Punahou quarterback Larry Tuileta threw three first half touchdown passes against Mililani. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Joseph Augafa intercepts a pass intended for Mililani's Bronsen Ader to end the Trojan's final drive. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Punahou players & coaches celebrate a perfect, 11-0 season after their final game. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Kanawai Noa hauls in a touchdown pass from quarterback Larry Tuileta. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Trent Sitar catches a pass for the Buffanblu's first touchdown of the game. Amber Popovich | Special to SL

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Punahou's Wayne Taulapapa navigates his way down the field. Evan Asato | SL

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Mililani's Bronson Ramos catches a pass for a Touchdown. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Joseph Augafa kisses the Divison 1 HHSAA First Place Trophy. Amber Popovich | Special to SL

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Punahou's Ruairi Brady puts pressure on Mililani's quarterback McKenzie Milton. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Punahou players hoist the Division I state championship trophy after defeating Mililani. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou defensive back Joseph Augafa intercepts a Mililani pass attempt to seal the game. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Dylan Combs hauls in a pass against Mililani. Evan Asato | SL

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Scott Nishi | SL

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Sat, Nov 23, 2013 @ Aloha Stadium [ 7:00 pm ]

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Mililani

22

Punahou

28

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Mililani (11-2-0)	0	8	0	14	22
Punahou (11-0-0)	7	14	0	7	28

• Pass
• Rush
• Rec

Larry Tuileta 265 yd 3 TD

McKenzie Milton 127 yd 1 TD

Wayne Taulapapa 74 yd 1 TD

McKenzie Milton 57 yd

Dakota Torres 66 yd 1 TD

Bronson Ramos 98 yd 2 TD

HALAWA — At last.

Larry "Tui" Tuileta threw for 265 yards and three first-half touchdown passes to lead Punahou to a 28-22 win over Mililani in the title game of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I State Championships Friday night.

A crowd of 20,934 fans at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium saw the Buffanblu capture their second state crown and first since 2008. Punahou completed the 2013 season with a perfect 11-0 mark.

"It's awesome to end my senior year like this and the other seniors' year," said Tuileta, who quarterbacked the Buffanblu to state runner-up finishes the past two seasons. "I'm thankful to be a part of a special group to make it to the final game. Thankful for playing a great team in Mililani and getting everyone better and getting their young ones better there's more football to be watch and it's going to be exciting. It's awesome finally getting a victory and third time's a charm. I couldn't do it without everyone else I wish everyone could get interviewed right now, but I speak for them and everyone loves the program and it's special to them for they got to win this year. I'm glad to share my experience with everyone on this team"

The Buffanblu held a 21-0 second-quarter lead, but allowed the Trojans to pull within 28-22 in the game's final minutes before handing it over to their defense, which clinched the victory 58 seconds remaining on Joseph Augafa's interception of Mililani quarterback McKenzie Milton.

"At that point in time, we had to dig down deep," said Augafa, a senior defensive back. "In football, there are moments we have to reach down and dig deep, that's what our coaches told us and we have to finish and that was our main thing this season"

Tuileta, a senior and third-year starting quarterback, completed 16 of his 29 pass attempts to eight different pass catchers. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Trent Sitar, a 26-yarder to Kanawai Noa and a 20-yard scoring strike to Dakota Torres all before halftime.

The Buffanblu defense was led by linebacker Saitui Moeai, who racked up a game-high 14 1/2 tackles, including 3 1/2 tackles for losses and a sack.

"I think we executed very well," said Moeai. "In the beginning of the week, our coaches said mainly to watch out for Vae and McKenzie and we had to execute on the quarterback draws and screens and we made mistakes today, but we came out with the victory."

Punahou limited Mililani's super sophomores, Milton and running back Vavae Malepeai to 127 yards passing and 33 yards rushing, respectively. Milton was intercepted twice — once each by Augafa and fellow-linebacker Ronley Lakalaka. Mililani entered the game averaging nearly 36 points and 192 rushing yards per game.

The Buffanblu largely negated the Trojans' pass rush, which racked up six sacks the first time the teams met this season.

"We tried to throw short, a little roll out some screens, things like that," Punahou coach Kale Ane said. "Their pass rush is great their front four is awesome. I very proud of how they didn't quit and they represented our sport and their school very proudly and I have a lot of respect for them."

The Trojans outgained the Buffanblu in total yards, 318 to 312, but were just 4-of-15 on third downs and 2-of-6 on fourth downs.

"We we needed to make plays," Mililani coach Rod York said. "We tried to run the ball, I don't know if we ran the ball effectively, but we wanted to give him the carries. All of that is on me, I need to do a better job of preparing the boys. Unfortunately came up short."

