Kahuku's defense set the tone, then its offense kicked into high gear to roll Leilehua, 46-16, in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red tournament semifinal Friday night at Aloha Stadium.

The Red Raiders (10-0), ranked first in the ScoringLive-OC 16 Power Rankings, return to the OIA Red championship next Friday against No. 3 Mililani (9-1), which will make its first title appearance since 2004, when it lost to Kahuku, 36-13. Both teams have earned Division I state tournament berths.

Kahuku will go for an unprecedented 16th league title since the inception of the OIA championship in 1970. The Red Raiders share 15 crowns with Wai'anae, which will play the Mules for third place next Saturday for the OIA's third and final state berth.

Kahuku amassed 452 yards of offense behind RB Aofaga Wily's 165 yards rushing and two TDs and QB Evan Moe's 121 yards passing with two TDs. Another RB, Tyrone Brown, added 81 yards rushing and two TDs.

But it was safety Kawehena Johnson's 25-yard fumble return for a touchdown that gave the Red Raiders their first score with eight minutes, 24 seconds left in the first quarter. Johnson, who also plays cornerback, had two interceptions, as did Trayson Medeiros.

"Our coaches scouted them good," said Johnson, a sophomore who also started as a freshman last season. "They showed us what they run and we executed on it."

Besides four interceptions, the Red Raiders sacked Leilehua QB Kenan Sadanaga four times, three by LB Ku-J Tapusoa.

Sadanaga was 32 of 52 for 373 yards. Fred Padrones and Jeremiah Andrade each had nine recpetions for 153 and 89 yards respectiviely.

Initially, it looked like it was going to be a back-and-forth affair. Shortly after Johnson's TD, the Mules scored 20 seconds later when Sadanaga hit Padrones for a 72-yard TD pass on the first play from scrimmage after the ensuing kickoff. But the Mules missed the PAT and the Red Raiders maintained a 7-6 lead.

The Red Raiders stormed back with three consecutive TDs before the first quarter ended. Brown scored on a four-yard run and after an interception by Medeiros, Kahuku scored on a two-yard run by Wily. Later, Moe hit tight end Benetton Fonua on a 27-yard TD pass to make it 27-6.

The Mules made a little dent in the second quarter on Timothy Momiyama's 26-yard field goal to pull to 27-9. But the Red Raiders scored just before the half on Moe's one-yard TD pass to Fonua to make it 33-9.

Another interception helped the Red Raiders score in the third quarter on an eight-yard run by Wily to make it 40-9.

The Mules scored later in the third quarter on a 19-yard TD pass from Sadanaga to Andrade to pull to 40-16.

Kahuku wrapped up their scoring early in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard TD run by Brown.

"Overall, our passing was going tonight," Kahuku coach Reggie Torres said. "Defense was flying to the ball. We had some turnovers and our penalties were down. That was one big area we wanted to fix."

Kahuku was penalized four times for 40 yards.