The Lunas improved to 4-0 in Maui Interscholastic League play, 3-0 in Division I, on Saturday night time with a methodical 28-7 win over Baldwin within the first sport performed at Sue Cooley Stadium in 371 days.

The homecoming festivities within the stadium had been clearly particular this time round for the 192-year-old faculty that survived the Aug. 8 wildfires that devastated the city immediately beneath it.

“Oh yeah, it was great, just being back to something that we’re used to doing,” Lahainaluna co-head coach Dean Rickard stated moments after saying goodbye to toddler granddaughter Keida, the sixth of his seven grandchildren. “I imply, it was nice, the group was there to help us and the children felt it — they simply needed to exit and simply give exhibiting.

“That’s what it was about and it was good to see everyone here.”

Lahainaluna followers wave indicators after the tip of the primary half Saturday at Sue Cooley Stadium.

Senior working again/linebacker Kaulana Tihada was glad to play a sport at house, on a festive night. He had two touchdowns and 103 yards dashing on 14 carries.

“It was amazing getting to play at our home field once again,” Tihada stated. “We really missed it, playing over here, so it was a real blessing being able to play back in Lahaina. There was a little added emotion, but we try to prepare ourselves, we try to 100 percent every play and just play our game.”

The Lunas, who’ve received 43 MIL video games in a row courting to 2016, can clinch their sixteenth straight journey to the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA state event with a win over Maui High on Saturday. A Sabers win in that sport would drive a championship sport at War Memorial Stadium Nov. 3 or 4.

“We know Maui High, they’ve been getting better and better and better,” Rickard stated. “So, no doubt, next week is a huge game and our kids realize that, too.”

Netflix and NFL Films had been each on web site to work on longterm tasks detailing the Lunas of their comeback throughout this delayed season, whereas The Associated Press, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now all had reporters on the scene.

Lahainaluna’s Ikaika Cabrera catches a second-quarter move in entrance of Baldwin’s Elijah Valdez on Saturday night time.

Earlier within the yr, The New York Times and Washington Post despatched reporters to Lunas’ video games.

Spectrum Sports and ESPN requested video from the scene Saturday.

When Rickard was requested if he thought that a few of the hoopla can be gone with the return to Lahaina, he smiled.

“I would love that, I hope that happens, if it really happens we’ll have to wait and see,” Rickard stated. “But on the similar time we’ll have to attend and see, however on the similar time I perceive that there’s a story right here. If they proceed to hold round till the tip of the season and see how this complete season performs out.

“It is what it is, but we as coaches are just going to have to make sure that we stick to our jobs of making sure our kids are going to be prepared, especially for Maui High.”

The Lunas’ Ikaika Gonzales scores a first-quarter landing.

A foul punt snap by Baldwin ended the primary drive of the sport and arrange Lahainaluna on the Bears’ 25-yard line. Six performs later, they took a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard move from Lyrik Kahula to Kamaehu Corpuz with 7:43 left within the first quarter.

The subsequent time the Lunas had the ball, Ikaika Gonzales made it 14-0 with an 11-yard scoring run. The Lunas boosted their result in 21-0 with 1:00 left within the first half when Tihada scored from 5 yards out.

Tihada’s 17-yard scoring run late within the third quarter made it 28-0 earlier than Cooper Watkins hauled in a 19-yard scoring move from Kalaheo Kanae Oliveira for Baldwin’s landing with 11:18 to play.

Both groups substituted freely within the second half — 18 completely different Lunas carried the ball for 282 yards on the bottom.

“Baldwin brought everything, they didn’t come here to just fold up,” Rickard stated. “They brought everything we could handle and it was just a good game overall because we got to see everybody, both sides of the ball, evaluate our whole team, everyone got to play. I’m sure Baldwin had everybody playing as well.”

Lahainaluna’s Kaulana Tihada is upended within the first quarter between Baldwin’s Dylan Wellerstein (from left), Elijah Valdez and Na‘i Hasegawa.

It was the ultimate sport of the season for Baldwin, which completed 0-8 and misplaced for the twenty second straight time, courting again to the 2021 season. The Bears have put collectively back-to-back winless seasons for the primary time at school historical past.

“One thing that we can definitely hang our hats on is that the boys will never quit, they’re going to fight to the end and that’s all we tell them every day, ‘Just fight to the end in whatever you do, never quit,’ and they do that every single time, so we’re super proud of that,” Baldwin head coach Cody Nakamura stated.

Baldwin misplaced 42-0 to the Lunas within the West Maui faculty’s first sport again on Sept. 30 at War Memorial Stadium.

“Shoot, there was a lot of good energy again,” Nakamura stated. “I believed it really helped our boys as nicely. Numerous them bought to see what was happening for the primary time, lots of them first time again right here. I’d say 95 % of our crew, that is the primary time they’ve been again to Lahaina since (the fires). So, it’s positively an eye-opener for them and one thing they had been capable of overcome a little bit bit after which simply play their hearts out.

“And I think they played hard tonight.”

