Until further notice, Ken Smith might as well just stay in the pool.

Punahou’s players proved yet again their water polo dynasty is very much alive with a 9-1 victory over Kamehameha, then gave their 69-year-old coach the traditional heave into the water that’s become an annual rite.

To the surprise of few, the Buffanblu (11-0) were unstoppable for a ninth straight year in the Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA State Championships on Saturday night at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

If Punahou gets to states — and it hasn’t failed to do that since 2007 — it doesn’t lose, period. It now owns 11 of the 13 state water polo titles and is 33-0 all-time in state competition.

“You know, (the streak) is not really talked about as much anymore,” said Stanford-bound senior goalie Emalia Eichelberger, the tournament MVP, who saved nine shots in anchoring a dominant defensive effort. “Everyone knows that it’s there. It’s kind of the elephant in the room. If you break that streak, you know you’re going down as the team that breaks the streak. You just do not do that.”

It was going to take a herculean effort from ILH runner-up Kamehameha (7-5) to make this the year The Streak ended. The young Warriors played well in spurts, led by senior goalkeeper Jordan Ehara, but for the fifth time this season they came up short against their nemesis.

“Kamehameha is a solid team,” Smith said. “Randy (Bart)’s done a great job with them, in terms of where they were at the first of the season and to get them here in the championship game. You can’t ever take a team like that lightly, and we didn’t.”

Punahou’s “Big Three” of seniors Eichelberger, Natassia Dunn and Saki Migliorato kept a steady hand at the wheel all season, then went into another gear as the ultimate prize drew within view.

From her lair in goal, the 6-foot Eichelberger swatted just about everything that came her way — excepting a turnaround lobbed shot by Kaylen Nitahara in the third quarter — and initiated numerous counterattacks with her pinpoint passing across the length of the pool.

The utility player Dunn and offensive threat Migliorato combined for five of Punahou’s scores.

“Communication,” Dunn said of Saturday’s winning strategy. “We were really working on our defense, just making sure we knew who was dropping back and making sure to gap up top.”

Scary thought alert: Besides those three, Punahou was actually a pretty young team.

“They led by example and they just took people along,” Smith said. “Everyone played better because of them.”

First-year Punahou assistant Aisha Price was a junior on the team that started the streak back in 2008. She replied “absolutely not” when asked if she thought such a run was possible nearly a decade later.

“It’s been great that the legacy has been able to live on,” Price said. “From a coaching capacity, it’s awesome to see how hard they work for these wins. They’re a championship team and they really proved it.”

Micaela Kauhane and Marissa Anne Miller got things started with goals in the first quarter. Dunn found the net twice in Punahou’s last three possessions going into halftime for a 4-0 differential at the break.

In the third, eight of Kamehameha’s 10 halfcourt possessions ended in a turnover, shredding the Warriors’ chances of a rally despite Nitahara’s nifty goal over Eichelberger. Miller and Migliorato tacked on two goals each in the period for a seven-goal lead, and Miller completed the hat trick in the fourth.

“We gotta make passes. When we didn’t, their counterattacks just killed us,” said Bart, who still considered his team’s back-to-back efforts Friday against Kahuku and Saturday its best games of the year. “Again, our goalie (Ehara) helped save us — 9-1, it could’ve been a lot worse.”

Some mid-game tweaks were nullified by the length of Eichelberger, who has junior national team experience.

“We tried to get a second post in, force them to collapse, look for the open shots and attack them that way,” Bart said. “Their goalie covers so much ground. She’s just so good. We had really good shots. They’re going to go down as a save, but they were really good shots.”

Smith can make it 10 in a row next year, when he’ll be 70. But will he go for it?

“As long as it keeps being fun like this,” he said. “When you have great kids like this who train like they do, it makes our job so easy.”

Goal scorers — Pun: Marissa Anne Miller 3, Natassia Dunn 3, Saki Migliorato 2, Micaela Kauhane. KS: Kaylen Nitahara.

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All-tournament team

Payton Bosque, Kamehameha

Natassia Dunn, Punahou

Marissa Anne Miller, Punahou

Saki Migliorato, Punahou

Kaylen Nitahara, Kamehameha

India Pyzel, Kahuku

Goalkeeper: Jordan Ehara, Kamehameha

Most Outstanding Player: Emalia Eichelberger, Punahou

Third place

Kahuku 8, Roosevelt 5

Goal scorers — Kah: Ava Countryman 4, Sophia Wilson, Keanalanimele‘okekai Kunz, Isabella Walker, Delilah Tia. Roos: Laura Young, Rayna Miranda, April Gomes, Tristyn Oki.

Fifth place

Kamehameha-Hawaii 11, Lahainaluna 10, OT

Goal scorers — KSH: Katelynn Kubo 5, Alyssa Pelanca 4, Seizen Alameda, Lahela Rosario. Lah: Lalelei Mataafa 3, Julia Bianco 3, Nikki Zamani 2, Alicia Wintermeyer 2.

Consolation

Hawaii Prep 5, Kalani 3

Goal scorers — HPA: Janelle Laros 3, Taylor Doherty, Louisa Duggan. Kaln: Erika Kim 2, Lisa Namatame.