Punahou had its mojo Tuesday. ‘Iolani did not.

The Buffanblu rolled to a 4-1 victory on their rainy home field to lock up the ILH Division I boys soccer championship and a seeded berth and first-round bye in the upcoming D-I state tournament.

It was Punahou’s second straight league championship and third in the past four years.

Beating ‘Iolani to the ball was a must in the Buffanblu’s game plan — and they pulled it off.

“It was definitely a battle,” said Punahou midfielder Max Moonier, who finished with a goal and an assist. “We kind of had it in us more. Almost every 50-50 ball, we got there first. I think we wanted it more and were a little bit more passionate. All those kinds of things kind of led us to getting our chances and putting our chances away.”

The last time the Buffanblu (9-1-2) and Raiders (10-2-1) went at it, ‘Iolani controlled the contest and took a 2-0 lead before Punahou scored twice in the last 10 minutes for a 2-2 final.

“We didn’t let them get to every single ball in the midfield (like last time),” Buffanblu coach David Trifonovitch said. “We knew we had to beat them to the ball or match them by being there with them on the ball.”

Thanks to an own goal by ‘Iolani, the Buffanblu grabbed a 1-0 head start in the 16th minute. A cross by Punahou’s Liam Nichols-Shipley was inadvertently knocked in by Raiders defender Makana Simafranca.

In the 36th minute, a Punahou through ball that looked to be a perfect setup in the box to Dominic Gusman wound up giving the Buffanblu a golden opportunity for a two-goal lead. Sensing Gusman was going to convert, ‘Iolani defender Garrett Inouye committed a quick foul. Moonier then stepped up to the penalty-kick line and drilled a low shot into the left corner to make it 2-0.

“It wasn’t our best game today,” said ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee, whose team will work on regrouping for states. “We had an off day.”

In the second half, ‘Iolani pressed on offense and put a load of pressure on, but continued to get denied by the Buffanblu back line that was led by Treyden Buder-Nakasone and Kobi Saito. Goalkeeper Nicholas Shor nimbly found his way through a crowd to come up with a grab of Frederik Mareels’ free kick.

In the 76th minute, Buder-Nakasone scored off of Moonier’s chip late to take away the momentum ‘Iolani gained and boost the lead to 3-0.

Two minutes later, the Raiders got their only goal on Brendan Parke’s penalty kick after Jacob Lee was fouled in the box trying for a close-in rebound of his dangerous corner kick.

In the 79th minute, Punahou scored on a bang-bang-bang play — Tycen Santos’ free kick to the far left post that was headed by Matthew Fairfax to the right post, where Micah Williams redirected it into the goal with a header.

“I think we need to be sharper on some things,” ‘Iolani defender Lincoln Oishi said. “We were sleeping in the back and some balls bounced through that we didn’t think would go through. We just gotta be quicker with that. I’m glad that we worked hard and tried to get something out of it (in the first part of the second half) and showed spirit.”