacob Poouahi 1-19, Kalani Puu 1-12, Tobias Vazquez 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS--none.

Junior varsity--Lahainaluna 37, King Kekaulike 7.

*****

Friday's Result

KAMEHAMEHA MAUI 31, BALDWIN 6

Baldwin­ 6 0 0 0-- 6

Kamehameha Maui 0 14 7 10--31

First Quarter

B--Joseph Randolph 60 run (kick failed), 2:25.

Second Quarter

KSM--Joshua Kerr 16 pass from Makana Kamaka-Brayce (Makaha Pang kick), 2:50.

KSM--Imaikalani Kramer fumble recovery in end zone (Pang kick), 1:49.

Third Quarter

KSM--Kerr 1 run (Pang kick), 10:15.

Fourth Quarter

KSM--Kamaka-Brayce 10 run (Trenton Kiesel kick), 5:09.

KSM--FG Kiesel 44, 2:26.

B KSM

First downs 9 14

Rushes-yards 37-141 30-129

Passing yards 12 123

Total offense 153 252

Return yards 115 34

Comp-Att-Int 3-14-1 12-22-1

Fumbles-lost 3-3 1-1

Penalties-yards 6-45 3-15

Punts-avg 3-30.0 4-32.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Baldwin, Randolph 11-104, James Jardine 11-43, Brock Toma 1-8, Josiah Kaina 1-7, Landen Kaina 1-7, Isaac Kaalakea 1-2, Xyler Nakamura 1-0, Antone Sanches 9-(minus 5), team 1-(minus 25); Kamehameha Maui, Kerr 13-69, Kamaka-Brayce 10-55, Heno Stone-Han 4-10, Kolten Waikiki-Caldeira 1-3, Kiesel 1-0, team 1-(minus 8).

PASSING--Baldwin, Sanches 3-14-1--12; Kamehameha Maui, Kamaka-Brayce 12-22-1--123.

RECEIVING--Baldwin, Ambrocio 2-6, Kaalakea 1-6; Kamehameha Maui, Kauila Shiffler 6-66, Stone-Han 3-34, Kerr 1-16, Pang 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-none.

Junior varsity--Kamehameha Maui 22, Baldwin 0.

*****

MIL Football

(Standings reflect MIL second round only, overall MIL records in parentheses)

DIVISION I STANDINGS

W L Pct PF PA

x-Lahainaluna (8-0) 4 0 1.000 129 28

Maui High (6-2) 3 1 .750 111 38

Baldwin (0-8) 0 4 .000 19 136

DIVISION II STANDINGS

W L Pct PF PA

y-KS Maui (3-5) 2 2 .500 82 91

King Kekaulike (3-5) 1 3 .250 64 112

x-clinched overall championship

y-clinched second-round championship

Friday's Result

Kamehameha Maui 31, Baldwin 6

Saturday's Result

Lahainaluna 42, King Kekaulike 14

End of regular season

Saturday, Oct. 29

Division II overall championship: Kamehameha Maui at King Kekaulike, 6 p.m.

Starting at /week.