Kahuku’s playoff seeding was set before the Red Raiders took the field for their regular-season finale.

But they certainly didn’t lack motivation in a 35-0 win over Castle on Friday night.

A week after Kahuku suffered its first loss of the season, there was no trace of a letdown on the North Shore campus as the second-ranked Red Raiders dominated on both sides of the ball to improve to 5-1 in the OIA Red East and 7-1 overall.

Kahuku entered the game locked into the conference’s second seed going into the OIA Red playoffs, and last week’s one-point loss to top-seeded Farrington could make them even more dangerous in the postseason.

“That loss helped us to get them to focus on the little things,” Kahuku head coach Reggie Torres said. “If we didn’t do it right, they would stay extra after practice to get it right.

“For our program, any losses are great learning tools. The good thing is we lost but we’re still playing. We lose in the playoffs, the season’s over.”

Kahuku set the tone for Friday’s victory by feeding running back Aofaga Wily early and often. The junior carried the ball on 11 of Kahuku’s first 14 plays on his way to a 204-yard performance with three touchdowns.

“He’s getting back on track, he’s getting healthier, so we had to go back and establish the run and he’s the focal point of our offense right now,” Torres said. “We want to feed off of him. When he does well, we can do well in other areas.”

Castle (2-4, 2-6), the designated home team on the Red Raiders’ field, mustered 83 yards against a Red Raiders defense that recorded eight sacks for 50 yards in losses.

“They pretty much had their way with what they wanted to do tonight, rebounding, I think, from Farrington,” Castle coach Nelson Maeda said. “They ran at will, they did what they wanted to do, and they just stifled our offense.”

On their first possession, the Red Raiders put the ball in Wily’s hands 10 times in a 12-play drive. Wily accounted for 77 yards and capped it with a 4-yard touchdown After fullback Sterling Moe scored on a 13-yard blast up the middle, the Red Raiders added two more touchdowns in the first 56 seconds of the second quarter.

A botched punt by Castle gave Kahuku possession at the Knights’ 3 and Wily scored his second touchdown one play later. A 33-yard interception return by Kahuku safety Jayven Mohetau set up a 2-yard quarterback sneak by Viliami Livai that pushed the Kahuku lead to 28-0.

Wily opened the third quarter by carrying the ball 10 more times on Kahuku’s first possession and brought the running clock into effect with a 1-yard plunge.

Castle, the fifth seed from the East, must rebound quickly for its first-round playoff matchup with the Red West’s fourth seed. Kahuku will have a bye to prepare for the postseason.

“We can’t have a vacation,” Wily said. “We have to stay focused during the bye and we have to keep working hard.”