BOTHELL, Wash. >> Aiea senior Sila Unutoa said it was already “the best week of my high school career.”

After a 38-14 thrashing of Woodinville (Wash.) on Thursday night, Unutoa added that it made things “a thousand times better.”

The 6-foot-2, 300-pound defensive tackle anchored a Na Alii defense that held the Falcons to 30 rushing yards on 23 carries and physically dominated its opponents in front of a raucous Pop Keeney Stadium home crowd that was there celebrating the first day of school at Woodinville and the team’s 2022 season opener.

“Coming into this stadium and seeing the whole crowd and then whole band and seeing this good team, that made us play even better,” Unutoa said. “At first, all of us had butterflies, but as soon as we kicked off, we made that first play successfully, and that’s when all the butterflies went away.”

With the entire home bleachers section filled and people watching from their patios of an apartment complex behind the south end zone, Aiea (3-1) took control of the game early and pulled away late with a balanced offensive attack.

Junior running back Kaimana Lale-Saole rushed for a career-high 178 yards and two touchdowns and Geronimo Ulgaran had 14 receptions for 149 yards and scored twice for Na Alii, who played their first game on the mainland since losing to Centennial (Ore.) in 2016.

“The only thing different was the weather and it’s not your own field,” Lale-Saole said. “It was hot. Honestly, I’m pretty proud of my team and how they played. We came up here and we wanted to win so we’re bringing a win back to Hawaii and I’m happy about that.”

Junior quarterback Ezekiel Olie threw for 296 yards and a touchdown and overcame two first-half interceptions that kept the Falcons in the game.

He came up big late in the first half with Aiea ahead 10-7 following a 61-yard touchdown pass from Woodinville quarterback Tyler Jones to Everett Ratliff on a busted coverage in the Aiea secondary.

Na Alii got the ball back with 2:50 remaining in the first half and Olie completed five of six passes on a 12-play, 72-yard drive capped off by Lale-Saole’s 2-yard TD run with eight seconds remaining in the half.

Olie then put the game away on the first play of the fourth quarter when he hit Jayden Chanel for 68 yards and a touchdown when Chanel made the first tackler miss and outran the Woodinville defense to the end zone for a 31-14 lead.

Aiea finished with 286 rushing yards and threw for 324 yards to put it over 600 total yards in the game against a Woodinville team that had made the Washington 4A state semifinals three years in a row from 2017 to 2019.

“The boys had a helluva game,” Olie said. “There’s a lot of critiquing to do when we get home and we’ll stay humble about it. It was very different from home. Hawaii boys we can bang ’em out and up here it was a good experience for me and the boys too.”

This is only the second time in 30 years coach Wendell Say has taken a team to the mainland. It’s something he quickly realized on the trip to Oregon in 2016 he needed to do more often.

“I told the kids after that trip I have no idea why I didn’t do this more often because they have so much fun and it’s such a big opportunity for them,” Say said. “(This week) has been an adventure. We hardly had practice like we do for other games — only twice and just with helmets. They knew what to do. It was going to be 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical and they focused. They did a good job.”

Aiea arrived on Monday and will stay through the weekend and make the four-hour drive South to McMinnville (Ore.) to see Farrington play tonight.

Na Alii visited the University of Washington campus on Thursday morning and ate at Seattle’s Pike Place Market and rested for a couple of hours before taking the field.

“We’ve been on the road ever since we came here, so it’s been a lot,” Say said. “I’m proud of these guys for the way they responded and the focus they had coming in. I keep telling them the only thing that can beat them is themselves because the only time we’ve lost is when we’ve beat ourselves.”

Na Alii are ranked No. 8 in the latest Star-Advertiser Top 10 and have won seven of their past 10 games dating back to last season.

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AIEA 38, WOODINVILLE 14

At Pop Keeney Stadium

Aiea (3-1) 7 10 7 14 — 38

Woodinville (0-1) 0 7 7 0 — 14

Aiea—Kaimana Lale-Saole 52 run (Bryson Boyea Quiton kick)

Aiea—FG Quiton 20

Wood—Everett Ratliff 61 pass from Tyler Jones (Finley Bragg kick)

Aiea—Lale-Saole 3 run (Quiton kick)

Aiea—Geronimo Ulgaran 2 run (Quiton kick)

Wood—Andy Henry 32 pass from Jones (Bragg kick)

Aiea—Jayden Chanel 68 pass from Ezekiel Olie (Quiton kick)

Aiea—Ulgaran 17 pass from Noah Spencer (Quiton kick)

RUSHING—Aiea: Lale-Saole 22-178, Ezekiel Olie 4-31, Noah Spencer 6-31, Kobe Higa 3-21, Kane Lorenzana 2-20, Ulgaran 2-6, Jayden Chanel 1-5, team 1-(minus 6). Woodinville: Chase Rudin 12-21, Carlos Miramontes 2-14, Ivori Keo 4-11, team 1-(minus 2), Jones 4-(minus 14).

PASSING—Aiea: Olie 26-35-2-296, Spencer 3-3-0-28. Woodinville: Jones 11-18-1-172, Levi Grothen 2-6-0-16.

RECEIVING—Aiea: Ulgaran 14-149, Chanel 6-110, Rico Figueroa 7-53, Jheremie Cacpal 2-12. Woodinville: Ratliff 5-111, Henry 4-60, Bragg 2-7, Casey Larson 1-5, Rudin 1-5.