Kahuku's Tuli Wily-Matagi heads into the open field on a keeper against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Kahuku RB PJ Luia rumbles in the secondary against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua's Jeremy Berano lays out to attempt a pass reception against Kahuku. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Kahuku RB Soli Afalava carries the ball against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Sat, Sep 7, 2013 @ Kahuku [ 6:00 pm ]

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Moanalua

19

Kahuku

33

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Moanalua (3-5-0)	12	0	0	7	19
Kahuku (6-5-0)	6	14	13	0	33

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Tuli Wily-Matagi 102 yd 1 TD

Micah Kaneshiro 254 yd 1 TD

Polikapo Liua, Jr. 94 yd 1 TD

Ishmil Scott 22 yd 2 TD

Polikapo Liua, Jr. 43 yd

Jason Sharsh 161 yd 1 TD

KAHUKU — Home, sweet home.

After getting blown out on the mainland a week ago, Kahuku returned to the North Shore and returned to form Saturday night with a 33-19 win over Moanalua in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East Conference game.

A near-capacity crowd of about 1,200 at Carleton E. Weimer Field saw the Red Raiders, the No. 5 team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Division I Power Rankings, comeback from a six-point, second-quarter deficit with 27 straight points to even its record to 2-2, including a 2-0 mark in league play.

"It puts us in the .500 range — we're 2-2," said Kahuku coach Reggie Torres, whose team suffered a 21-point loss to Saint Louis and a 17-point loss at East High (Salt Lake City) this season after having won 18 straight games and the last two Division I state titles. "It was a good win for us, it's something that we needed."

Moanalua, which was coming off a 52-0 blanking of Kailua last week, couldn't overcome three turnovers — all on Micah Kaneshiro interceptions — and fell to 1-4 and 1-2.

Kaneshiro, who threw six touchdown passes a week ago, completed 23 of 47 passes for 254 yards and gave Na Menehune their only lead late in the first quarter at 12-6 on his 40-yard touchdown pass to Jason Sharsh. However, Kaneshiro was intercepted three times in the second half, including twice by Red Raiders' linebacker Manaia Atuaia.

"This win means a lot. After coming out from those two losses, this is just a big step forward for our team and we're looking really good," said Atuaia, a 6-foot, 200-pound junior. "We learned that we needed a lot of improvement and that we needed to come here and work harder in everything that we do."

Kahuku held a 20-12 lead at halftime, but it appeared that Moanalua had a quick answer just 24 seconds into the third quarter on a 89-yard touchdown on a hook-and-ladder play. However, a holding penalty negated the score and brought the ball all the way back to Na Menehune 5-yard line. Moanalua punted away two plays later and the Red Raiders started at their opponent's 48-yard line.

Quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi picked up 23 yards on an option-keeper around the left side to set-up his 1-yard quarterback sneak into the end zone three plays later. The Red Raiders couldn't convert the two-point conversion play, but held a 27-12 lead with eight minutes and 25 seconds left in the third quarter following Wily-Matagi's second rushing touchdown of the season.

Just two plays later, Atuaia intercepted his first pass of Kaneshiro and returned it 30 yards for a Kahuku touchdown. Following the Jake Samsel extra point, the Red Raiders extended their lead to 33-12.

"I saw the two bubbles and once I saw that, I just sat and I looked to the one and just so happened the quarterback threw the ball right to me," Atuaia said. "I'm just happy I was there."

Kahuku's defense did allow 258 yards by Na Menehune, but held them to just 4 of 13 on third downs. Kaneshiro, who was 14-of-21 for 136 yards by halftime, completed just 9 of his 26 pass attempts in the second half. Moanalua ran the ball just 14 times for four yards.

"They also gave up big plays, so we've got to fix that, but they did a good job," Torres said of his defensive unit. "They stopped them we needed to."

A 1-yard touchdown run by Ishmil Scott — his second of the game — with 6:10 left to play preceded the PAT by Thomas Sheridan, to cut the Red Raider lead to 33-19. Moanalua had a chance to make it a one-score game late, but Kaneshiro was intercepted by Huleia Naeole on his final pass of the game and Kahuku ran out the clock.

"We showed some improvement from the last couple of weeks, but we still have a long way to go," Torres said. "Moanalua is a great team. It was a great battle and hats off to (Moanalua coach) Arnold (Martinez) and his crew. They do a great job."

Martinez would have liked the win, of course, but couldn't find fault in the effort of his players.

"It's always a tough task to play Kahuku. They just grind you, grind you and kind of wear you out, but our kids — I'm proud of our guys, they played really hard, I love 'em," Martinez said. "We had a lot of unforced errors on our part — some execution things, some misalignment things that we definitely need to get cleaned up. If we play smarter, like we did in the first half, you can see that we were right there with them."

Soli Afalava gave the Red Raiders a 6-0 lead on his 12-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. The PAT was blocked.

Moanalua scored the next 12 points on an 11-yard touchdown run by Scott and the 40-yard scoring strike from Kaneshiro to Sharsh. The latter was set-up by a Antonio Copeland interception off Wily-Matagi.

PJ Liua tied the game at 13-apiece a few minutes later on a 7-yard touchdown run. The Red Raiders took the lead for good on the ensuing PAT by Samsel just two minutes and 50 seconds into the second quarter.

Na Menehune drove to the Kahuku 15-yard line on its next possession, but turned it over on downs. Wily-Matagi capitalized for the Red Raiders, who drove 85 yards on the nine-play drive, with a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Lamone Williams

Wily-Matagi completed 11 of 14 passes for 102 yards and Liua finished with 94 rushing yards to go with 43 receiving yards. The Red Raiders recorded 243 rushing yards, but were penalized also 16 times for 155 yards.

Sharsh finished with 12 receptions for 161 yards — both game-highs — for Moanalua, which was 4 of 7 on fourth downs.

Kahuku will enjoy another home game against Castle Friday, while Moanalua plays Kaimuki Saturday at Kaiser Stadium.