The Lunas, ranked seventh in the Advertiser poll, played their closest game of the Maui Interscholastic League season to improve to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in league games with a showdown against fifth-ranked Baldwin next Friday.

After a disappointing 44-14 loss to the Trojans last week, the Sabers (0-6, 0-4) held the Lunas scoreless in the second half with the help of a heavy downpour.

"You have to give Maui High all the credit,'' Lahainaluna coach Bobby Watson said to The Maui News. "They came out to play ball and they gave us a hard time out there. Give credit where credit is due.''

Watson discounted any possibility of his team looking ahead to Baldwin.

"No, no,'' he said. "They played us hard, tough. That was a good game. That was good for us. We definitely didn't get better this week, so hopefully we can turn it around. We have got Baldwin next week so we will concentrate on them and take it from there.''

Maui High coach David NeSmith knew his team was in for a tough go of it against the Lunas, who have now outscored their opponents 236-35 this season and have two straight shutouts.

"No question, Lahainaluna is Lahainaluna,'' NeSmith said. "They are disciplined and they are well-oiled. They have great coaches and my hat goes off to them. We knew it was a daunting task coming in here. What a team, they are great.''

The epitome of the way the ball has bounced for both teams this season came late in the third quarter when the Lunas punted on fourth-and-21.

Maui High's Justin Fontanilla blocked Smith's punt, but the ball stayed near the punter who picked it up and ran around the left side 22 yards for a first down.

The Lunas fumbled five times on a wet and muddy field and lost none of them. On one instance in the first half, quarterback Jake Manning made a bad pitch that bounced to Smith, who ran 18 yards on fourth-and-2.

"I tend to take a look at it in a different way,'' NeSmith said. "Our effort tonight, which was our focus for the whole week, was that we rose. If we had played tonight like we did last weekend, it could have been a lot worse and the scoreboard would have reflected that. I am just proud of my boys.

"We took a look at the numbers. We know number one and we know number six. I explained to our team that the difference between number one and number six was our effort. It didn't matter what else happened on this field and I think we accomplished a lot of that this evening.''

For the first time this season, the Lunas failed to score on their opening possession, but they quickly made up for it.

To start its second possession, Lahainaluna took over on its own 20-yard line after Maui High's Mitchell Crim was just a few yards short on a 48-yard field goal try into the wind.

On the second play, Lake Casco rambled 71 yards up the middle to make it 6-0 with 4 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter — starting a string of three scores for the Lunas in a span of 2:35.

The Lunas did not miss a beat the rest of the first half on the way to a 27-0 halftime lead behind more big plays.

The first came on Maui High's next possession when the Lunas forced a three-and-out and the Sabers lined up in punt formation on fourth-and-24. Crim's punt try was blocked by Simione Vehikite and the ball rolled through the end zone for a safety to make it 8-0 with 3:49 left in the first quarter.

After the free kick, the Lunas went 58 yards in three plays, capped by a 47-yard touchdown run by Bryson Williams to make it 15-0 with 2:10 left in the first quarter.

After the teams traded punts, the Sabers went 50 yards — highlighted by a 32-yard strike from Jordan Inamasu to Crim — before Crim missed a 36-yard field goal with 8:12 left in the first half.

The next time the Lunas scored, they needed just one play as Kailas McGhee broke through the line to the left and went 62 yards for a touchdown with 5:07 before intermission to make it 21-0.

The Lunas squibbed the kick and recovered at the Maui High 47. This time the Lunas showed they could drive the ball, taking 11 plays and 4:11 off the clock. Vehikite scored the touchdown on a 2-yard run with 51 seconds left before halftime.

The Lunas had 305 first-half yards, led by the 112 yards rushing on eight carries by Casco. Kailas McGhee had three carries for 67 yards and Williams had three for 62 in the first half.

Inamasu was basically the offense for the Sabers in the first 24 minutes, rushing for 58 yards on nine carries and passing for 55 more. Crim, the league's leading receiver, caught a pair of passes for 43 yards and Maui High finished with 115 yards in the first two quarters.