Top-ranked Punahou crushes Damien, 48-0

Punahou's Wayne Taulapapa, plows through defenders to score a touchdown in the first half. Amber Popovich | Special to SL

Punahou, ranked No. 1 in ScoringLive/OC16 Division I Power Rankings cruised by Damien, No. 10 in the Division II Power Rankings, 48-0 in their ILH opener at Alexander Field. Punahou moved to 3-0 overall, 1-0 in the ILH while Damien fell to 2-2 overall, 0-1 in the ILH.

This was also the first home game for Punahou as they unveiled a new artificial turf field.

"It was a lot of money," laughed Punahou coach Kale Ane. "A lot of donors and sponsors really wanted to contribute to the Punahou athletic community so we're very grateful to have it."

"Damien was a little undermanned today, but they are well-coached and gave us a chance to get on our field for the first time for live action. It was nice to come back from our trip and make the transition to play in our first league game. Anytime you can get a lot of people in the game is great," added Ane.

Punahou took 57 seconds to get on the scoreboard as they used a 4 play 65-yard drive that resulted in a 7 yard touchdown pass to Micah Ma'a.

Starting running back KJ Sekona was out for the game so sophomore running back Wayne Taulapapa carried the load. He finished the game with 9 carries for 92 yards scored 2 touchdowns for 1-yard and 16-yards.

"Today it was all about executing. Damien is a great team, but we wanted to get all the plays we could get in and keep working. We have to keep working to get better," said Taulapapa.

Senior quarterback Larry Tuileta completed 8-of-13 passes for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns. Luke Morris caught 4 passes for 67 yards and 1 touchdown and Kanawai Noa had 2 catches for 52 yards and 1 touchdown.

"What we tried to work on most is the passing game. We started off a little slow in the past games, we worked on pass blocking to get Tuileta out throwing the ball better and the run game helped too," said Taulapapa.

The Buffanblu defense held the Monarchs to 107 yards of net offense. Saitui Moea'i led the defense with 7 tackles and Tumuauatasi Tuinei had 6 tackles and a sack.

In the second quarter, Damien quarterback Syles Choy rushed for 9 yards and took a hard hit near the Punahou sideline. He did not play in the second half and Bransen Apao lined up behind center for the remainder of the game.

The Buffanblu went up 42-0 after a 3-yard touchdown from Heisman Hosoda and the running clock was in effect in the second half. Several reserves for Punahou such as sophomore quarterback Ephraim Tulioa played the whole second half and he finished 6-of-8 passing for 40 yards and 1 touchdown and rushed for 43 yards on 8 attempts.

Punahou will play No. 2 Kamehameha-Kapalama in a highly anticipated showdown at Aloha Stadium on Saturday, September 14 at 7:30.

"They have been playing great. They played a tough 'Iolani and Saint Louis team back-to-back so they proved themselves. We're hopeful to play a quality opponent and we're looking forward to next week," said Ane.

"It's going to be a great game, that's all I have to say," said Taulapapa.

Damien will play Division II foe Saint Francis on Saturday at 2 pm.

Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].