One play into last night's 41-28 victory over Saint Louis for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu football championship, Punahou School senior receiver Robert Toma showed this rematch would be different from the Buffanblu's 40-19 loss to the Crusaders on Sept. 13.

Toma, who was shut out with zero catches in the first half of that first meeting, caught a pass for 79 yards from quarterback Cayman Shutter on Punahou's first play from scrimmage last night, giving the Buffanblu first-and-goal from the 1.

Three plays later, he hauled in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Shutter to help give Punahou a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game, setting the tone for a night of offensive fireworks for the Buffanblu.

"I was supposed to run a corner route, but the safety was sitting back and I don't think he was expecting a bomb on the first play," Toma said. "So I audibled (to Shutter) and ran deep."

Toma caught the ball around the Saint Louis 35-yard line, sprinted about 15 yards down the right sideline, cut left to avoid two defenders, and then headed toward the end zone.

He was tackled at the 1, and after three runs and a false start penalty, caught the touchdown pass from Shutter on a short out pattern.

Toma later made a 14-yard TD catch to help put Punahou up, 21-7, with 2:15 remaining before halftime. He finished the first half with seven catches for 134 yards, and also had a 42-yard run on a reverse.

"Coach (Darryl) Kan (the offensive coordinator) did a great job calling the plays," said Shutter, who finished the first half 13 of 19 for 198 yards. "He knew exactly what we needed to do, and he put our playmakers in a good position to make plays."

Toma had only two catches in the second half, but the second one helped seal the victory.

On second-and-9 from the Buffanblu 41, he ran a post pattern and caught the ball at about the 15-yard line between two Crusaders, then ran untouched into the end zone for a 59-yard scoring play that gave Punahou a 41-21 lead with 4:29 remaining.

And after Saint Louis closed it to 41-28 with 2:48 left on Jeremy Higgins' 14-yard touchdown pass to Billy Stutzmann, Toma recovered the onside kick and the Buffanblu were able to eventually run out the clock.

Toma finished with 9 catches for 213 yards and three TDs, plus 71 yards rushing on three carries for 284 all-purpose yards.

"I thought we needed to get the ball to our playmakers," Kan said. "Last time, I think we got a little too cute with the formations, but tonight we just wanted to put our playmakers out there and see what happens.

"It was amazing."

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