Last year, for the first time since 2015, the Lahainaluna High School football season did not end in a state championship game.

The Lunas have won a Maui Interscholastic League-record 39 games in a row dating to the 2016 season, when their string of four straight Division II state titles began.

Their remarkable run of 10 straight state tournament victories ended in a 38-0 loss to Iolani in the Division I state championship game in 2021, and their state tournament losing streak grew to two with a 30-10 loss to Aiea at home on Nov. 11, 2022.

The Lunas know the MIL is only getting better — after they left Division II, the league has had two straight state finalists at that level, Kamehameha Maui in 2021 and King Kekaulike in 2022.

Maui High played two tough games against the Lunas last year with the MIL D-I state berth hanging in the balance, and Baldwin appears to be on the upswing after an 0-9 season last year.

“The kids are well aware, our kids are well aware of (the MIL’s prowess), they all communicate throughout the summer, so they all know each other, some of them go to camps together,” Lahainaluna co-head coach Dean Rickard said Friday. “They’re well aware of the season coming up, it’s not going to be a cakewalk.”

Three players will battle for time at the quarterback spot, according to Rickard — Noa Gordon is full strength after missing the last half of the 2022 season with a broken collarbone, and Lyrik Kahula took over most of the quarterback duties after that.

Both of those rising seniors will battle rising sophomore Jaden Pascua for time at QB.

“(Pascua) will probably be seeing time at quarterback because Lyrik got big, so he’ll be double-timing at some other position besides quarterback, too,” Rickard said. “In the offseason weight room workouts, he put on some weight. If you look at him, it feels like we have a lineman in the backfield.”

Rickard said that the competition at the quarterback spot is good for the team. The team uses several different looks in the backfield in its multiple-look offensive game plan.

“Oh definitely, anytime you have that competition it brings out the best in each of those players, they’re going to do their best to get that start,” Rickard said. “As we’ve always been in the past, we’re going to (share the quarterback position). Depending on certain situations, one quarterback might fit certain packages that we have, like we’ve done in the past. We’ve done that with Lyrik and Noa. Last year we did that until Noa got hurt and Lyrik took over.

“We’re not going to change that. We’re going to have certain packages that Noa would be better suited for and, of course, we’ll have packages that Lyrik is better suited for.”

Gordon and Kahula will see significant playing time on both sides of the ball, as will running back/linebacker Kaulana Tihada, a rising junior. Teva Loft and Kahi Magno are two linebackers that will be counted on heavily this season behind a young defensive line.

“There are certain times when we might move Lyrik to a tight end position, he’ll be doing some time on the defense as well,” Rickard said. “And then, Noa, too. Numbers wise, we might be in the 40s or 50s, but we have a lot of the younger guys coming up.

“Returning starters, I think we got maybe eight or 10 that are returning starters, altogether. We lost quite a few key kids from last year, but next man up and we’re just looking for players and everybody understands that. We definitely have some holes, especially on the defensive line.”

With two demanding preseason games — Hilo visits Sue Cooley Stadium on Aug. 12 and Southern California powerhouse Edison comes calling six days later — the Lunas will find out quickly where they stand in 2023.

They will get a sneak peak in a controlled scrimmage involving King Kekaulike and Maui High at King Kekaulike Stadium on Saturday.

“It’s a controlled scrimmage, so it’ll give us a good idea of where we’re at and what we need to work on,” Rickard said.

Rickard said the team has “65 to 70” total players turning out right now for varsity and junior varsity. The start of school on Aug. 7 and the end of the summer paddling season with the Aug. 5 state regatta will bolster those numbers soon.

“We’ll see, we’ll see — we’re putting the pieces together, slowly getting ready,” Rickard said.

Morgan “Bula” Montgomery, a first-team MIL All-Star offensive lineman last year as a junior, is playing well in practice after a knee injury ended his season early last year.

There is a possibility that he moves from tackle to center to take some pressure off his knee on pulling assignments.

“In practices, he’s been looking pretty good,” Rickard said. “Hopefully when we start, we’ll have him at 100 percent.”

Rickard makes it his business to keep an eye on the competition around the state, and what he sees in 2023 is a tough MIL race. He recently attended the ESPN 300 camp that took place at King Kekaulike Stadium.

“Just by looking at the amount of kids there, I know there were a lot of the King K kids there,” Rickard said. “Looking at the competitiveness of the Maui kids, man this is going to be good.

“The MIL, it’s going to be another tough year for the MIL, which is great. It’s always great — you know that. It’s always great when we can compete with each other it’s only going to prepare us better for postseason … we need that.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.