Punahou got on the board late in the first quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Tuileta to Sitar, who was left wide open along the right sideline. The scoring play — which was a third-and-goal — capped a six-play, 45-yard drive that began thanks to Lakalaka's pick of Milton near midfield.

"The O-line gave amazing protection," said Sitar, a senior wide receiver. "First of all, hats off to the Mililani defense, they're tough. They gave us everything we had but the O-line did great. I did a switch with Micah Ma'a and Tui just placed it perfectly."

Midway through the second quarter, Punahou went up two scores on Tuileta's 26-yard touchdown pass to Kanawai Noa, who beat the Mililani defensive back on a straight go-route down the right sideline. The scoring play was set-up by a 31-yard, Tuileta-to-Dylan Combs pass. Combs finished with three receptions for 79 yards. Charles McDonald tacked on the extra point to make it 14-0 Punahou.

Tuileta threw his third scoring strike — a 20-yarder to Torres — to cap a six-play, 45-yard drive that took just one minute and seven seconds of time off the clock. McDonald's PAT was good to give Punahou a 21-0 lead.

"We saw the two safeties there both wide and I saw the seem up the middle and I took it," said Torres, who finished with four grabs for 66-yards.

Mililani got on the board on its ensuing drive with Milton's 6-yard touchdown pass on Kalakaua Timoteo on a fade pattern to the right corner of the end zone. Ryan Reedy hit Ian Namu on the 2-point conversion pass to cut the Buffanblu lead to 21-8 with 16 seconds left in the first half.

Punahou extended its lead to 28-8 one play into the fourth quarter on a 1-yard Wayne Taulapapa touchdown run. Tuileta threw completions of 29 yards to Ramos and 12 yards to Torres on the two previous plays to set-up the score.

Mililani pulled within 28-15 four plays later on the first of two Bronson Ramos-to-Kainoa Wilson touchdown passes. Ramos took the handoff from Milton a fly sweep to the right before pulling up and firing a pass to a wide-open Wilson, who easily scored on the 36-yard play.

The Trojans capitalized on Tuileta's lone turnover — a interception by the Trojans' Jayson Cardines — with 3:53 remaining on the same play. This time, Ramos and Wilson connected on a 62-yard scoring play and Matas added the PAT to make the score 28-22.

Mililani attempted the onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but Heisman Hosoda recovered it for Punahou. The Trojan defense held — forcing a turnover on downs — to give their offense the ball back at its own 46.

After a false start on first down, Milton scrambled for a 15-yard pick-up and a first down to the Punahou 44-yard line. He threw an incompletion on the next play and was sacked by Lakalaka for a 6-yard loss on second down. Milton's third-down pass for Wilson fell incomplete and Augafa picked off Milton on 4th-and-16. Tuileta took two kneel-downs to run out the clock.

Milton finished 20-of-35 passing and was sacked twice. Wilson recorded eight catches for 80-yards, Bronson Ader had eight grabs for 19 yards and Ramos 2 catches for 98 yards. Jacob Afele had a team-high 7 1/2 tackles on defense.

The game was a rematch of a non-league game back on Aug. 15, which the Buffanblu won 24-14 at the Trojans' John Kauinana Stadium.

Punahou, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion, has been ranked atop the ScoringLive/OC16 Division I Power Rankings all season.

It was end of a storied career for Tuileta, who has 6,930 passing yards and 76 touchdowns against 19 interceptions for his prep career.

"It's bittersweet — I'm very proud of him, he's done amazing things for our program, his school and he represents his family and actually the state of Hawaii," Ane said of Tuileta. "It's going to be a long time before some comes in a does what he's done in both sports and accomplish so many great things. It's he's a giving and humble person and he's a great leader for our team."

Tuileta was all smiles after the Buffanblu captains hoisted the championship trophy in the postgame awards ceremony.

"I don't think there's pressure, it's just that there is a lot of history behind this program and I think too much is given and much is expected is the saying," Tuileta said. "So kids like us that have a good opportunity to go to Punahou and to play with a great staff. I think capitalizing and getting the championship is another stepping stone in the program to look forward to. I want everyone to enjoy it and to never forget this feeling."

Mililani, the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference titlist and No. 2-ranked team in the SL/OC16 Power Rankings, saw their 10-game win streak snapped in the loss.

"Credit Punahou, they took it to us and we gave them everything we got. We opened up the playbook to everything, I said we were going to lay it on the line and I'm so proud of my kids, my coaches and the community for coming out for showing support. Unfortunately we came on the short end. Credit Punahou — they deserved the No. 1 ranking and the championship — they're a hell of a team and Kale Ane is doing a great job over there," said York, whose team ends the season with an 11-2 record.