Any rumblings of a quarterback controversy at Punahou were put to bed Thursday night.

Senior Ephraim Tuliloa made first start in nearly a month, but didn't show any signs of rust in the Buffanblu's 26-23 come-from-behind win over Kamehameha. Tuliloa returned from a shoulder injury and was simply masterful, completing 40 of his 51 pass attempts for a career-high 446 yards and four touchdowns through the air. He was not intercepted.

Punahou coach Kale Ane said he didn't decide until just before kickoff whether Tuliloa, or his backup Nick Kapule, would get the start. Kapule, a junior, threw for 1,087 yards and 10 touchdowns against three picks in the three-plus games that Tuliloa was sidelined.

"It was (decided at) game time," Ane said. "I didn't know (Tuliloa) would play this well. I didn't know how many yards he had, but it seemed like a lot and against a good team like this. I'm just grateful that he was able to come back."

Tuliloa completed his first 11 passes, the last of which was a 34-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Takeyama that put Punahou ahead 7-3 and cap an eight-play, 80-yard drive.

"I ran a fake curl and the (defensive back bit down on it," said Takeyama, who finished with 14 receptions for 216 yards — both career-high marks.

Tuliloa engineered another scoring drive late in the first half, completing eight of nine passes on the possession (the lone incompletion was a dropped pass), which culminated with his 30-yard touchdown pass to Eamon Brady on a deep pass down the left sideline. On the scoring play, Tuliloa stood in the pocket despite incoming pressure from the Warriors' defense before delivering the perfectly-placed pass.

By halftime, Tuliloa had thrown for 279 yards on 26-of-31 passing, but his team trailed 23-13.

The Buffanblu closed to within three points on Tuliloa's 16-yard TD pass to Kyle Yoshino with 3:10 left in the third quarter. The drive was twice extended on Tuliloa passes on third downs. He hit Takeyama for a 24-yard gain to move the chains on third-and-1 and three plays later he found Judd Cockett for a 31-yard pick-up to convert a third-and-8.

After defensive back Devin Dung intercepted Kamehameha quarterback Justice Young, Punahou got the ball back at the Warriors' 24-yard line with 5:19 remaining. Tuliloa's only pass attempt of the drive resulted in the go-ahead score, a 14-yard TD pass to Takeyama.

"The defense played great," Tuliloa said. "When the defense gets turnovers that's the offense's time to capitalize and I think we did that in the second half, so it was good."

Tuliloa completed pass to seven different teammates and didn't have consecutive incompletions until the seven-minute mark in the fourth quarter. He was sacked twice by the Warriors defense, which entered the game allowing an average of 20.6 points and 278.6 yards per game.

Ane was pleasantly surprised that the Buffanblu offense produced despite Tuliloa's first game action since he left in the first half of a game at Iolani on Sept. 11.

"Sure there's a worry," Ane said. "(Tuliloa) hasn't played in about four weeks. He's been working hard and again he's playing against a good defensive team. You just don't know what's going to happen. We had a couple key injuries to our receivers and other kids had to step it up, (but) Ephraim (was) solid."

Punahou finished with 550 yards of total offense on a night that star running back Wayne Taulapapa (832 rush yards, 16 rush TDs entering the weekend) was limited to 80 yards on 19 carries and kept out of the end zone.

"He came back from an injury and he did great out there," Takeyama said of Tuliloa. "The o-line gave him time and he just made plays and threw the ball up."