Kahuku went 24-2 overall in the past two seasons, thanks in large part to a suffocating defense led by its secondary.
Starting cornerbacks Kekaula Kaniho and Stokes Nihipali-Bothelho, both seniors, ended their high school careers with a 30-14 loss to Saint Louis in the HHSAA Open division championship game.
Though it’s not the way either wanted to end their prep careers, both took it in stride.
“They earned that win. Any team can win on any given night and they won tonight,” Kaniho said. “They were really good. We just didn’t come out and execute.”
Both lifted the Red Raiders with their big-play ability on defense and special teams over the past two seasons.
Each also made their own bid for state defensive player of the year.
Nihipali-Bothelo picked off Saint Louis quarterback Tua Tagovailoa twice in last year’s state title game, a 39-14 victory for Kahuku. He carried that momentum over to this season, where he scored on defense and special teams eight times. Additionally, he emerged as a steady and reliable kicker, handling placekicking and kickoff duties for the Red Raiders.
“It was a good season,” Nihipali-Bothelho said. “Having only two losses in two years is unbelievable.”
Kaniho’s stellar season was highlighted by a hot streak in the postseason in which he recorded a pick-6 in four consecutive weeks against Leilehua, Waianae, Farrington and Kapolei, respectively.
He played his first two seasons of high school ball at Kamehameha and holds scholarship offers from Army, Boise State, Colorado, Hawaii, UNLV, San Diego State, Vanderbilt and Washington State.
“It’s been a great ride with the guys,” Kaniho said. “All the memories we made here will carry on forever and friends for life, you know? That’s the thing to take away from this.”
Nihipali-Bothelho currently holds no offers but has a plan in place.
“Just gotta keep working and get ready for the next level and do what I do,” he said. “Somewhere on the West Coast. I have to get off this island. I love home, it will always be with me, but yeah.”
fixyoface: people don’t care about kahuku as much as you think they do. Relax. The world doesn’t revolve around la’ie.
Jeezy33 November 23, 2016 at 11:21 am
fixyoface: people don’t care about kahuku as much as you think they do. Relax. The world doesn’t revolve around la’ie.
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That’s the problem with 99% of the RR support group. They think the whole state is against them & spit on everyone when their at the top. Look at them, they shit the bed in the championship game & use every excuse outside of the actual game to try & validate their insecurity.
These RR supporters crack me up. All living through high school kids when they couldn’t live it themselves when they had the chance. Hell half of these RR people are even athletes, all spectators. And the few that were state champs & athletes are still living in their glory days. Get over it!
@Heartlessprick
“You RR Fans draw attention to yourselves pushing your weight around, you should expect those things to happen.”
In what way have we “pushed our weight around”. I sincerely would like to know.
” When St Louis had their run of championships I can recall the fans, players & students not being as arrogant publicly as RR in this day & age.”
Actually it has been pretty much the same, it’s just now their is social media. The kids in this day & age are the kids/grand kids of those not so arrogant fans/players of old.
“But really, who has control of what happens outside of the game? It ain’t HPW that has control or can help the situation.”
I’m not saying you or HPW can control it, just like I can’t control Kahuku trolls on here. But dismissing it or making light of it (i.e stop being cry babies) is something you can control.
“Is that really the excuse for being the “Enemy Of The State”? Because you broke the rules & was forced to forfeit because of a ineligible player. You blame the “higher ups” because your team broke the rules? I don’t get this whole situation of labeling yourselves as being “Enemy Of The State” for your own stupidity. It doesn’t matter if he played or not, rules are rules you break them you suffer.”
Yes we did break them and we did pay for it. We were just asking to look at it as a case by case basis, instead of a blanket rule. If I went 1 mph over the speed limit, I do not want to pay the same fine as someone who went 50 mph over the speed limit. We both broke the exact same rule, should we pay the same fine? Different penalty’s depending on severity of the infraction,that’s all we wanted. Enemy of The State is an expression, you know that.
“All your hype that you claim that all your RR Fans don’t do is all on HPW. Live videos on Facebook of people talking shit about how Kahuku is going to walk through states. Your “in house practice” being on FB live saying the RR Nation is here to take over. All these small gestures of ignorance is what hypes Kahuku to be on everyone’s shit list. Maybe that’s why you have all these public incidents. You guys bring it upon yourselves.”
As stated earlier as far as trolls, I cannot control them but I also don’t condone it either. You all know that the trolls on here don’t reflect the entire fan base (obviously they don’t help the perception). Ask everyone about the whole FB thing, it was suppose to be in house. They asked to keep it in house. Again you can’t control thousands of people, some leaked it out and weren’t suppose to. Others used FB Live because did you see all the fans we had? Not all of them can make the practice, so it was posted in Code Red.
