TACOMA — Malachi Arnold and Henry DiRie left Sione Kaho with nowhere to run.

The two Kamiak defensive linemen converged on the Lincoln quarterback, dropping the state’s top-ranked passer in this year’s recruiting class behind the line of scrimmage to set up 2nd-and-18. An incompletion led to 3rd-and-long, and while Kaho connected with senior Carl Jackson for an eight-yard gain, Lincoln still faced 4th-and-10 on Kamiak’s 24. With Lincoln leading 7-3 midway through the first quarter at the Lincoln Bowl on Saturday, it appeared as if the Kamiak defense had found a way.

Then Lincoln found another.

A defensive breakdown left senior JT Williams wide open for a short reception, and the running back darted around defenders untouched into the end zone. A Kamiak penalty on the blocked extra point allowed Lincoln to go for two, which it converted to take a 15-3 lead with 4:52 left in the quarter.

The Knights (0-1) picked up a field goal on their next drive, but the Abes (1-0) would score touchdowns on three of their next four offensive possessions through the end of the half to take a commanding 28-point lead en route to a 47-6 win.

“There’s no contain,” Kamiak coach Ivan McLennan said about the breakdown on 4th-and-10. “I’m a D-line guy by trade. If you don’t contain the quarterback, man, he’s going to have a long day. I think for us, man, it’s just continuing to be disciplined. Nobody in the state works harder than us. … We work very, very hard, and right now, what we need to be able to do is in those moments of truth is have more self-belief.”

Quarterback Conner Maxwell went 22-for-53 in the air for 222 yards and an interception. Junior Nicolas Cipriano led the receivers with 94 yards on four receptions, and senior Don Dankyi (49 yards) and junior Lucas Burd (47 yards) each eclipsed 40. On the ground, junior Jayden Harris picked up 58 yards on just 10 carries.

“We ran the ball very well,” Harris said. “I would say our protection was set, definitely. I don’t think we let up any sacks, really, so I think that’s a positive. That was a worry going into the season, but I think now we know. So we’re going to actually learn from our mistakes now, and keep going.”

For Lincoln, Kaho went 13-for-22 with 175 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Stanford commit added 35 yards and another score on the ground. Kaho is a four-star recruit on ESPN, and he displayed his pedigree all afternoon, extending plays with his legs and completing big throws to keep the Knights defense on their toes.

“He’s a really good playmaker when he gets out of the pocket,” junior cornerback Amar’e Payton said. “And that’s what we just struggled (with) on the defensive side, keeping him contained. He’s number one for a reason.”

Kamiak, meanwhile, is trying to find its way in its fourth season under McLennan, who is trying to implement his former coach’s playbook from when he played at Washington State from 2013-2015. However, with just three senior starters across both sides of the ball, there’s a lot of room to grow, especially when facing a program that reached the 3A State quarterfinals last fall.

Kamiak managed to get into the red zone three times on Saturday, but failed to score a touchdown on any of those drives.

“I think our offense moved the ball 20 to 20, but the red zone — just like Mike Leach, I was a Washington State Cougar moving that ball from 20 to 20 — but that red zone, when you run an Air Raid offense, the red zone becomes so much more precious because it’s not enough space. You got to be more accurate. I think this was just a great learning moment.”

The Knights went three-and-out on their opening drive, and while a couple Abes penalties appeared to stall their first drive, Kaho hit Williams for a 58-yard touchdown, rolling to his right to avoid pressure from the Kamiak line and making the completion along the sideline for a catch-and-run.

The Knights offense started to pick up on its second drive, as Maxwell completed three straight attempts, including a 34-yard shot down the right sideline to Cipriano to get the Knights into the red zone, but a pair of false starts and a delay of game penalty pushed Kamiak back from the five-yard line to the 20, and it settled for a field goal to cut it to 7-3.

“We just got to execute,” Harris said. “We got a few drops here and there. We can’t have that now, and then the penalties killed us.”

After Lincoln scored on 4th-and-10, the Knights applied a healthy mix of Harris runs and short passes from Maxwell to get down the field. Another deep shot to Cipriano put them at the 10, but the drive stalled on the three-yard line, and after failing to draw the Abes offsides on fourth down, Kamiak settled for another field goal to cut it to 15-6.

“We’re in the game. … There’s no point in pressing,” McLennan said about opting for a field goal rather than going for a touchdown. “For me, it’s like, take your three (points), be down one possession. Now after that, defense, you got to make a stop. I think we just had a poor day of playing complimentary football today.”

It’s important to note that it remained a two-possession game after the field goal with Kamiak trailing by nine, but it ultimately wouldn’t matter.

Lincoln would bolster the lead over its next two possessions, with Williams punctuating a nine-play drive with a one-yard rush, and sophomore Ca’ssi Bushnell scampering for a 66-yard score on the next drive to push it to 28-6 after the Knights blocked the extra point with 4:55 left in the half.

Payton stopped the bleeding with an end zone interception off a deflected pass with 34 seconds left, but the Abes blocked Kamiak’s punts on two consecutive drives, the latter giving them possession inside the 10 with two seconds left. Despite getting pushed back with a false start penalty, Kaho scrambled for an 11-yard touchdown to end the half with a 34-6 lead.

“I was in man coverage, and my guy did a normal slant, but luckily our safety came down and got a pass deflection on a dude that was doing another kind of slant route, and I just went up and got the pick in the end zone,” Payton said.

If Kaho’s scramble to end the half did not seal the game, junior Isaiah Leaupepe’s pick-six off a tipped pass certainly did. The extra point did not convert, but the Abes had a 40-6 lead with 7:13 left in the third quarter. Bushnell put the cherry on top with another long rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter for the 47-6 final.

“You give (Kaho) — a five-star, four-star quarterback, the number one quarterback in the state — you give him a chance, more than likely he’s going to cash it in,” McLennan said. “I honestly feel like we played really well against them today. I just feel like they converted on the times they were supposed to convert, and we didn’t, and that’s still the growth of my program. …

“Our best ball is yet to come.”