Monday Morning MIL: Warriors snap Lunas’ eight-year, 46-game league winning streak

LAHAINA — Until Saturday night, Kamehameha Schools Maui was 1-35 all-time against Lahainaluna.

That changed in convincing fashion on Lahainaluna’s homecoming night at a packed Sue Cooley Stadium as the Warriors’ 23-0 win snapped the Lunas’ record 46-game winning streak in Maui Interscholastic League football that dated back to 2016.

The game started as a tough battle through a scoreless first quarter, but Kamehameha Maui changed the momentum in the second quarter as quarterback Bransyn Hong scored on a 4-yard run with 11:54 left in the first half and then again on a 2-yard run just over 10 minutes later to send the Warriors into halftime up 14-0.

Kamehameha Maui had 136 yards of offense in the first half and 324 total for the game, while limiting the Lunas to minus-6 yards in the first half and 67 all game.

“They gave us a good punch in the mouth,” Lahainaluna coach Dean Rickard said. “They just beat us in every aspect of the game. I mean, plain and simple: Great team and they are going to be good going ahead for the rest of the season.”

Now, have no doubt Hong is a special athlete, but the 5-foot-11, 180-pounder did not play football the last two years as the standout shortstop concentrated on baseball. He is the Warriors’ third-string quarterback, behind injured Kolten Waikiki-Caldeira and Kolt Kaho’ohanohano — Hong expects to go back to wide receiver when either of the other two are healthy enough to return to the backfield.

Hong threw just five passes, completing four for 57 yards. The final one — a 33-yard dart to Kaonohi Casco on third-and-27 on the first play of the fourth quarter — led to a 28-yard field goal by Kayden Yap that accounted for the final score with 8:12 to play. 

Kaikea Hueu ran 13 times for 114 yards and the third touchdown on a 15-yard run, Zedekiah Campbell ran 11 times for 72 yards and Hong ran 18 times for 62 yards.

The lone pass to Casco was a perfect snapshot of the whole night. Casco, a senior who lives in Napili and has seen two brothers and three uncles stand out for the Lunas, was also a force on the defensive side all night from his strong safety spot. He dreamed of being a Luna football player before making the decision to go to KSM after he passed the entrance test prior to his freshman year.

“Absolutely surreal, man,” Casco said of the feeling. “First of all, I want to thank God, I want to thank all my teammates who contributed to this win, I want to thank my parents and all the coaches who have helped me along this way, including the Lahainaluna ones — coach Joey (Tihada), my uncle Randy (Casco) and Dalton (Magno). I appreciate all of them. This feeling is something you can’t get back.”

The Lunas’ winning streak started with a 42-0 win over King Kekaulike on Oct. 21, 2016. The last time the Lunas lost an MIL game was on Oct. 15, 2016, when Baldwin pulled out a 19-13 triumph.

Covering eight years, it is second in duration in league history behind the 164-game, 13-year MIL streak that belonged to the Lahainaluna girls basketball team. That streak went from 2007-19 and that team was coached by Todd Rickard, Dean Rickard’s younger brother.

Hong, who had to convince his parents to let him play football as a senior, said the entire KSM team knew how much the game meant to Casco.

“This whole week I felt like it was pretty important to him,” Hong said of Casco. “I feel that their program is great and coming in here to win, it proves that we’re on the come-up, too.”

KSM didn’t win a game in its debut 2004 varsity season when Leo Delatori headed the program. Now led by head coach Ulima Afoa, who took over in 2016, the Warriors’ staff is one of the most experienced in the MIL, with Delatori and former head coach Kevin O’Brien serving as assistant coaches and offensive line coach Brian Harris going on nearly a decade with the Warriors.

Afoa said the league may never see another streak like the Lunas carved out — they won four straight Division II state titles from 2016-19 and a D-I state finals appearance in 2021 during the MIL streak.

“They’re a good football program,” Afoa said. “Now, don’t get me wrong, this could be a down year for them, a single year, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to stay down. They’ve got a lot of pride. You don’t get to 46 wins without a lot of pride and talent.”

The MIL now dives into division play for the rest of the season to determine the single Division I and Division II teams to go to the state tournaments. The D-II Warriors finished 3-0 in non-division play, while the D-I Lunas were 2-1. D-I Baldwin finished non-division play 2-1 after a 63-0 win at D-II Molokai (0-3) Saturday, while D-II King Kekaulike and D-I Maui High are each 1-2 after Na Ali’i’s 14-6 win over the Sabers on Friday.

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Baldwin, Seabury Hall remain unbeaten in MIL girls volleyball

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The defending MIL champions in Division I and Division II MIL girls volleyball each remained unbeaten in league play last week at the midpoint of their respective regular seasons — Baldwin is 6-0 in D-I and Seabury Hall is 7-0 in D-II. 

The Bears are a half-game in front of KSM (6-1) with a key match between the two at Jon Garcia Gym on the Baldwin campus at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Likewise in D-II, the Spartans have a key match coming up against 6-1 Maui Prep on Sept. 27 at the Erdman Athletic Center on the Olinda campus.

*HJI’s “Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.