What Gestures of ignorance? Everyone last year claimed St. Louis would walk through Kahuku, especially after they dominated Mililani. Everyone one claimed were one dimensional / Cave man offense / Overrated Defense / Weak Schedule. We hear this EVERY year. Then what happened? So we were ignorant this year with our small gestures, and you were ignorant last year?
@fixyoface
No matter what analogy or example.you use about the “Enemy Of The State” situation. As coaches & peers to kids nobody teaches them to break rules. I know you Kahuku people have a hard time with reading & writing but technically (using your speeding example) if you go 1 mph over a speed limit you are speeding. Weather the discretion of who penalizes you let’s you go or not is out of the control of the people breaking the rules. If breaking rules & saying its ok is what they teaching than I think that’s the wrong message to teach kids.
As for being ignorant or “gesture of ignorance”. The best way to explain this is when your pride takes over your humbleness you start to do stupid stuff. Some you may be aware of & some you’re just too caught up with the success or hype that stupidity & being accountable for actions is not a concern. So when people are going on FB live talking trash about Kahuku Football or any source of social media. You are exposing yourself to everyone.
I didn’t know all that backlash happened with Reggie till reading your post. But that’s small town U.S.A for you where football reigns supreme….
No offense sir, but there is never an excuse for any kind of violence or the threat to possibly do bodily harm. This is very saddening. We, (all of us) need to realize that football, music, art, dance, are all extracurricular activities that the children use as a means to have fun, work towards a goal, learn, improve character, and build healthy friendships. It’s unfortunate that many people in the community, often parents, and people on this blog forgets that. It seems the kids and football is for the adults instead of being for the kids. It’s appalling what is written by a select few here. I never thought a blog would wind down to being ruined by a few who are sexual innuendos, swear, threaten, and taunt.
@TheHeartlessPrick
“No matter what analogy or example.you use about the “Enemy Of The State” situation. As coaches & peers to kids nobody teaches them to break rules. I know you Kahuku people have a hard time with reading & writing but technically (using your speeding example) if you go 1 mph over a speed limit you are speeding. Weather the discretion of who penalizes you let’s you go or not is out of the control of the people breaking the rules. If breaking rules & saying its ok is what they teaching than I think that’s the wrong message to teach kids.”
Funny how you want to insult Kahuku people about having a hard time reading and writing when you are struggling to comprehend my basic post. You choose to ignore what it is truly saying and feel the need to add your own spin on it, which is completely different and false. The post is about accepting responsibility but at the same time asking for a fair punishment. It should have been clear but apparently you read and comprehend what you want to believe.
Yes the person breaking the rules cannot fully control the punishment being given, however it is common practice that at the very least you can plead your case. This is why we have court rooms, hearings, INTENT matters just as much if not more than the actual rule being broken. I would think this is common sense.
But apparently to you accepting responsibility but seeking fair punishment/ruling = Teaching kids to break rules. Seriously?
According to your logic
Going over 1mph and 50 mph should have the same fine
Kid stealing stickers and Armed Robbery should have the same sentence.
Man Slaughter and Mass killing spree should both have the death penalty.
You broke the rule you get punished, circumstances/intent do not matter, it’s your stupid fault anyway for not following it, Rules are Rules. Again, are you serious?
“As for being ignorant or “gesture of ignorance”. The best way to explain this is when your pride takes over your humbleness you start to do stupid stuff. Some you may be aware of & some you’re just too caught up with the success or hype that stupidity & being accountable for actions is not a concern. So when people are going on FB live talking trash about Kahuku Football or any source of social media. You are exposing yourself to everyone.”
I get that it may seem like we are a little too much or too spirited. I think a lot of it is taken in the wrong way. I mean people were still getting upset at us in the parking lot because some were still beeping their horns even though we lost.
Going on FB Live saying “We’re taking Over”…. Again I think you take it the wrong way. When we went to Gorman, yes people said “We’re taking over Vegas…..We’re painting the town Red” All it really means is a lot of us came to support our kids. People came in from Hawaii, Cali, Vegas, Utah to come support them. It’s all in good spirits and people were excited.
Now if it feels like we are throwing up all over everybody with too much videos too many comments, whatever the case that’s understandable. I also understand we have bone head supporters that can put negative things out there which isn’t ok. At the same time I think some get upset at one small thing, then any little thing we do after that whether good or bad upsets them. I mean some of you guys literally booed us while we sang our Alma Mater during Pre-Game lol
@fixyoface
Ending result doesn’t change. STL wins, Kahuku loses. Ride the high horse when you win but be able to eat the mud when you lose.