Lahainaluna QB Makoa-Sione Filikitonga-Lukea carries the ball on a long run against Kamehameha-Hawaii. Glen Pascual | Special to SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Sat, Nov 15, 2014 @ War Memorial [ 6:00 pm ]

---

KS-Hawaii

7

Lahainaluna

52

Final	1	2	3	4	T
KS-Hawaii (8-3-0)	0	7	0	0	7
Lahainaluna (10-1-0)	17	28	7	0	52

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Makoa Filikitonga-Lukela 100 yd 1 TD

Micah Kanehailua 81 yd 1 TD

Jared Rocha-Islas 79 yd 3 TD

Ahren Ah Chong 29 yd

Josten Saribay 42 yd 1 TD

Grant Shiroma 35 yd

WAILUKU, Maui — Lahainaluna scored early and often to pull away from Kamehameha-Hawaii, 52-7, in a semifinal game of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football State Championships Saturday night.

Jared Rocha-Islas and Makoa Filikitonga-Lukela combined for seven touchdowns before a crowd of about 5,000 fans at War Memorial Stadium to help the top-seeded Lunas (10-0) return to the title game Friday, where they will face second-seeded Iolani at 4:30 p.m. at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

"It's a good feeling to know that we get to go back to Aloha Stadium," Lahainaluna co-head coach Garret Tihada said. "Kamehameha-Hawaii is a good team, (so) I was totally surprised how it went down."

Lahainaluna, the top-ranked team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings, posted a season-high scoring output and held their eighth opponent this season to seven or fewer points.

"The defense was incredible, they set the tone for the whole night, came out and played physical on the run, intercepted all those passes and just speaking from an offensive viewpoint, when a team does that to you, psychologically it takes you out of the game," Tihada said. "You start to doubt yourself and your ability to move the ball and your ability to score and once that happens you're in for a long, long night."

The Lunas intercepted Kamehameha-Hawaii quarterback Micah Kanehailua five times, including three in his first six pass attempts.

"We studied them a lot and the coaching staff helped us a lot," said defensive back Tyran Kuu Palea, who had two interceptions on the night. "They showed us their formations and what they do and we all just followed the game plan."

The sixth-ranked Warriors (8-3) were held to just 127 yards of total offense and were just 3 of 15 on third downs. They managed just six first downs for the game.

"They're so disciplined," Kamehameha-Hawaii coach Dan Lyons said of the Lunas. "They do what they do and they do it so well and it just felt like we didn't get a great start and it's just tough. They did everything we thought they would do, but we just didn't take advantage and we weren't disciplined enough and it's the difference between a young team and a team that's been here before."

Lahainaluna scored its first 17 points off Kamehameha-Hawaii turnovers.

Isaiah Biga-Rogers picked off Kanehailua on just the third offensive play of the game and Rocha-Islas scored on an 11-yard run just two plays later. Kanehailua was intercepted by Kuu Palea on the Warriors' next drive and the offense recycled it into a 26-yard Rocha-Islas field goal. Kuu Palea again picked off Kanehailua less than a minute later and Filikitonga-Lukela punched it in for a 14-yard touchdown run three plays later. Rocha-Islas tacked on the PAT to make it 17-0 after the first quarter.

"Our defense is great, they always give us good field position and they've been doing this for us all year," said Rocha-Islas, who finished with 79 rushing yards on 12 carries.

The Lunas extended their lead on Rocha-Islas' second touchdown run, when he went in from five yards out untouched, on the first play of the second quarter.

The Warriors got their only score on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kanehailua to Kainalu Whitney early in the second quarter. However, the Lunas answered with a 42-yard Filikitonga-Lukela touchdown pass to Josten Saribay, who made an over-the-shoulder, arms-extended reception as he crossed the goal line.

Just 40 seconds later, Filikitonga-Lukela — one of five two-way starters for the Lunas — picked off Kanehailua on a deep pass down the left sideline and carved his way to a 66-yard interception return for another touchdown. Rocha-Islas added the extra point to make the score, 38-7.

"I just saw glory straight ahead of me and I thank my teammates for blocking for me," Filikitonga-Lukela said. "If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have made it in that end zone."

Kamehameha-Hawaii's ensuing drive was cut short when Lahainaluna's Nau Filiai sacked Kanehailua for a 14-yard loss on fourth down and two plays later, Rocha-Islas found the end zone on a 6-yard run up the middle.

Lahainaluna posted 305 of its 376 yards of total offense in the first half and held a 45-7 lead at the intermission.

Filikitonga-Lukela closed out the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run minutes into the third quarter.

It was Lahainaluna's first game since a 21-0 win over Maui back on Oct. 25.

"The kids work hard, but they basically took the approach of every week is game week, so we have to try and stay sharp instead of treating it like bye weeks," Tihada said. "I think that was a big advantage this year with the lay off."

The Lunas improved to 5-9 all-time in state-tournament games and will return to the championship final for the third time in program history. They lost to Iolani in both previous state title games.