Lahainaluna rolls past Maui to claim third straight D1 MIL crown

Lahainaluna's Kaulana Tihada (32) breaks through Maui's defense to enroute on a 45 yard touchdown run in the first quarter at Sue D. Cooley Stadium. Glen Pascual | ScoringLive

Lahainaluna sent off 27 seniors in style, taking down Maui in mercy-rule fashion, 35-0, locking up a Division I state berth while claiming the school's third consecutive MIL D1 title and a 16th league crown overall.

Kaulana Tihada rumbled for 127 yards and two touchdowns in just 13 carries, and Thomas Borges scored two more times on the ground for the home team, who also got a late score from junior reserve Hoken Hironaka from 28 yards out.

In all, nine different Lunas had at least one rushing attempt, and QB Lyric Kahula completed a pass to six different recievers.

The Lunas started off a bit sluggish offensively, but awoke with a bang when Tihada broke free up the gut and raced 45 yards for the game's opening score, making it a 7-0 advantage in the first.

The margin grew to 13 when Borges crossed the goal line on a 13 yard rumble at the 11:10 mark of the second, and the Lunas found the end zone once again in the waning moments of the half when Kahula rifled a pass from 13 yards out to Ikaika Cabrera to make it a three score margin.

Of note was the ensuing two-point try, when Kaimiloa Kaina-Allen made a terrific over the shoulder grab of a Kahula pass to make it a 21-0 game at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, Lahainaluna got a rushing score each from Tihada and Borges to invoke the mercy rule clock, and capped the game off with Hironaka's final score at the 9:50 mark of the fourth.

The Lunas' defense held the Sabers to just 179 yards of total offense, with Braden Albrecht accounting for 142 of those yards on 10 receptions in the loss.

Maui QB Nash Vida Ah Loo was picked off twice, both by Kuola Watson.