Lahainaluna’s Hanale Kauhaahaa tackles Baldwin’s Antone Sanches within the second quarter.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

Baldwin 0 0 0 7– 7

Lahainaluna 14 7 7 0–28

First Quarter

LL–Kamaehu Corpuz 12 move from Lyrik Kahula (Joseph Arcangel kick), 7:43.

LL–Ikaika Gonzales 11 run (Arcangel kick), 0:51.

Second Quarter

LL–Kaulana Tihada 5 run (Arcangel kick), 1:00.

Third Quarter

LL–Tihada 17 run (Arcangel kick), 3:27.

Fourth Quarter

B–Cooper Watkins 19 move from Kalaheo Kanae Oliveira (Kilikopela Kamakeeaina kick), 11:18.

B LL

First downs 9 17

Rushes-yards 33-45 49-282

Passing yards 88 70

Total offense 133 352

Return yards 10. 20

Comp-Att-Int 5-17-0 5-10-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 5-30 10-95

Punts-avg 3-25.3 0-0.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Baldwin, Antone Sanches 17-46, Tyler Antonio 5-18, Gavin Acosta 4-11, Watkins 1-4, Zion Lentz 1-3, crew 1-(minus 13), Oliveira 4-(minus 24); Lahainaluna, Kaulana Tihada 14-103, T.J. Borges 4-34, Asher Becker 3-32, Kuola Watson 2-15, Gonzales 3-14, Kahula 3-13, Erland Pahukoa 1-13, Michael Rayray 2-12, Talan Toshikiyo 2-12, Sau Tafea 1-10, Arcangel 1-9, Kupono Tihada 2-6, Kyle Thomas 1-5, Noa Oliveira 2-4, Kua Bacalso 1-3, Hoken Hironaka 2-2, Enoka Balinbin 2-0, Jaeden-Ian Pascua 3-(minus 5).

PASSING–Baldwin, Kanae Oliveira 5-17-0–88; Lahainaluna, Kahula 5-10-0–70.

RECEIVING–Baldwin, Watkins 4-81, Noah Ruess 1-7; Lahainaluna, Corpuz 2-28, Borges 1-19, Rayray 1-14, Ikaika Cabrera 1-9.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–Lahainaluna, Arcangel 22 (BL).

Junior varsity–Lahainaluna 14, Baldwin 10.

*****

Friday’s Result

KING KEKAULIKE 34, MAUI HIGH 30

King Kekaulike 0 7 12 15–34

Maui High 0 14 8 8–30

Second Quarter

MH–Charlie Peterson 70 move from Nathaniel Russell (kick failed), 11:43.

MH–Braden Albrecht 15 move from Russell (Piercen Evans run), 6:42.

KK–Kalani Puu 18 run (Soana Akinaka kick), 1:33.

Third Quarter

MH–Peterson 28 move from Russell (Ofa Falekaono run), 9:29.

KK–Kalelepono Wong 52 run (kick failed), 7:48.

KK–Puu 9 run (run failed), 2:20.

Fourth Quarter

MH–Juan Casilla Lopez 12 run (Falekaono run), 5:17.

KK–Puu 41 run (Cason Brooke run), 4:57.

KK–Kingston Kapu 50 move from Wong (Akinaka kick), 0:18.

KK MH

First downs 23 18

Rushes-yards 49-314 23-19

Passing yards 60 233

Total offense 374 252

Return yards 102 62

Comp-Att-Int 2-3-1 14-26-2

Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-0

Penalties-yards 9-87 5-32

Punts-avg 2-43.0 4-34.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–King Kekaulike, Puu 17-182, Wong 13-59, Ahe Sumibcay 2-28, Jordan Yoro 5-28, Folau Finau 4-22, Ginobili Amaraich 2-11, Brooke 3-2, Kapu 1-1, crew 2-(minus 19); Maui High, Casilla Lopez 5-27, Piercen Evans 6-23, Ofa Falekaono 1-0, Nash Vida Ah Loo 1-0, Russell 6-(minus 5), Sione Ngalu 2-(minus 6), crew 2-(minus 20).

PASSING–King Kekaulike, Wong 2-3-1–60; Maui High, Russell 13-25-2–226, Vida Ah Loo 1-1-0–7.

RECEIVING–King Kekaulike, Kapu 2-60; Maui High, Albrecht 6-78, Peterson 3-105, Jonah Cariaga 3-40, Rodney Vaka 2-10.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.

Junior varsity–Maui High 26, King Kekaulike 9.

*****

MIL STANDINGS

Note: Only in-division video games will depend towards state event qualification; total document in parenthesis

DIVISION I

W L Pct PF PA

Lahainaluna (4-0) 3 0 1.000 107 13

Maui High (2-6) 2 1 .667 85 69

Baldwin (0-8) 0 4 .000 39 149

DIVISION II

W L Pct PF PA

KS Maui (5-1) 1 0 1.000 34 21

King Kekaulike (5-1) 0 1 .000 21 34

Friday’s Result

King Kekaulike 34, Maui High 30

Saturday’s Result

Lahainaluna 28, Baldwin 7

Friday, Oct. 27

King Kekaulike at Kamehameha Maui, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 28

Maui High at Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.

End of standard season