A closing-speed defensive effort and two back-breaking runs by Ryan Ho helped lift No. 7 Kamehameha over No. 5 Punahou, 28-10, last night in Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I football at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors (4-1 overall, 1-1 ILH) had a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Keanu Montez, recovered two fumbles and sacked Punahou quarterbacks three times, twice by Koa Kaai to rebound from a 20-17 loss last weekend to Division II 'Iolani.

"The loss to 'Iolani woke us up," Montez said. "A lot was expected from us. We played with our hearts. We dug deep and came out with a win."

It was Kamehameha's first win against Punahou (1-3, 1-1) since 2006.

The Warriors used their closing speed to contain Punahou starting QB Kaiana Eldredge, an athletic and shifty runner who came from a run-oriented offense in Utah. Eldredge was sacked twice and pressured often. He completed 5 of 20 passes, though some were dropped, and was intercepted once. Even when he tried to make things happen with his feet, the Warriors were able to close in on him before he could break something big.

"Maybe last week, we worked them a little too hard," Kamehameha coach David Stant said. "This was a long week. We took off a little bit. We didn't run'em as hard. We did more mental stuff on execution and assignments. We were fresh, so that helped."

The Warriors defensive secondary also were a reason for Eldredge's woes. Numerous times, they knocked the balls that looked to be caught out of the receivers' hands. Bryson Burnett and Chaz Badjet broke up passes in their area.

Linemen and linebackers like Kawika Stant III, Landon Aano, Kekoo Welsbarth-Tafaoimalo and Tamatea Graham crashed in on all ball carriers.

Special teams jumped started the Warriors when Kami Morita blocked a punt that was recovered at the Punahou 18 in the first quarter. That led to Kamehameha's first score, a one-yard run by Kupono Park. That came after the Warriors called time after setting up for a 17-yard field goal try before changing their mind.

But running back Ho dropped the first of two daggers into the Buffanblu heart when he scored on a 61-yard run off right tackle. Later in the game, he broke off a 66-yard run to the Punahou 1 that set up his one-yard TD run two plays later. That came after Punahou pulled to 21-10 with 9:25 left in the game. Ho ended up with 163 yards on 19 carries.

Punahou pulled to 14-3 at the half on J. Fairbairn's 27-yard field goal with 5:57 left in the second quarter.

But Punahou did not get a TD until backup QB Liloa Travis entered the game with 26 seconds left in the third quarter after the series when Montez picked off Eldredge. Travis engineered a 11-play drive with Stabren Caires scoring on a five-yard run.

Punahou hurt itself with 11 penalties for 82 yards. One nullified a TD that the Buffanblu eventually had to settle for the field goal.

"I think those happened when you get frustrated at times," Punahou coach Kale Ane said of the infractions.

Travis completed 13 of 20 passes for 117 yards in his stint. Ane said he was proud of the way both QBs played, but said the coaches will have to evaluate last night's game to decide on their QB situation, which he said is a work in progress.

Meanwhile, Kamehameha, which has used three QBs in its previous three games, stayed with T.C. Campbell all game last night.

"He's the guy that stepped up and tonight he played real well," Stant said of Campbell.

Punahou (1-3, 1-1) 0 3 0 7—10.

KAMEHAMEHA (4-1, 1-1) 7 7 7 7—28.

KAM—KUPONO PARK 1 RUN (TARRA GABRIEL KICK)

KAM—RYAN HO 61 RUN (GABRIEL KICK)

PUN—FG J. FAIRBAIRN 27

Kam—Keanu Montez 25 interception return (Gabriel kick)

PUN—STABREN CAIRES 5 RUN (FAIRBAIRN KICK)

KAM—HO 1 RUN (GABRIEL KICK)

RUSHING—Punahou: Kaiana Eldredge 8-(minus 15), Stabren Caires 10-18, Ikaia Nawahine1-3 , Team 1-(minus 2), Liloa Travis 4-5. Kamehameha: Ho 19-163, Park 3-3, T.C. Campbell 5-(minus 5), Luke Untermann 1-16.

PASSING—Punahou: Eldredge 5-20-1—94, Travis 13-20-0—117. Kamehameha: T.C. Campbell 8-25-1—125.

RECEIVING—Punahou: Jeremy Ioane 1-2, Nawahine 1-3, Jeffrey Pedrina 8-82, Forrest Kim 6-100, Dean Matsuo 1-9, Caries 1-4, Matthew Parrish 1-11. Kamehameha: Blaise Cuban 1-55, Brent Auyong 3-38 Ho 1-(minus 1), Keola Bradley 2-17, Alika Bell 1-16.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.

PAC-FIVE 37, DAMIEN 12

P.J. Minaya passed for 311 yards and three touchdowns to lead Pac-Five past Damien in an ILH Division II game.

