'Iolani's Kela Marciel is handling the move from one position to another.

The junior quarterback completed 20 of 26 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Raiders past Damien, 46-19, Friday at Aloha Stadium in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener.

"His (quarterback) coach Joel Lane and I talked to him about being efficient, getting the ball to the receivers and letting them make plays for the team so he doesn't always need to make the big plays," 'Iolani coach Wendell Look said. "He's been doing a really good job of taking care of the ball and of how we tell him to be efficient."

Marciel, a defensive back last year, helped break a 19-19 tie in the second quarter with a touchdown pass to Lionel Fujioka. The Iolani (2-2, 1-0 ILH) defense held Damien — particularly lethal running back Kama Bailey — scoreless the rest of the game.

"My (offensive) line stepped up — they blocked for me, definitely played good in the second half, though Kama Bailey had a lot of yards," Marciel said.

"I knew that our defense had the potential to stop him. I knew we could score on one play (to take the lead). I knew I could be efficient and have my guys make the plays."

Marciel switched from defense to offense this season. He was the backup quarterback last season to Ryan Dung, but earned Advertiser All-State third-team honors as a defensive back. Marciel also started on the 'Iolani baseball and basketball teams.

"Changing from defense to offense is always great, especially having a starting role to look up to like what Ryan did last year," Marciel said.

"I feel confident and I hope my teammates have confidence in me and I have the leadership to help the team to be successful."

Look said Marciel is "getting better every week in terms of managing the game and utilizing his offensive players."

"He has the athletic ability and athletic mind," Look said. "He's a thinker out there. He's adapting well — you can tell by who we are playing offensively. A lot of the credit goes to him. He touches the ball on every play. It's his reason to get it to the right player."

Senior Justin Yamamoto also had a big game in the win, rushing 25 times for 123 yards.

"Justin gets a lot of the credit, but also credit the offensive line," Look said. "They're not the biggest guys around, but they've been doing a good job."

Reach Stanley Lee at sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com.