The junior varsity football Lunas of Lahainaluna came out the winners, 27-12, in their battle against the  Kamehameha Maui Warriors at War Memorial Stadium, August 31. (The date of this game has been updated. It was incorrectly reported at first.) 

The Lunas came out strong in the first quarter of the game Friday night, scoring two touchdowns to the Warriors’ one, scored by sophomore Keoni Keanini in the last two minutes.

Heading into the second quarter, Lāhaina had the lead, with the score of 14-6. With seven minutes until halftime and several penalties that cost them some yards, the Kamehameha Warriors unexpectedly gained 11 yards on a Lāhaina possession when the Lunas ran the ball in the wrong direction.

After that, it was all business as the Lunas scored twice more, once in the last minute left in the quarter, making the score 27 – 6. The Warriors were inspired when freshman Maikaike English recovered a fumble, but they were unable to turn that into points on the scoreboard by the time the clock ran out.

Coming out of the locker rooms and into the third quarter, the two teams battled it out with the football going back and forth. Despite a fumble recovery by the Lunas and a successful 13-yard pass by the Warriors, the score remained 27-6, with Lāhaina in the lead.

“The hardest thing was that they were beating us and trying to get our heads up in the second half, but we did our best,” freshman linebacker Makaʻike English said.

With nine minutes left in the game, Lahaina was penalized five yards for having an extra player on the field. The penalty put the Warriors in scoring position and they scored their second touchdown of the game.

The score remained 27-12, throughout the Lunas’ last possession when they were unable to complete a pass into Kamehameha’s end zone and then were pushed back for a holding penalty.

Kamehameha was unable to score on their last possession, and the final score was 27 – 12, Lāhaina’s victory.

The varsity football team also lost their match-up later that evening, 36-0.

The football Warriors take on King Kekaulike next in their first regular season home game, on Saturday, September 8. The junior varsity game will be at 4:30, and the varsity team takes the field at 7:00 p.m.