PUKALANI — It was a simple decision by King Kekaulike High School football coach Tyson Valle that has opened a floodgate of offense and, relative to recent years, large success in the win-loss record.

During the offseason, Valle glanced at his roster — specifically the offensive line — and decided to employ the wing-T attack that has made Na Alii the first-round champion in the Maui Interscholastic League Division II ranks and the leader in team offense in the entire MIL, at 315.8 yards per game.

And, by the way, 88 percent of Na Alii’s offense is generated on the ground.

“That was a big factor for us in making that decision to go to the wing T,” Valle said of the size of his O-line while seated outside the King Kekaulike weight room on Tuesday afternoon. “We saw that we had a lot more linemen than we had in the past, a lot more size, strength, some speed, so that made the decision for us to switch.”

The starters on the line vary from Nui Crozier, a 6-foot-4, 410-pound senior who is currently recovering from a knee injury, to the coach’s son, Aaliikumakani Valle, a 5-7, 170-pound sophomore who is one of the strongest players in the weight room.

With Crozier recovering, the current OL starters are Devin Roberts (5-10, 225), Aalii Valle, Kimo Moniz-Kekumu (6-0, 360), Wesley Wright (6-1, 290) and Peni Lafaele (6-0, 225).

It has led to quarterback Kalelepono Wong leading the MIL in rushing with 665 yards on 81 carries, while Tysin Zackious (89-518) and Kalani Puu (84-398) are third and fourth on the league rushing list.

Zackious is 5-6, 150 pounds, Wong is 5-11, 185, and Puu is 5-7, 170 — a backfield that is full of fast guys able to hide behind the likes of center Moniz-Kekumu and guard Crozier.

Zackious played on an 11-2 team in Northern California last season before moving home to play his senior season with the boys he grew up with.

“I trust them 100 percent, I feel like we just have to practice more to do what we need to do,” Zackious said. “I feel like we just have to get better each day. It feels great, actually, because people can barely see me because our line is gigantic and it helps even more because I’m small, so it helps me hide behind them.

“Those boys up front, they actually do a great job, they practice hard, they work hard each day — I give it all to the line.”

Aalii Valle is just a sophomore and plans on studying engineering in college. He realizes that at his size, despite his strength and speed, a college football career is unlikely.

“At first, it’s like, ‘OK, whoa, these guys are huge, I don’t know why I’m here,’ ” he said. “But after a while, once you start fitting in, once you start getting to work, it’s like not too bad.”

Aalii Valle said that the team has faith in the plan.

“It’s like No. 1 priority is to watch our guys go,” he said. “If one of our guys end up on the ground, we’re already down on ourselves. Then, we’re just like, no, we gotta get it going for the next play.”

Tyson Valle knows his ballcarriers are hard to locate behind the large line.

“That’s a factor, they can hide behind a lot of these big guys,” he said. “But when we need speed we actually got linemen with a lot of speed on the outside, so it’s been helping us a lot this season.”

Valle has guided the team to a 3-3 record in the MIL — they won the D-II first round at 2-2 — after an 0-6 run in the COVID-shortened 2021 season.

Na Alii ran for 278 yards and passed for 35 in a 30-16 loss to Kamehameha Maui, last season’s D-II state runner-up, last week. That result will most likely lead to a championship playoff for the single MIL D-II state spot on Oct. 29.

With games where they have rushed for 412, 341 and 345 yards this season, Na Alii are not about to change course.

“We always are tempted to air the ball out, everybody loves to see that ball fly and see you making catches, but when we’re on the ground running the ball and we’re averaging close to 400 yards, we don’t see why we should be airing it out so much,” Valle said.

The team hopes to have Crozier back before the likely playoff game, but will finish the MIL regular season against Maui High on Friday and Lahainaluna on Oct. 22.

Na Alii have won three MIL games for the first time since going 5-3 in 2009 and have not been to the state tournament since winning the D-II state crown in 2006.

Roberts is a senior and having the time of his life.

“It can be intimidating by the size, but once you start getting in the moment it’s not as terrifying as it looks like,” Roberts said. “It’s a lot, but we don’t really think about the yards, we think about how far we can get our running backs through the line and into the end zone.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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MIL Football, Second Round

(Overall MIL records in parentheses)

DIVISION I STANDINGS

W L Pct PF PA

Lahainaluna (5-0) 1 0 1.000 17 7

Maui High (4-2) 1 1 .500 50 17

Baldwin (0-6) 0 2 .000 13 70

DIVISION II STANDINGS

W L Pct PF PA

KS Maui (2-3) 1 0 1.000 30 16

King Kekaulike (3-3) 1 1 .500 43 43

Friday’s Game

Maui High at King Kekaulike, 7 p.m.

Saturday’s Game

Kamehameha Maui at Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 14

Baldwin at Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 15

Maui High at Kamehameha Maui, 7 p.m.