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Big stops help Lunas hold off Warriors

Watson, Tihada come through as Lahainaluna extends MIL streak to 42 with 19-13 win

By Robert Collias 8 min read

WAILUKU -- When the Lahainaluna High School football team needed big plays Saturday night, the Lunas' most prevalent family legacy players came through.

Kuola Watson, the son and grandson of Luna coaches, and Kaulana Tihada, the son of a coach and younger brother of two Luna state champions, both came up with crucial takeaways to seal a hard-fought 19-13 win over Kamehameha Maui.

Lahainaluna won its 42nd Maui Interscholastic League game in a row, dating back to the final game of 2016, and is 3-0 overall in this emotional, wildfire-delayed season. Kamehameha Maui fell to 5-1 overall and gave the Lunas one of their closest calls during the win streak.

"By far, it was definitely the hardest one (of the streak), and again it's a testament to Kamehameha, their coaching staff and those kids because they played their hearts out," Lahainaluna co-head coach Dean Rickard said.

The third sellout in three Lunas games at War Memorial Stadium this season doesn't count in division standings that will decide state tournament qualification, but it was a hard-fought, emotional battle all night long.

It wasn't decided until Tihada recovered a fumbled snap at the Lahainaluna 4-yard line with nine seconds left to play.

"After not making that first down on offense, I had to really dig deep and not focus on my mistakes, but focus on what I can do now," Tihada said after being named "Impact Player of the Game" by OC16 in this statewide televised showdown. "So, I mean that fumble was just a chance and I thank God for putting me in that position. I didn't know that fumble was going to happen."

On the previous possession, Tihada was stopped short of a first down after he carried three straight times out of a wildcat formation. Punter Noa Gordon was then swarmed after he bobbled the punt snap and the Warriors took over on the Lunas' 15-yard line with 2:37 to play.

That four-and-out possession by the Lahainaluna offense was set up by Watson's interception in the end zone with 4:23 to play -- the interception came after the Warriors had marched 40 yards in nine plays and were facing a third-and-6 at the Lunas' 21-yard line.

The Warriors burned their last two timeouts back-to-back just prior to Watson's interception, a factor that appeared to cost them on their final drive that finished just short of the goal line.

"That's the way games are supposed to be," Kamehameha Maui coach Ulima Afoa said. "You had two good teams going after each other and they did a great job making their adjustments in the second half, which is how they caught up. But at the same time, we made an adjustment to sort of slow them down, yet they got a few points on the board."

The Warriors took a 7-0 lead on Kaikea Hueu's 9-yard run with 7:45 left in the second quarter. They also missed two field goal attempts in the first half.

"I'm proud of our kids, the effort that they gave," Afoa said. "We still have some things we have to take care of, but we missed a few opportunities. So, try to make sure that we cannot have so many missed opportunities."

After rushing the ball four times for 12 yards in the first half, Tihada took over at quarterback in the second half, running things out of the wildcat formation.

He ran the ball all 19 times that the Lunas were not in punt formation in the second half and finished with 215 yards and all three of his team's touchdowns on 23 carries.

His biggest play, however, was his game-clinching fumble recovery.

"I just seen the ball on the ground and I grabbed it," Tihada said. "It felt amazing. I can't even put it into words, it felt so good."

Tihada's first touchdown, a 51-yard jaunt on the second play from scrimmage in the second half, tied the game at 7-7 with 11:07 left in the third quarter. The 53-yard drive was set up by a 39-yard kickoff return by Watson.

The Warriors went back ahead 13-7 on a 9-yard TD pass from Makana Kamaka-Brayce to Frank Abreu with 6:35 to go in the third quarter -- that capped an eight-play, 56-yard drive that took 4:33 off the clock.

The Lunas needed just four Tihada runs -- one of them for 39 yards -- to go 46 yards to tie the game 13-13. Tihada's 4-yard scoring run came with 5:00 left in the third quarter. That short field was set up by Watson's 40-yard kickoff return.

The Lunas took their first lead of the game on Tihada's 30-yard run with 9:35 to play -- that capped a six-play, 67-yard drive.

From there, the Lunas held on as the Warriors made their two deep drives late, but came up with nothing after the takeaways by Watson and Tihada -- each are seniors who grew up across the street from each other in the Hawaiian Homes neighborhood near the Lahaina Civic Center.

"We knew exactly what we were facing and Kamehameha brought it, well-coached team, disciplined, and they took us ... they beat us in the first half, no doubt," Rickard said. "We couldn't do crap on frigging offense. Again, our defense pulled through.

"Our defense has always been there and they showed up when we needed them the most. And, you know, that's what Lahainaluna football is -- we depend on our defense."

The Lunas had just 27 yards on 20 offensive plays in the first half before the switch in game plans. When asked about Tihada, Rickard smiled.

"We decided, 'Hey, let's just take it straight to

them,' " Rickard said. "And that's what you saw. 'Let's just play old-school football and take it straight to them.' That was the decision and the (offensive) line bought into that and they said, 'Yeah, coach, let's go.' That was the game plan in the second half and we're just glad it worked out."