Minaya completed 20 of 32 passes and threw TD passes of 67 yards to Darin Kamealoha, 22 yards to London Amorin and 12 yards to Everett Kim.

Kamealoha also scored on a 6-yard end-around in the second quarter on a drive set up when Trevor Ventura blocked a Damien punt that was recovered at the Monarchs' 6.

Brendan Sagucio was perfect on four PATs, as well as three field-goal attempts, two from 26 yards out and another from 36 for the Wolf Pack (4-1 overall, 1-1 ILH). Reyn Sugai's interception help set up the 36-yard field goal. Justin Nozawa also had an interception for Pac-Five.

Running back Brenan Furtado led all rushers with 109 yards on 18 carries for the Monarchs (0-4, 0-2).

PAC-FIVE (4-1, 1-1) 14 10 3 10 — 37.

DAMIEN (0-4, 0-2) 0 6 6 0 — 12.

Pac—Darin Kamealoha 67 pass from P.J. Minaya (Brendan Sagucio kick)

PAC—LONDON AMORIN 22 PASS FROM MINAYA (SAGUCIO KICK)

PAC—KAMEALOHA 6 RUN (SAGUCIO KICK)

DAM—STANTON PILIALOHA 1 RUN (KICK FAILED)

PAC—FG SAGUCIO 26

DAM—PILIALOHA 4 RUN (PASS FAILED)

PAC—FG SAGUCIO 26

PAC—FG SAGUCIO 36

PAC—EVERETT KIM 12 PASS FROM MINAYA (SAGUCIO KICK)

RUSHING—Pac-Five: Minaya 4-13, Darius Anderson 5-(minus 1), Landan Burkhart 2-(minus 2), Kamealoha 1-6, Kyle Camacho 4-2. Damien: Pilialoha 11-6, Ikaika Mokiau 2-8, Brenan Furtado 18-109, Team 1-(minus 2).

PASSING—Pac-Five: Minaya 20-32-0—311, Logan Murakami 2-3-0—20. Damien: Pilialoha 10-20-2—77.

RECEIVING—Pac-Five: Kamealoha 3-99, Chalson Baition 4-68, Amorin 4-51, Jordan Doi 2-17, Everett Kim 7-76, Trey Oshiro-Atabay 1-4, Lawson Kurosu 1-16. Damien: Furtado 3-18, Mokiau 5-41, Makana Ka'anoi 1-15, Derick Shoda 1-3.

'IOLANI 42, WORD OF LIFE 0

Quarterback Jarrett Arakawa completed 15 of 17 passes in three quarters of play and threw four touchdown passes to lead No. 9 'Iolani over Word of Life in an ILH Division II game.

The Raiders (4-1 overall, 2-0 ILH) scored on their first series of the second half on Arakawa's fourth TD pass of the game, a 6-yarder to Trevyn Tulonghari with eight minutes, 21 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 35-0 and set off the running clock for the rest of the game.

Arakawa passed for 168 yards. Tulonghari had six catches for 45 yards and two TDs, while Matt Talavera had 47 yards on three receptions, including a 22-yard TD catch.

Alex Bodine led the Firebrands (0-3, 0-1) with 42 yards on 10 rushes.

WORD OF LIFE (0-3, 0-1) 0 0 0 0— 0.

'IOLANI (4-1 2-0) 14 14 14 0—42.

Iol—Kevin Barayuga 13 pass from Jarrett Arakawa (Andrew Skalman kick)

Iol—Matt Talavera 22 pass from Arakawa (Skalman kick)

Iol—Trevyn Tulonghari 10 pass from Arakawa (Skalman kick)

IOL—AMMON BALDOMERO 4 RUN (SKALMAN KICK)

IOL—TULONGHARI 6 PASS FROM ARAKAWA (SKALMAN KICK)

IOL—ALEX MATSUNAMI 1 RUN (SKALMAN KICK)

RUSHING—Word of LIfe: Cobey Young-Bailey 7-(minus 13), Alex Bodine 10-42, Ryan Alvarado 8-34, Richard Landford 7-12, Awa Poggi 3-3, Cyprus Fesili 1-(minus 19), Christian Piimoku 1-6. 'Iolani: Arakawa 1-(minus 9), Baldomero 12-56, Zuttermeister 1-6, Matsunami 11-27.

PASSING—Word of Life: Young-Bailey 4-8-0—27. 'Iolani: Arakawa 15-17-0—168, Josh Hannum 4-5-0—40.

RECEIVING—Word of Life: Anthony Pang 1-3, Alvarado 1-17, Nathaniel Lim 2-7. 'Iolani: Kasey Takahashi 4-30, Tulonghari 6-45, Barayuga 1-13, Talavera 3-47, Kila Zuttermeister 1-32, Sam Lee 1-19, Maika Kealoha 1-6, Lambert Leong 2-16.