Lahainaluna drubs Waipahu, 52-14; Konawaena next

Lahainaluna Junior RB Aliksa Pidha runs the ball against Waipahu. Pidha had 29 yards rushing in the Lunas' win over the Marauders. Glen Pascual | Special to SL

WAILUKU, Maui — Lahainaluna jumped out to an early lead and never looked back to beat Waipahu, 52-14 in the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II Football State Championships at War Memorial Stadium Friday afternoon.

The third-ranked Lunas (7-4 overall) move on to face top-seeded and top-ranked Konawaena on Saturday, Nov. 12.

"For us it's super big. We're happy to advance to move on to play Konawaena," said Dayton Felicilda.

"Picking up this win is a good confidence booster. Kona is a good passing team and the coaches are going to really focus on that," said running back Elijah Ragudo.

The Marauders end their season at 8-3 overall.

The Lunas gained 296 net rushing yards while Ragudo rushed for 78 yards and three touchdowns to lead the offense.

"We were worried about our chances against their defense because they were so big and physical. The running backs will do as well as the line blocks. I think our linemen did a good job and caught them by surprise on a few things," said Lahainaluna coach Garret Tihada.

"Last year I didn't play in the playoffs, but I'm proud of the team. The play calling by the coaches was on point," said Ragudo.

The Lunas defense forced five turnovers—three interceptions and recovered two fumbles.

"It comes down to blocking and tackling. If we could get off blocks and pressure the quarterback and mix up his reads, we felt we had a chance. We feel real good about it. We were swarming to the ball and it came down to guys playing with high energy," said Tihada.

"For all of us, we did our best and did what our coaches told us," said Felicilda.

Lahainaluna jumped out to an early 14-0 lead after a 17-yard run by Ragudo and a 24-yard run by Radon Sinenci.

The Marauders drove deep into Lunas' territory, but Braden Amorozo was picked off by Dayton Felicilda, who returned it 84 yards to make it, 21-0 with 2:26 left in the first quarter.

"I was late for that screen, I saw the guy going for the screen but he tipped it. I saw the ball stumble, I caught it, I turned and seen all green and took it,"Felicilda said on the interception.

Lahainaluna's defense stepped up after Viliami Hafoka sacked Amorozo and popped the ball loose and Josaiah Sombelon-McEwen recovered the fumble in the end zone.

Amorozo, who finished the game with 200 yards on 10-of-18 passing and three interceptions, was taken off the field following the sack.

Ragudo added his second rushing touchdown from 5 yards out and Pablo Rico added a 22-yard field goal to put the Lunas up 38-0 going into halftime.

The game went into running clock to start the second half and Ragudo and Tihada each added rushing touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter respectively.

Amorozo came back into the game to throw a 22-yard touchdown to Alfred Failauga and a 18-yard score to Leonico Ea.