Kamehameha Maui has now lost 14 in a row to Lahainaluna, dating back to an 11-7 win for the Warriors on Aug. 22, 2015 -- the Warriors are 1-36 all-time against the Lunas.

Seven football players joined the Kamehameha Maui choir to sing a special song to the Lunas' fans in the stands prior to kickoff.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

Lahainaluna 0 0 13 6--19

KS Maui 0 7 6 0--13

Second Quarter

KSM--Kaikea Hueu 9 run (Kamalei Cua kick), 7:45.

Third Quarter

LL--Kaulana Tihada 51 run (Joseph Arcangel kick), 11:07.

KSM--Frank Abreu 9 pass from Makana Kamaka-Brayce (kick blocked), 6:35.

LL--Tihada 4 run (run failed), 5:00.

Fourth Quarter

LL--Tihada 30 run (run failed), 9:35.

LL KSM

First downs 8 16

Rushes-yards 32-218 36-99

Passing yards 21 119

Total offense 239 218

Return yards 79 46

Comp-Att-Int 5-9-0 12-25-2

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 8-50 4-27

Punts-avg 4-27.2 2-33.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Lahainaluna, Tihada 23-215, T.J. Borges 2-5, James Lukela-Kobatake 2-4, Avery Baybayan 2-2, team 2-0, Noa Gordon 1-(minus 8); Kamehameha Maui, Hueu 19-68, Niuhi Howard 10-36, Kamaka-Brayce 5-9, team 2-(minus 14).

PASSING--Lahainaluna, Lyrik Kahala 5-9-0--21; Kamehameha Maui, Kamaka-Brayce 12-25-2--119.

RECEIVING--Lahainaluna, Ikaika Cabrera 2-16, Michael Rayray 1-8, Baybayan 1-2, Tihada 1-(minus 5); Kamehameha Maui, Dylan Schnitzer 7-91, Frank Abreu 4-25, Kapohai Abreu 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS--Kamehameha Maui, Kamalei Cua 40 (WL), Cua 33 (WL).

Junior varsity--Kamehameha Maui 9, Lahainaluna 7.

*****

Friday's Result

MAUI HIGH 52, BALDWIN 15

Baldwin 0 0 15 0--15

Maui High 14 8 16 14--52

First Quarter

MH--Piercen Evans 4 run (kick failed), 7:16.

MH--Evans 30 run (Braden Albrecht pass from Evans), 0:32.

Second Quarter

MH--Evans 3 run (Ofa Falekaono run), 0:30.

Third Quarter

B--Tylan Pontanilla-Balag 75 kickoff return (Elijah Valdez kick), 11:46.

MH--Jarel Fualaau 4 run (Falekaono run), 4:00.

B--Cooper Watkins 69 pass from Kalaheo Kanae Oliveira (J.J. Panglao pass from Oliveira), 2:54.

MH--Charlie Peterson 7 pass from Nathaniel Russell (Evans run), 0:40.

Fourth Quarter

MH--Evans 3 run (Falekaono run), 3:56.

MH--Sione Ngalu 5 run (no kick attempted), 0:00.

B MH

First downs 6 25

Rushes-yards 13-18 58-393

Passing yards 144 137

Total offense 162 530

Return yards 137 61

Comp-Att-Int 8-19-2 10-18-1

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-43 18-145

Punts-avg 1-48.0 1-27.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Baldwin, Brock Toma 8-16, Zion Lentz 4-6, Oliveira 1-(minus 4); Maui High, Evans 27-184, Falekaono 8-78, Landon Vea-Butihi 7-43, Juan Casilla Lopez 3-26, Ngalu 2-14, Aizley Lakalaka 3-11, Sky Abilay 1-11, Kamahao Au 2-7, Fualaau 2-7, Nash Vida Ah Loo 2-7, Russell 1-5.

PASSING--Baldwin, Kanae Oliveira 8-19-2--144; Maui High, Vida Ah Loo 7-9-0--118, Russell 3-8-0--19, Evans 0-1-1--0.

RECEIVING--Baldwin, Cooper Watkins 7-116, Panglao 1-28; Maui High, Peterson 6-92, Braden Albrecht 2-30, Jonah Cariaga 2-15.

MISSED FIELD GOALS--None.

Junior varsity--Maui High 14, Baldwin 7

*****

MIL STANDINGS

Note: Only in-division games will count toward state tournament qualification; overall record in parenthesis

DIVISION I

W L Pct PF PA

Lahainaluna (3-0) 2 0 1.000 79. 6

Maui High (2-5) 2 1. .667 85 69

Baldwin (0-7) 0 3 .000 32 121

DIVISION II

W L Pct PF PA

KS Maui (5-1) 1 0 1.000 34. 21

King Kekaulike (4-1) 0 1 .000 21. 34

Friday's Result

Maui High 52, Baldwin 15

Saturday's Result

Lahainaluna 19, Kamehameha Maui 13

Friday, Oct. 20

Maui High vs. King Kekaulike at War Memorial Stadium, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 21

Baldwin at Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.

Starting at /week.