Punahou's Wayne Taulapapa heads to the endzone for a score against Kamehameha. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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A lot of the talk in Punahou's regular season win over Saint Louis was about the Crusaders' inability to stop the Buffanblu's newfound triple-option game in the second half. Ryder Kuhns and the Crusaders' high-powered offense was trading blows with the reigning Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions in a shoot out putting a scare on Buffnation, the first time ever trailing in a game. Then the Buffanblu switched things up a bit and deviated from their normal pro-style of offense. Punahou was effectively able to reclaim the lead and milked some clock and limit the Crusaders opportunities at a counterstrike.

Fast forward to the ILH postseason championship game against Kamehameha, one of the top defenses in the state. The Warriors have been limiting opposing rushing games to fewer than 50 yards per game all year long, so it was no secret that they were stout up front. The implementation of the triple-option doomed Saint Louis because they weren't ready for it, as Punahou hadn't run it prior to the game. Surely Kamehameha wouldn't want the same thing happening to them.

"We tried the (triple-option) a couple of times, but (Kamehameha) did a very good job of defending it," said Punahou offensive coordinator Teetai Ane.

The Warriors in general were defending the run real well, evident by Punahou running back Wayne Taulapapa's season low in yards per carry. Taulapapa picked up yards on a three-yard clip, gaining only 42 yards with 14 carries.

"Our running game wasn't working so well," said Taulapapa. "A lot of our inside (game) wasn't' working; their defense was solid. I'm sure they scouted us well and they stopped a lot of our plays that we came up with."

So what did the Buffanblu offense do in response? They spread the defense out and used a lot of pre-snap motion to give them the upper hand.

Clip number one of the above video showcases a simple jet-sweep out of a five-wide, empty-backfield set.

"We like to be diverse," said Ane after the game. "Just want to change up some of our formations, do some things that we didn't do prior to this game."

A lot of the jet/fly sweeps involved the use of Buffanblu running back Heisman Hosoda. With a name like that, it's no secret that Hosoda plays the game of football. Despite being named after the most coveted trophy in all of college football, Hosoda doesn't get to see much action, as he's third on the depth chart behind Taulapapa and bruiser Kotoni Sekona. However, Hosoda found his way into the offensive game plan for the game and made the most of it. The junior running back actually led the team in rushing over Taulapapa in that game.

"We're just trying to find some ways to get Heisman (Hosoda) on the field so we tried to give him some special sets," Ane said about Hosoda. "I thought he did really well so we might expand on some of those sets in the future."

"In my position I'll take anything, (even) special teams," added Hosada. "I'm just thankful for the coaches for giving me an opportunity and putting in the fly sweep for this game; I just really appreciate it."

The Warriors initially had the jet/fly sweeps covered well in the game, even anticipating the snap. Punahou was able to expose Kamehameha's eagerness by implementing some passing off of the jet-sweep.

Clip number two demonstrates some of the ways Punahou left the Kamehameha defense guessing. Warrior linebacker Calen Scot Holt can be seen heading towards the line of scrimmage as the motion-man comes in front of Buffanblu quarterback Larry Tuileta. You can see him hesitate when the snap doesn't come when it didn't come when it normally would on a simple jet-sweep. The motion man is able to turn the corner and catch a short dump-off for a decent gain due to the safety on top coming over late to take on a new assignment.

You can see the same anticipation in clip number three. The motion man is able to catch a quick pass for good yardage as the initial defender that's playing man coverage trails his man slowly and gets caught running through his own defense before being able to make the play.

Clip number four uses play-action off of the jet-sweep. If Tuileta had thrown a better pass, this play would have easily gone for a touchdown. The cornerback at the top of the screen gets caught peeking into the backfield allowing the receiver that he's covering to get behind him. If the pass had been thrown with a little bit more air under it, the defender wouldn't have been able to knock the ball away.

"Kamehameha is so tough that we had to do all these things to try and give ourselves a chance," said Ane.

Another element of the Buffanblu's offense that night was motioning Taulapapa out wide in order to catch the defense off guard. Kamehameha's front seven did a real good job of clogging all the inside running lanes so Ane and the rest of the offensive coaching staff found another way to get Taulapapa the ball.

"We just try to change the formation so that we're in one thing, and then change it to something else," explained Ane. "Hopefully the defense has a short amount of time to see the formation and not be able to anticipate our plays not as fast."

Running routes from the receiver position was something that Taulapapa wasn't accustomed to, but he performed admirably. The sophomore running back had a career receiving day catching two passes – both for touchdowns – for 47 yards, five more yards than his rushing total. Motioning him out wide forced smaller defensive backs to cover him, allowing the 5-foot-11, 185-lb back to plow his way in for his first receiving touchdown in clip number five.

"I wasn't really used to catching the ball and scoring that way, but I just got a feel for it," Taulapapa said about being used as a receiver. "Tuileta just read the plays and the defense well and knew how to spread it out."

Having Taulapapa as a receiving threat out wide opened up some things for the other Buffanblu receivers, most notably 2012 all-state first-team receiver Kanawai Noa. As a sophomore in 2012, Noa broke out with a 1289-yard and 16 touchdown season. He might not have as much big plays as before, but that's because opposing defenses are doubling up their coverage on him. Since Taulapapa was having a great receiving game, there were some occasions when the Kamehameha defense wasn't doubling up on Noa.

"We just want to create space for (our receivers) and get them in one-one matchups," said Ane. "Hopefully we get (our receiver) the ball on an easy completion and hopefully they can make somebody miss."

Clip number seven shows one of the rare opportunities that Noa was able to get free on single coverage. Prior to Taulapapa motioning out wide on this play, Kamehameha defensive back Dylan Kane is playing man or zone coverage on top with Noa in his sights. Once Taulapapa motions over, Kane shifts his attention over to the running back forcing someone else to cover Noa. Since Kamehameha was dialing up a blitz, the safety with deep coverage responsibility has to be the one to cover Noa. His original assignment was to cover the deep ball so that's why he was out of position when Tuileta dumped off to Noa on a short pass. With open field in front of him, Noa is able to take a short yardage play for some big yardage.

Although it wasn't the main difference, these kinds of plays and schemes were instrumental to giving Punahou its third straight ILH crown and a first round bye in the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Football State Championships.

Will we see Punahou with new wrinkles in their offense against Farrington this weekend?

"Lots of scratch paper being thrown away right now," laughed Ane. "(We) always got to change and adapt to make it hard (on opposing defenses)."