Punahou posted 443 yards of total offense, including 240 passing yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Stephen Barber to improve to 2-0. John Lujan | SL

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Solatoa Moeai (middle) celebrates with teammates after catching a tipped pass for the first score of the game. John Lujan | SL

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Fri, Aug 25, 2017 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:00 pm ]

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Torrey Pines

7

Punahou

23

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Torrey Pines (0-1-0)	0	0	7	0	7
Punahou (5-3-0)	0	7	7	9	23

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Stephen Barber, Jr. 240 yd 2 TD

Jason Heine 59 yd

Stephen Barber, Jr. 94 yd

Sully O'Brien 90 yd 1 TD

Tamatoa Falatea 86 yd

Luke Mikolajewski 32 yd

HALAWA — No. 4 Punahou got off to a slow start Friday night, but rode its defense to eventually pull away from visiting Torrey Pines for a 23-7 win at Hawaiian Tel FCU Field at Aloha Stadium.

The Buffanblu posted 443 yards of total offense, including 240 passing yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Stephen Barber to improve to 2-0.

The Falcons, from San Diego, ran for 230 of their 289 net yards with their wing-T offense in their opening game of the season.

"They're a good team, first of all, and I think that it's a very difficult offense to play against, so our defense did a good job considering they haven't seen that kind of offense in years," Punahou coach Kale Ane said of Torrey Pines, which went 8-3 in 2016 and is ranked sixth in The San Diego Union-Tribune preseason top 10 poll.

Punahou's first possession resulted in a 56-yard Tim Horn punt, but Torrey Pines eventually turned it over on downs after a 13-play drive.

The Buffanblu benefitted from a stroke of luck on the culminating play of their next drive. Barber fired a pass for wide receiver Tamatoa Falatea, who tipped the ball into the air before 6-foot-4, 290-pound tight end Solatoa Moeai came down with it in the end zone.

"I ran my post (route), but (Barber) threw it to someone else, so I kind of slowed down and the ball went in the air and as soon as I saw, I ran and jumped and came down with it," said Moeai, who is listed on the roster as an offensive lineman/defensive lineman. "That's the first pass I ever caught."

Ane said it was a fortuitous deflection.

Solatoa Moeai (middle) celebrates with teammates after catching a tipped pass for the first score of the game. John Lujan | SL    Purchase image

"(Moeai) was in the right place at the right time. You could tell everybody was excited for him," Ane said.

Earlier in the drive, the Buffanblu moved the chains on back-to-back plays. Vincent Terrell ran for 13 yards on a third-and-2, and on the very next play, Barber hit Falatea for an 18-yard pitch-and-catch on a play-action pass.

Moeai's TD pass — followed by Tim Horn's PAT — put Punahou ahead, 7-0, just 36 seconds into the second quarter.

The Buffanblu fumbled on their next two first-half possessions, but the defense held both times to keep it a one-score game at halftime.

"That gave us a lot of momentum because those stops really helped us," said linebacker Trent Shiraki.

Punahou stretched its lead to 14-0 lead at the 4:37 mark of the third quarter. Barber threw a sidearm pass to Koa Eldredge, who made a diving grab at the other end for an 11-yard touchdown. The drive covered 74 yards in 12 plays and included a pair of short conversions by Barber. He picked up eight yards on a QB draw on a fourth-and-1, and five plays later, picked up a yard on 3rd-and-1.

Barber, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior, completed 20 of his 25 pass attempts, but was intercepted twice. He also ran for a game-high 94 yards.

"It's probably a little bit more than I'd like," Ane said of Barber's 17 carries. "I think he's got to learn to throw the short pass when it's there and whatnot, but he's such an athlete and he makes things happen. Talking to the other coach after the game, they were really worried about him running the ball."

The Falcons lone score came on a 5-yard sweep by Sully O'Brien with 2:22 left in the third quarter. Justin Kaplan tacked on the extra point to cut the Buffanblu lead to 14-7.

However, Punahou answered on its ensuing possession. Antonio Cortez Feria punched in a score from one yard out three plays into the fourth quarter to cap a eight-play, 74-yard drive.

The teams exchanged interceptions on consecutive plays before Shiraki tackled Beau Morgans in the end zone on a reverse to notch a Buffanblu safety that made it 23-7 with 9:37 to play.

"The two (offensive) guards were pulling so I had to wrong-arm it and get inside of that, and then I saw the slot on the other side come across and I was trailing him, somebody hit (O'Brien), and he gave it to (Morgans), I believe, and I just made that play," Shiraki said.

The Buffanblu turned it over four times, including a pair of first-half fumbles.

"Our offense had the ball four times, I think, in the first half and we fumbled twice and scored once, so we need to do a better job of ball security, but the kids played hard, it was great game for us against some good competition and it was fun competition," Ane said.

The Falcons ran the ball on 47 of their 62 plays from scrimmage and averaged 4.9 yards per rush. Quarterback Jason Heine was 5-of-15 passing for 59 yards with one interception.

"I'm very, very proud of our kids. We knew we were coming into a situation where we're playing a great, great football team and I feel like our kids played so hard for so long and in the end (Punahou) just had a little too much, but for us, it's one game in a very long season and I like where we are," Torrey Pines coach Ron Gladnick said, whose team was an efficient 10 of 16 on third downs.

Defensive back Jack Raser recovered a pair of fumbles and forced another and Louis Bickett and Luke Mikolajewski each recorded an interception to lead the Falcons defensively.

Gladnick saw three players of the 55 players he suited up for the game leave with injuries, but said that Punahou's uptempo, no-huddle offense did not wear down his squad.

"Not really. I think in the end we needed to hold the ball longer, we needed to convert more of our third-and-short, fourth-and-short, mid-range (situations) and we needed more first downs," Gladnick said. "If we could have possessed the ball for another four or five minutes, it would have allowed us to hang around."

The Falcons, were making their first trip to Hawaii since 1998, arrived in Honolulu on Monday and have been staying at the Turtle Bay Resort, where they practiced in between some off-the-field excursions.

"We've had a great experience," Gladnick said. "Our kids bonded, we got to meet people on the island, we had a pig roast one night and a Hawaiian barbecue and, you know, ten years from now, no one is going to remember the score of this game, but the boys will remember all the things they did."

Punahou will travel to Southern California next week for a non-league game against Junipero Serra (Gardena, California), which will be played at Cathedral Catholic — located less than two miles from the Torrey Pines campus — just north of San Diego.