Kalani RB Justin Yasutake runs the ball against McKinley Saturday night in an OIA Division II contest. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Sat, Aug 26, 2017 @ Roosevelt [ 6:00 pm ]

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Kalani

57

McKinley

24

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Kalani (4-4-0)	21	22	7	7	57
McKinley (1-7-0)	6	6	0	12	24

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Alexandria Buchanan 80 yd 1 TD

Seth Tina-Soberano 333 yd 3 TD

Anthony Jim 62 yd 1 TD

Seth Tina-Soberano 75 yd 2 TD

Kaiwi Ahina 83 yd 1 TD

Jerick Robinson 161 yd

MAKIKI —  After two close losses, Kalani made sure this one wasn't a nail-biter.

The Falcons scored in every quarter to breeze past McKinley, 57-24, Saturday night at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium for their first win of the season.

"The kids practiced hard this week," said Kalani second-year coach Scott Melemai. "They came out and executed well today."

Senior quarterback Seth Tina-Soberano accounted for five total first half touchdowns to help Kalani improve to 1-2 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II standings.

Tina-Soberano used his athleticism and elusiveness to extend multiple plays for the Kalani offense, which helped him complete 15 of 21 passes for 333 yards and three scores. He also carried the ball 10 times for 75 yards and two more TDs.

"He's a talented athlete, it's obvious," said McKinley coach Pat Silva. "He makes things happen for them. He keeps plays going, he keeps the drives alive and he just makes a whole lot of people look slow out there."

While the Falcons, ranked ninth in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric D2 Football Power Rankings, were able to put up points in bunches, the defense also put up a solid effort. If you take away the Tigers' two first half scores, which included a 56-yard TD run and a 70-yard TD pass, the Kalani defense held McKinley to just 117 yards of total offense in 51 plays.

The strong defensive effort was highlighted with Matthew Wu's 34-yard pick-six for the final score of the game.

"Defense played a helluva of a game," said Melemai. "Give them credit, they were on the field for a long time."

While the Tigers (0-4 overall, 0-3 OIA D2) suffered their 28th consecutive loss dating back to 2013, Saturday's contest was a marked improvement.

For starters, McKinley got back all of its academic probation players that it was missing in the first three weeks. This allowed the Tigers to run a diversified offense that included the use of an empty set and a wishbone formation.

Silva remained optimistic that his team still hasn't reached its peak yet.

"I think we're still learning the process, and it's going to take a little time, and I think as coaches we need to be patient knowing that."

Kalani struck first on Tina-Soberano's 30-yard TD pass to Travis Tagad down the left sideline to go up 7-0. McKinley answered with Anthony Jim's 56-yard TD run on the following possession to make it a 7-6 game.

Tina-Soberano scored on the Falcons' next drive with a 5-yard TD run to make it a 14-6 game with 2:56 remaining in the first quarter.

Kalani's lead quickly grew within the next minute as a fumble recovery off a bad McKinley snap set up Ikaika Holden's 4-yard TD run to give the Falcons a 21-6 lead heading into the second period of play.

Tina-Soberano ran in another TD and tossed another scoring strike to Tagad before the Tigers got back into the scoring column. Alexandria Buchanan's 70-yard TD pass to Kaiwi Ahina cut into Kalani's lead, 36-12, with 3:32 remaining in the first half.

Logan Matsuoka caught a 32-yard TD pass from Tina-Soberano for the final score of the first half to give Kalani a 43-12 lead at the break.

Ryu Yamane scored the last offensive TD for the Falcons on a fumble recovery midway through the third quarter.

McKinley got two scores in the fourth quarter on Frank Steffany's 1-yard TD run and Sioeli Lopes-Liutolo's 80-yard pick-six off of Kalani backup quarterback Jay Zeno.