Leilehua recovered an onside kick to open its homecoming game against Waipahu, then converted a fourth down on the way to a field goal.

The aggression paid off. It was all Mules after that.

Kona Andres tossed three first-half touchdowns — two to receiver Anthony Ugalino — and the rout was on. The Mules parlayed a 28-point halftime lead into a 38-0 win in OIA Red Conference action on Friday night.

Kicker Connor Murakami aided the Leilehua (2-2 Red) effort with three field goals, including a 40-yarder to cap things off in the fourth quarter.

"We’ve struggled on offense, so special teams has helped us out the last two, three games," Mules coach Nolan Tokuda said. "(The onside kick) sparked us. Credit goes to coach Darrin Matsumiya, and the special teams guys worked hard this week. Just trying to get us in good field position, whether it was the kickoff return, punt return, or kickoffs, just so we can get more opportunities and help our offense a little bit."

Aided by superior field position most of the night, Andres would finish with four scoring throws and 295 yards passing with no picks on a Hugh Yoshida Stadium field shrouded in a misty fog.

"We know Kona’s going to throw touchdown passes; it’s just he has a problem turning it over," Tokuda said. "Tonight the emphasis was no turnovers … he did his job, and the linemen did their job."

Jadan Gilliland added to Waipahu’s misery with an 80-yard catch-and-run TD on the Mules’ first possession of the second half. He absorbed a would-be tackler, spun and dashed the final 70 yards untouched. Gilliland finished with 166 yards receiving on six grabs.

The Marauders (1-4 Red) averaged 37.7 points over their previous three games. But the second-half drama was reduced to whether they would get shut out for the first time this season; running clock was achieved by the end of the third quarter.

Waipahu’s Andrew Simanu was coming off a school-record receiving performance (249 yards) in a loss to Kaiser last week. But Simanu was held to just two grabs for 30 yards in this one.

Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho moved some players around because of some light bodies due to team academics. Normal starting quarterback Blaise De Asis moved to slotback and Gavin Marques took the reins.

But Marques had a rough go of it, completing just three of 15 passes before the half. (Some were drops by wide-open receivers.)

"Definitely struggled with it," Carvalho said of his team’s player movement. "We’re just going to have to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do. It’s tough on the kids. I feel for the guys that did take care of what they needed to take care of. They’re the ones that are here kind of struggling and trying to keep things together."

De Asis caught two passes on Waipahu’s final drive, but took a hard hit on his second grab. He remained down for a few minutes then hobbled off the field. Carvalho said he expected De Asis and Marques to battle for the starting quarterback job again in the coming week.

Leilehua hosts Kahuku next week, while Waipahu heads to Waianae.