Last year Maheno won two games all season.
Fast forward a year and the green machine have two wins from their first three games after comprehensively beating Kurow 48-19 at home on Saturday.
The Red Devils had the upper hand early as they led 12-10.
Momentum shifted as Maheno No 8 Jackson Attfield dotted down just before and just after halftime.
They were in again not too long after as midfielder Sione Osamu scored the first of his two tries.
He stepped out of one tackle and evaded another to dot down in the corner.
Kurow hit back to make it an eight-point game heading into the final 10 minutes but with three latetries, Maheno walked away with a big win.
Young prop Toby Growcott impressed at scrum time alongside veteran Hayden Tisdall and Levi Todd.
Marcus Balchin and Frenchman Quentin Gayri were menaces at the breakdown, while Osamu and Jesse Bowring were rock solid in the midfield.
In Oamaru, Excelsior needed a huge second half comeback to remain unbeaten.
Poor discipline plagued them in the first half — including a yellow card — and Old Boys took advantage, jumping out to a 17-3 lead at the break.
Some halftime adjustments seemed to do the trick as they started to look like themselves again, playing with width and carrying hard into contact.
Blue piled on 31 unanswered points, including an amazing long-range try to Jamie Mullan, in the second half and ran away with the game 34-17 at home.
They remain the only unbeaten team three rounds into the Citizens Shield season.
Out in Weston, Valley bounced back from a heavy defeat last weekend to hand Athletic Marist their first loss of the year.
Forwards Jacob Pledger and Sam Sturgess each scored two tries in a ruthless first half from Valley.
Athies tried to mount a comeback but fell short as the home side won 34-12.
Two games will be played on Thursday night this week — Maheno v Blues and Valley v Kurow — to allow players the weekend off for duck-shooting.
Athies will play Old Boys on Saturday.
