For 15 minutes, Millikan went toe-to-toe with the state’s co-No. 1-ranked Punahou.

The Rams, hailing from Long Beach, Calif., withstood the Buffanblu attack and took a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter. Punahou then reeled off 45 unanswered points in a 51-7 rout Friday afternoon at Alexander Field.

Coach Nate Kia’s offense, almost exclusively in two-back sets, ran the ball 40 times for 291 yards. Junior Nelson Aau, a fourth-stringer, scored three touchdowns on runs of 10, 10 and 5 yards, all in the first half. Aau finished with 167 yards on 10 attempts, a classic, throwback style of scatback running perfectly behind his big, active offensive line.

“It’s just my normal job, executing our plays and we were having fun,” Aau said. “Our O-line works so hard every day, and our wide receivers made their blocks.”

Punahou wore down a tough front seven by the second quarter, even with starting running back Ala‘i Williams sitting out with an injury.

“Ala‘i is a little banged up, but we did a good job of establishing our running game,” Kia said. “Baba (Aau) did a tremendous job. He’s an aggressive runner and definitely will hit the crease. He showed great vision and balance.”

Freshman running back John-Luke Twigg added 95 rushing yards on 16 carries. Senior quarterback Ty McCutcheon has made a smooth transition to the four-wide attack of yesterday to the current ground-and-pound, play- action precision of this year’s base offense.

However, Punahou was whistled 13 times for 127 yards in penalties. Seven yellow flags were for holding.

Punahou surrendered a 38-yard touchdown pass from JP Mialvoski to Loyall Mouzon, but adjusted quickly. Mouzon did not see another target the rest of the day.

The Buffanblu front limited the Rams to 18 rushes for 29 total yards. Kia calls senior nose tackle Faiafua Ioane the best at his position in the state.

“Our goal is just to be physical on the line of scrimmage and set up plays for our linebackers. Just getting off as fast as I can, keep my balance,” he said. “One of our game plans is to always stop the run and make the other teams one-dimensional.”

Millikan played in Division 4 of the California Interscholastic Federation and moves up to Division 5 this season under fifth-year head coach Romeo Pellum.

“It was a good game. Punahou did a good job, especially on special teams,” he said.

Millikan did what it could to contain Punahou playmaker Astin Hange, who caught three passes for 67 yards on five targets. The senior came up big with an 88-yard kickoff return to the house, and also returned a punt for 50 yards. Millikan’s Mouzon, who also played defensive back, had an interception on a deep ball while covering Hange.

“(Hange) made a big play on a go ball. We just need to execute and make tackles,” said Pellum, who played for Washington State against Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. “Punahou’s really good, better on defense than offense. I like the way we competed for 11⁄2 quarters. After that, they got the momentum and we’ve got to find a way to claw out of that. We want to play the best, and Punahou is tied for No. 1 here. This is how we get better.”

Punahou was its own worst enemy in the first half with five penalties for 90 yards. The Buffanblu finally hit paydirt after Hange returned a punt 50 yards down the left sideline to the Millikan 10-yard line.

On the next snap, Aau got his first carry, following his blockers and cutting through for a 10-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The Rams broke through on their fourth drive of the game. They marched 62 yards in three plays. Mialovski lofted a perfect pass to speedy Mouzon down the left sideline for a 38-yard TD. Jayden Icasiano’s PAT kick pushed Millikan ahead, 7-6, with 10:36 left in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Hange broke though the middle of the field for an 88-yard return to the end zone. After Twigg scored off left tackle on the two-point conversion, Punahou was ahead 14-7 with 10:21 to go before halftime.

Aau’s shifty bursts out of the offset-I formation proved tough for Millikan. He scored his second TD on the left side, a 10-yard run, again barely touched. That opened Punahou’s lead to 21-7 with 5:45 until intermission. Punahou scored twice more and led 35-7 at halftime.

After a Millikan three-and-out, Aau was back at it, racing around left end for 18 yards, then darting between his left guard and tackle for a 24-yard pickup. That set up McCutcheon’s 30-yard bomb to Zion White, who kept his feet inbounds in the back of the end zone near the goal post. Punahou’s run of 21 unanswered points extended the lead to 28-7 with 3 minutes left in the second quarter.

With the heat and humidity taking a toll on the visitors, McCutcheon went deep to Hange for a 54-yard catch and tete-a-tete on the left sideline to the Millikan 5-yard line. On the next play, Aau scored on the left side for his third TD, and Punahou led 35-7 with 43 seconds left until the break.

At Alexander Field

Millikan (0-1) 0 7 0 0 — 7

Punahou (2-0) 6 29 6 10 — 51

PUN—Nelson Aau 10 run (kick failed)

MIL—Loyall Mouzon 38 pass from JP Mialovski (Jayden Icasiano kick)

PUN—Astin Hange 88 kick return (John-Luke Twigg run)

PUN—Aau 10 run (Carson Beard kick)

PUN—Zion White 30 pass from Ty McCutcheon (Beard kick)

PUN—Aau 5 run (Beard kick)

PUN—Iosepa Lyman 8 pass from McCutcheon (kick failed)

PUN—Beard FG 31

PUN—Dash Watanabe 48 pass from Maulama Kimata (Beard kick)

RUSHING—Mil: Mialovski 7-(-10), Landon Ross 1-3, Michael Sherrils 10-36. Pun: Twigg 16-95, Iosepa Lyman 8-24, Keegan Dunn 5-12, McCutcheon 1-(-7), Aau 10-167.

PASSING—Mil: Mialovski 16-31-1-175, Jayden Rapp 2-2-0-6. Pun: McCutcheon 11-17-1-201, Maulama Kimata 2-2-0-24.

RECEIVING—Mil: Ryan Pellum 8-58, Greg McClendon 1-6, Charles Broughton 4-47, Mouzon 1-38, Sherrills 2-6, Jude Nelson 2-25. Pun: White 3-85, Hange 3-67, Lyman 3-26, Aau 1-9, Watanabe 3-88,