A national award in the morning.

A state championship at night.

All in all, not too shabby a Friday for Manti Teo.

Hours after receiving the Butkus Award as the nation’s top high school linebacker, Te’o led a Punahou defense that stifled Leilehua in a 38-7 win in last night’s Division I final at Aloha Stadium.

“These boys deserve it, our coaches deserve it,” Te’o said amid the Buffanblu celebration. “We came out here as a family and we did what we came to do.

“For the seniors this is our last game as a Buffanblu and we just wanted to represent our community and our family. We made it.”

Te’o was presented the award by Dick Butkus, the Chicago Bears legend who helped define the position, in a ceremony on the Punahou campus.

Then he helped make sure the Buffanblu’s 21-0 first-half lead would be safe even from Leilehua quarterback Andrew Manley’s comeback magic as Punahou captured its first state championship.

Te’o finished with eight tackles — three for losses, including two sacks — and certainly wasn’t alone in turning a big performance for the Punahou defense that came up with six turnovers.

Cornerback Mina Gould had a team-high 10 tackles while helping contain Leilehua receiver Edieson Dumlao. Jordan Honjiyo had an interception and forced a fumble at the other corner spot. Safety Sean McFadden also picked off two passes and Brian Suite had another.

Punahou recorded nine tackles for loss and limited the Mules to 211 total yards in giving the Division I title to the ILH for the first time since Kamehameha won it in 2004.

“There was a lot of people coming through in the clutch and playing well, so it was really nice,” Punahou coach Kale Ane said. “It was a great team effort.”

Hoisting the state championship trophy with Dalton Hilliard and Robby Toma capped a hectic week for Te’o, one of the nation’s most sought-after recruits. He had visits from coaches from Stanford, Notre Dame and BYU before yesterday’s encounter with Dick Butkus.

“It’s just been incredible,” Ane said. “I just tag along, like everybody else.”

Once he got on the field, Te’o had three of the Buffanblu’s seven tackles for losses in the first half as Punahou forced six punts, and came up with a fumble and an interception while the offense built a 21-0 lead.

The Buffanblu shackled Manley and the Mules offense until Leilehua’s final play of the first half, a 5-yard pass from Manley with no time left.

But the Buffanblu shut out the Mules the rest of the way.

It wasn’t quite a perfect night for Te’o, who fumbled in the third quarter. But he contributed to a subsequent three-and-out for the Punahou defense, hammering Manley to force an incomplete pass on second down.

Te’o’s next carry didn’t look like much on the play-by-play but was among the highlight moments of the night. He took a handoff and appeared to be stopped for a loss but busted out of six tackles and dove forward for a 4-yard gain.

“I just know I was tired at the end,” Te’o said.

Hard to blame the guy.