John Lujan | SL

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Ola Aina's name is nowhere to be found in the scoring summary of Punahou's decisive 42-15 win over Kamehameha, but don't be fooled as the junior played an integral part for the Buffanblu Friday night.

Aina, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound defensive back, was especially important to Punahou's special teams against the Warriors. He had a pair of kickoff returns, but it was on punt return that he shined brightest.

After Kamehameha's opening drive stalled at its own 40-yard line, Aina fielded a booming 48-yard punt off the foot of Adam Stack at his own 12-yard line and picked up 16 yards on the return to give the Buffanblu offense some breathing room.

Aina did his part, and so did the offense, driving 72 yards in just seven plays, capped by Nick Kapule's 14-yard touchdown pass to Eamon Brady — the first of three times the duo would hook up on scoring strikes Friday.

The Warriors went three-and-out on their ensuing drive and Aina went back to work, returning another Stack punt 30 yards to the Kamehameha 41-yard line. The return set-up Enoch Nawahine's 2-yard plunge into the end zone four plays later. Just like that Punahou had a 14-0 lead before the midway point of the first quarter.

"Since I'm not in that starting lineup for that defense, I figure I can help them on (punt) returns, so this week we've been working on situations and different coverages so that I could get myself mentally and physically prepared."

Stack, Kamehameha's highly-sought after punter/place kicker, has committed to play at the University of Oregon next year. He also announced that he will participate in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January.

"He can really get some air under it," Aina said of Stack. "That's why after every (punt), I said ‘Thank you,' to my return team because they were holding it down all the way. They gave me those two more seconds to get a good return and that's all I needed."

Punahou coach Kale Ane said Aina did a good job of taking what was given.

"He's dynamic and he made good decisions," Ane said. "He didn't just be reckless back there, but he made good decisions. He made the fair catch when he had to and when they were open he just took it and that's just huge for the offense to get great field positions, so he was big time."

The Buffanblu built a 21-0 lead by the end of the first quarter after Kapule's 42-yard touchdown pass to Brady and never looked back.

Aina's only return of negative yardage came with about seven minutes left in the third quarter when he was dropped for a 1-yard loss after 46-yard punt by Stack. However, he rebounded a few minutes later on defense, when he picked off Kamehameha's Justice Young at the Warriors' 44-yard line.

Late in the game, Aina made one final contribution to help his team by recovering an onside kick attempt by Kamehameha to seal the victory. 

Aina and the third-ranked Buffanblu improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. They return to the turf at Aloha Stadium Thursday night when they take on reigning league champion and second-ranked Saint Louis.