Down two touchdowns midway through the first quarter and watching its starting quarterback helped off the field with an injury, Damien’s was in jeopardy of seeing its 11-game win streak against Pac-Five come to an end.

Then Sylas Alaimalo stepped in.

Damien’s do-everything freshman took over the controls at quarterback and guided the Monarchs to a come-from-behind 27-21 victory on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.

Alaimalo rushed for 118 yards and scored the winning touchdown with 3:35 remaining on a 29-yard run to keep Damien (2-1) perfect against the Wolfpack (0-2) since 2012.

“30 strong. All it takes, all we need,” Alaimalo said. “I gotta do what I gotta do for the team.”

The Monarchs lost quarterback Jensen Tanele, who had attempted every pass through the first two games, on the second drive of the game.

Alaimalo, who now leads the team in rushing and receiving, took over on the drive and guided his team back from a two-touchdown deficit.

“At the end of the day we have to keep our composure and continue playing,” Damien coach Anthony Tuitele said. “We couldn’t really pass the ball. If we wanted, we could take our shot and when we did we hit two passes.”

Pac-Five came out pounding the ball, running it on all 11 plays in the first quarter.

Senior Joshua Arcayena ran six times on the Wolfpack’s opening drive and finished it off with a 4-yard touchdown to put the Wolfpack up 7-0.

After a Damien punt, Pac-Five quarterback Ezekiel Rodrigues turned a miscommunication in the backfield into a 99-yard touchdown, outracing the entire Damien defense after having to hold the ball after looking to hand it off only to find nobody was there.

The Wolfpack opened their third drive with a 61-yard touchdown run called back by penalty and then couldn’t maintain the momentum, punting on the rest of their drives in the opening half.

That allowed Damien to fight its way back into the game.

Alaimalo, who scored Damien’s first touchdown on a 1-yard run, caught Pac-Five off guard with 1:11 remaining in the first half when he threw a 21-yard touchdown to Pono Sales, who got behind a defense expecting a run.

“I was surprised I got it there,” Alaimalo said.

Damien attempted 22 passes and just three throws in the first half, while Pac-Five ran the ball 19 times and threw it just four times.

Kela Chinen-Zablan gave Damien its first lead at 20-14 on a 49-yard interception return in the third quarter.

“I saw No. 2 go out and the quarterback staring him down the whole time, so I broke on the outside and he threw it straight to me and I took it to the house,” Chinen-Zablan said.

Rodrigues, who rushed for 156 of Pac-Five’s 274 yards on the ground, gave the Wolfpack the lead with a 29-yard TD on fourth down with 7:59 left in the game.

Alaimalo responded with a 10-play drive and the go-ahead score to keep Damien within striking distance of ‘Iolani for the ILH’s lone berth in the Division I state tournament.

The teams combined to run the ball on 81 of 99 plays.

at Aloha Stadium

Damien (2-1) 7 7 6 7 — 27

Pac-Five (0-2) 14 0 0 7 — 21

P5 — Joshua Arcayena 4 run (Bryson Tsukayama-Daniel kick)

P5 — Ezekiel Rodrigues 99 run (Tsukayama-Daniel kick)

DMS — Sylas Alaimalo 1 run (Rustyn Ah Yat kick)

DMS — Pono Sales 21 pass from Alaimalo (Ah Yat kick)

DMS — Kela Chinen-Zablan 49 interception return (kick failed)

P5 — Rodrigues 29 run (Tsukayama-Daniel kick)

DMS — Alaimalo 29 run (Ah Yat kick)

RUSHING—Damien: Sylas Alaimalo 23-118, Peyton Dalmacio 15-60, Chinen-Zablan 1-9, Jensen Tanele 4-5, team 2-(minus 8). Pac-Five: Rodrigues 12-156, Joshua Arcayena 14-97, Neivyn Kahoopii 5-19, Chad Schmidt 5-7, Daymian Lapitan 1-(minus 5).

PASSING—Damien: Alaimalo 4-7–1-65. Pac-Five: Rodrigues 3-10-1-26, Leighton Moses-Kaai 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING—Damien: Sales 2-50, Thor Gante 2-15. Pac-Five: Blade Kaululaau 1-12, Rome Lilio 1-10, Kahoopii 1-4.