With back-to-back victories, Kalani hurled itself back into the conversation in the Oahu Interscholastic Association White football title discussion.

The pass-happy Falcons took advantage of outstanding field position in the early going and never allowed Kalaheo to gain a foothold in a 34-17 victory on Saturday night at Kailua.

Kalani (2-2, 2-1 White) notched its third straight victory over the ground-bound Mustangs and moved into a tie for second in the division. With the defeat of Kalaheo (2-2, 2-1), Kaiser (2-0) has sole possession of first.

"The win over here is tremendous," said Kalani coach Greg Taguchi, whose team had the benefit of starting its drives at midfield or better on its first four possessions. "The field position helped us tremendously. It took the pressure off of us defensively, it gives the opportunity to throw with the wind. The field position made it easy."

The Mustangs shut out their previous two foes, Anuenue and Roosevelt. But the going was different this time against Kalani’s run-and-shoot attack, especially on the repeated short field.

Senior receiver Trevor Yamashita was the go-to target for quarterback Noah Brum all night. Yamashita had 11 catches for 114 yards, including a first-quarter touchdown.

Brum went 26-for-47 for 324 yards with two touchdown tosses against one interception.

Running back Noah Kim ran in two short-yardage touchdowns for Kalani, and Marc Teshima banged in two first-quarter field goals to extend the Falcons’ lead.

Kalaheo broke through in the second quarter with an 88-yard touchdown jaunt by potent senior back Makena Johnston, who was otherwise kept in check and finished with 132 rushing yards on seven carries.

The Mustangs wouldn’t come close to replicating that explosiveness until Shayde Spencer scored on a 65-yard pass from quarterback Jack Bell in the fourth quarter; the game was just about decided at that point.

"Struggling with our mistakes … that’s our Achilles’ heel right now," Kalaheo coach Darrell Poole said. "You can’t make mistakes against a team like Kalani. They’ll take full advantage of it, and that’s what they did."

Backed up by penalties on its first drive, Kalaheo tried a bold move — a fake punt from the 12. It backfired and Kalani needed three plays for Brum to find Yamashita for a 16-yard score.

In the second quarter, the Mustangs cut it to 20-10 on a 32-yard field goal by James Geren. Kalani was back on the move when an apparent interception of Brum by the Mustangs’ Andrew Mitchell was overturned by a roughing-the-passer call. Kalani went on to score in a matter of moments.

"That was a killer," Poole said. "No doubt. … It seemed everything we did on the field backfired on us both offensively and defensively."