Punahou receiver Kanawai Noa catches the first of his four touchdowns.
Photo by Gregory Yamamoto
They might be young, but the Buff N' Blue of
Punahou (Honolulu, Hawaii) High School know something about a good old-fashioned rout.
Punahou raced to a 34-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 48-0 win over West (Anchorage, Alaska) in the first half of the Fire and Ice Bowl at Hugh Yoshida Stadium on the campus of Leilehua High School on Friday night.
This was the first football game played in the nation this season. Hawaii made it a clean sweep of the Alaska squads as Leilehua defeated Service 23-15 in the nightcap.
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, Punahou junior quarterback
Larry Tuileta and sophomore receiver
Kanawai Noa led the way with four touchdown connections in the first half alone. The duo connected on touchdown passes of 55, 4, 44 and 40 yards. The Punahou defense, missing two key starters, Stanford-bound linebacker
Isaac Savaiinaea (broken wrist) and sophomore lineman
Canton Kaumatule (tendinitis), allowed just 66 yards according to the newspaper.
Tuileta completed a 55-yard touchdown pass to Noa and followed that up with a 4-yard scoring strike to make it 13-0 midway through the first quarter.
Punahou quarterback Larry Tuileta.
Photo by Gregory Yamamoto
After a short 1-yard touchdown run, Punahou went up 27-0 on a 44-yard touchdown bomb from from Tuileta to
Noa midway through the second quarter. The two connected again on Punahou's next score, this one for 40 yards making it 34-0 at the end of the first half.
Luke Morris got into action and completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to
Dylan Cunningham before Punahou's defense got into the act, as
David Torigoe recovered a fumble in the end zone for the final touchdown.
Punahou lost 15 starters from last year's team that lost in the state finals and finished 11-3.
Coach Kale Ane was impressed with his team's athletic ability and size coming into Friday's game, but wasn't sure how it would react in a game situation.
Obviously the Buff N' Blue reacted quite well.
It will be interesting to see how they respond next week when they face
Kahuku, the team that beat Punahou 30-24 in last year's state title game. "We'll find out just where stand next week," Ane said on Tuesday.
He told the Advertiser after the game: "We'll probably start talking about it on the bus ride (back to Punahou). ... It's going to be a tough game, a rematch like state last year. I'm looking forward to it."
In Leilehua's victory, Chance DeLuca forced a fumble with 10 seconds remaining to secure the Mules' victory over Service. The two teams played to a 34-34 tie in the initial Fire and Ice Bowl last season.
Leilehua took a 23-7 halftime lead on two touchdown passes from Justin Jenks and another by Levi Castanares. Keoni Piceno had two of the TD catches and Kahi Kilaulani added another.
Service stayed close thanks to the play of All-Alaska quarterback Villamu Aukusitino who rushed for 121 yards and accounted for both touchdowns.
West and Punahou players prepare to kick off the 2012 football season Friday.
Photo by Gregory Yamamoto
