No. 4 Punahou pushes through

After nearly going bust, No. 4 Punahou came up with the winning spin on a night of mutual quarterback roulette with No. 5 Kamehameha.

With starting QB Stephen Barber ailing, the Buffanblu shuffled signal-callers constantly and completed only five passes to five different receivers on Friday night at Aloha Stadium. But the last hookup, a floater from wildcat quarterback Maninoa Tufono to 290-pound tight end Solatoa Moea’i, was money from 10 yards with 3:11 left for a 21-17 come-from-behind victory.

The Buffanblu had tried something similar, twice, on their first drive of the game and came up empty with another reserve quarterback at the controls.

After Kamehameha took a 17-14 lead on Nokea Nakachi-Isaacs’ 31-yard field goal in the third quarter, Punahou (5-1, 2-1 ILH Division I) made the play count for its 10th straight win in the series.

“You gotta have faith in your kids,” Punahou coach Kale Ane said. “They work hard, and they’re going to make mistakes, but you gotta give them a chance to redeem themselves. I felt comfortable they’d make the play when they needed to.”

They set it up with a run-heavy drive that started from the Warriors’ 39. Barber — who did not start and did complete a pass after hurting his throwing arm in a 49-13 loss to top-ranked Saint Louis last week — got trapped for an 11-yard loss on an option keeper and had to exit the game. Starter Nui Adolpho came back in and threw a wild ball to Koa Eldredge in double coverage, but Eldredge somehow came down with it at the 4.

Enter Tufono, who in the first quarter recovered his own fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. The Buffanblu got backed up to the 10 and called timeout.

“We kind of knew they were going to stack the box,” Moea’i said. “It was a great call. … We’ve been working a lot with (Tufono), because our quarterbacks have been injured lately. So we’ve been pulling guys from everywhere.”

Sophomore QB Hugh Brady also got time with Barber dealing with what Ane called a “family situation” beyond his physical status.

Punahou still had to make a defensive stand with a little over a minute left after going for it on fourth down needing 6 yards from the Kamehameha 16 and getting 5.

The Warriors, who were out of timeouts, couldn’t find anyone on a deep ball and ran out of time at midfield.

Kamehameha (3-3, 0-3) did nearly as much quarterback shuffling as Punahou, with freshman Kiai Keone getting the start. He gave way to senior Thomas Yam in the first half, but the Warriors also worked in wildcat quarterback Brandon Baniaga. Baniaga scored on a 3-yard keeper to tie it up at 7 early in the second quarter.

After Barber scored a TD from the 1 late in the half and the Warriors went three-and-out, Kuewa Kalamaku picked off Barber, setting up Yam’s 22-yard score to Skyler Ramos on a fade route with 25 seconds left to knot it at 14.

It made for a much tighter outcome than Punahou’s 21-0 win two weeks prior.

“We’re close,” Warriors coach Abu Ma’afala said. “This is the SEC of Hawaii football, and so any little mistake, it accumulates toward the end of the game. But for us to be in it at the end, comparatively to what we’ve been, very encouraging sign.”

More photos of the game between Punahou and Kamehameha.