Kamehameha all-purpose Alii Pedrina scored three total touchdowns against Punahou. Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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102612533_IMG_5433.jpg - Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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Kamehameha thwarted a perfect regular season for Punahou, holding off a second-half comeback by the Buffanblu to come away with a 42-27 victory in a Thursday night affair at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

All-purpose Alii Pedrina came up big for Kamehameha, racking up 75 yards and 2 scores through the air and added another 63 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Warriors.

The 5-foot-9 senior made plays for Kamehameha all night, with the biggest play coming on a 58-yard pitch and catch from Makoa Camanse-Stevens, who hit an in-stride Pedrina that accelerated past the Punahou secondary untouched for a touchdown.

"It means the world to me." said an emotional Pedrina of the victory. "I love this school, I love my teammates, I gotta do it for them."

Trailing 28-7 in the early stages of the third quarter, Punahou came storming back to within a touchdown at the 6:12 mark in the fourth, when Luke Morris threw his third TD of the half and fourth of the game, hitting Dylan Cunningham for a seven yard score, and Charles McDonald added the point-after to trim the lead to 35-27.

But Punahou turned the ball over on downs on its own 13 with just under 4 minutes to play, and with the short field, Pedrina capped off the game-sealing drive with a one-yard dive off right tackle with just 1:47 left.

"We wanted to end this season strong, build a legacy for next season." said Pedrina. "We have a lot of young guys out there, a lot of young guys."

One of those underclassmen is sophomore Kaulana Apelu, who the Warriors leaned heavily on in the first half, to the tune of 101 yards and 2 scores until the 5-foot-10 running back went down with an apparent leg injury on his first carry of the second half and did not return.

"We just talked about starting a new legacy," said Apelu, echoing the sentiment of Pedrina, "and just carry on for seasons to come. I have two more seasons left and I just want to try and keep on winning."

Punahou, who already clinched the ILH regular season title last week with a win over Saint Louis, played without usual offensive starters Larry Tuileta, Ryan Tuiasoa and Kanawai Noa, but got significant contributions from Morris (25-for-39, 324 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INT) and wide receivers Trent Sitar (9 rec, 146 yards) and Noah Willey (5 rec, 70 yards, 3 TDs) in the loss.

The Warriors ended their season 5-2 in the ILH and 7-3 overall.