Punahou running back Ryan Tuiasoa took this pass reception 87 yards for a score in the fourth quarter. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou quarterback Larry Tuileta makes a pass attempt against Mililani. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Mililani wide receiver Preston Sinn had 9 receptions for 109 yards against Punahou. Timothy Ing | SL

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Mililani's Dayton Furuta is wrapped up by Punahou's Isaac Savaiinaea Sylvia Lee | Special to SL

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Punahou wide receiver Kanawai Noa had a game-high 11 receptions for 229 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown grab. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Fri, Nov 16, 2012 @ Aloha Stadium [ 4:30 pm ]

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Mililani

19

Punahou

49

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Mililani (10-3-0)	13	0	0	6	19
Punahou (8-3-0)	7	14	14	14	49

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Larry Tuileta 420 yd 5 TD

Jarin Morikawa 295 yd 3 TD

Ryan Tuiasoa 60 yd 2 TD

Pakelo Lee 50 yd

Kanawai Noa 229 yd 1 TD

Preston Sinn 109 yd

HALAWA - It took Punahou a little over a quarter of football to work off three weeks of rust, but once it did, the Buffanblu were once again a well-oiled machine.

Larry "Tui" Tuileta threw for 420 yards, including 229 to Kanawai Noa to lead Punahou to a resounding 49-19 win over Mililani in a semifinal game of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I State Championships Friday at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

The Buffanblu, ranked second in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings, improved to 8-2 and advanced to next Friday's championship game, where it will meet Kahuku, a 47-14 winner over Farrington.

"The coaching staff, both offensively and defensively, did a great job," Punahou coach Kale Ane said. "Mililani is a tremendous offensive team and defensively, they give you fits, so to hold them to 19 points is a great accomplishment and to score that many points against a quality defense is great for us, so we're very happy."

Punahou, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu titlist, amassed 501 yards of total offense to Mililani's 361. The Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up Trojans, ranked third in the SL/OC16 Power Rankings, got 295 passing yards from quarterback Jarin Morikawa, but could not overcome a 35-point Punahou run after an early 13-7 Trojans' lead early in the second quarter.

The Buffanblu defense bent, but refused to break, allowing just three Mililani touchdowns while sacking Morikawa five times. Dayson Watanabe and Chaz Shizumura also intercepted passes for Punahou.

The 420 passing yards by Tuileta tied former Leilehua quarterback Kenan Sadanaga for the second most in a state-tournament game. Sadanaga holds the record of 478 yards in a 2010 quarterfinal. Whatsmore, Noa's 229 receiving yards are the most since Saint Louis' Desmond Hanohano had 307 in a 2003 state-tourney game.

"The big guys stepped up in a big game and that's what you hope for," Ane said. "They took command - both offensive and defensive guys - and I commend all of them, they played great."

Tuileta completed 24 of his 35 pass attempts, including five touchdowns and no interceptions.

Mililani struggled to protect Morikawa against a relentless Buffanblu pass rush, which was led by linebacker Isaac Savaiinaea's game-high 10 tackles. Kaumatule, a 6-foot-7 sophomore defensive end, added seven stops, including three sacks and four tackles for losses.

"We just had some miscues - some dropped passes, missed some blocks - but credit Punahou," said Trojans coach Rod York, whose team was just 4 of 19 on third downs. "They're tough, they have a great coaching staff, great players and we misfired offensively and they started scoring, we were leaving our defense out on the field for too long."

Morikawa was intercepted on the Trojans' second play from scrimmage by Watanabe, whose 8-yard return gave his team first-and-goal from the Mililani 10-yard line. Three plays later, Tuileta found Kotoni Sekona for a 6-yard touchdown pass with eight minutes and 35 seconds to play in the first quarter. The PAT was good by Charles McDonald to put Punahou ahead, 7-0.

Mililani answered on its next possession with a 19-yard scoring strike from Morikawa to Ekolu Ramos, who leapt over the Punahou defender and came down with the ball in the end zone. Ryan Carlomany's PAT with 5:16 left in the first tied it at 7-apiece.

The Trojans forced a three-and-out and followed with a six-play, 74-yard drive that was capped by Morikawa's 18-yard touchdown pass to Erren Jean-Pierre. The PAT was blocked and Mililani held a 13-7 lead late in the first quarter.

However, it was all Buffanblu after that.

"I don't want to say we were rusty, because (Mililani) is just a good team," said Ane, whose team had not played a game since Oct. 25. "They're a good team and they earned the points that they got and they shut us down for a while and we went to our go-to-guys in Tui and Kanawai and they performed great."

Punahou tied it early in the second quarter on a 1-yard Ryan Tuiasoa touchdown run that was set-up by a 49-yard completion from Tuileta to Kanawai Noa on third-and-13. McDonald added the extra point to reclaim the lead for the Buffanblu, 14-13, with 8:52 to play in the second.

The Buffanblu went quick-strike two possessions later with a 68-yard deep completion from Tuileta to Noa. Tuileta pump-faked to the right flat, which left Noa wide open along the right sideline. McDonald's PAT made the score, 21-13, with 2:27 left until halftime.

"Tui called that play and it was the perfect play-call," said Noa, who has been dealing with a sprained ankle. "The corner just got caught on top of the speed-out and that left me wide open."

Carlomany had a 32-yard field goal try on the final play of the half, but it was blocked by Savaiinaea.

Mililani turned it over on downs on its first second-half possession, which led to Tuileta's third touchdown pass - a 3-yarder to Dakota Torres.

"Just too many misfires," York lamented. "Either we run the wrong route, or we throw a bad ball, or we get it right and drop it, or its open and we get sacked."

Punahou extended its lead to 35-13 late in the third quarter on a 28-yard Tuileta-to Noah Willey touchdown pass. Following a three-and-out by Mililani, Tuiasoa found the end zone for a second time on a 1-yard plunge to make it, 42-13.

"I think in the beginning we were a little off, but the defense pulled together, got some momentum and the offense stepped up big time, so we fed off each other," Kaumatule said. "Our coaches work really hard, we pulled together as a team and we did really well."

Morikawa hit Jean-Pierre for a 16-yard touchdown on the Trojans' next drive, before the Buffanblu added a late score on an 87-yard pass from Tuileta to Tuiasoa.

Preston Sinn caught nine passes for 109 yards for Mililani.

The Buffanblu, the tournament's No. 2 seed, had a first-round bye last week and will return to the DI title game for the second straight year and fourth time overall. Punahou lost to Kahuku, 30-24, in last year's state final.

"I know a lot of my friends feel really bad about last year and I know a lot of people that worked really hard to get us here so we're looking forward to making my family proud, along with the whole Buff nation and we'll be ready for next week," Kaumatule said.

Mililani, which won at Baldwin in a first-round game last week, ended its season with a 10-3 record and is now 1-5 all-time in state-tournament games and 0-2 in the semifinal round.