There were nerves and a cold to conquer before his first start of the season.

By the time the first quarter was over, PJ Minaya and his Pac-Five football team were staring at a 28-14 deficit.

And when the game was over on Friday night, Minaya threw himself into the recordbooks. The junior quarterback broke two records and came very close to a third in a 48-28 win over Word of Life.

"I thank God, he made it for me," Minaya said. "It was the best game of my life."

Minaya completed 36 of 50 passes for a record 513 yards. He beat the previous Interscholastic League of Honolulu record of 432 yards set by Pac-Five's Neil Rose and the O'ahu Interscholastic Association mark of 481 by Andrew Kamanao. His 36 completions surpassed Rose's 31.

His seven touchdown throws were one shy of Saint Louis' Timmy Chang's record.

Minaya credited his receivers for making the catches and to the offensive line for providing the protection.

"I had a lot of time back there to find open receivers," Minaya said.

Minaya had TD passes of 65 and 4 yards to Darin Kamealoha, 37, 32 and 70 yards to London Amorin, 24 to Jordan Doi and 27 to John Hanson.

It wasn't until the end of the game, though, that Minaya and coach Kip Botelho realized the numbers he had put up. Minaya thought he totaled around 200 or 300 yards.

"We know he's a natural in practice," said Botelho, who was Pac-Five's receivers coach when Rose was quarterback. "He has the ability to improvise when plays break down and make something out of nothing.

"He has a gunslinger's mentality. Nothing rattles him."

Minaya, who attends Hanalani, credited the Pac-Five coaches for bringing the team together. Pac-Five players come from various small ILH schools that don't have enough players to field their own team. That not only presents a hurdle in team camaraderie, but also logistics. Practices start at 4:30 p.m. at Mid-Pacific, but they rarely start on time with players fighting afternoon traffic to attend .

"The coaches help us jell together," Minaya said.