More than just for kicks

Last week, when Kapolei’s Paige Mahuka punched though a PAT in a win over Kailua, the senior joined a very select club.

Mahuka became one of only 16 girls to score a point in a high school football game on Oahu, according to Dan Cisco’s “Hawai’i Sports: History, Facts, and Statistics” and a running list since the book was published.

Mahuka and the Hurricanes play host Farrington at Roosevelt in an OIA playoff game on Friday, and Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez will take any points Mahuka can give him. She is actually the backup kicker behind another girl, Arielle Stoyanow, who has been one of the better kickers in the OIA for the past two years. Shandy Hopeau gives Kapolei three girls on the same team, when one girl every couple of years used to be unique.

“The girls are all very good athletes,” Hernandez said. “They wouldn’t be on the team if they couldn’t kick. They are for real.”

Girls who have scored a point in a Hawaii High School football game:

• Tui Moe, Punahou, 1994
• Heather Holbron, Moanalua, 1994
• Lisa Kowal, Punahou, 1995
• Angela Ichinose, ‘Iolani, 1996
• Jessica Kisor, Kalaheo, 1997
• Chelsey-Ann Kaimi, Nanakuli, 2000
• Savannah Sabido, Kahuku, 2000-2001
• Darci Hata, Pac-Five 2002
• Chelsie Sato, McKinley, 2005
• Kodi Look, ‘Iolani, 2007
• Tarra Gabriel, Kamehameha, 2009
• Demiana Gerber, Kapolei, 2011
• Shanelle Atabay Carillo, Farrington, 2012
• Arielle Stoyanow, Kapolei, 2012-13
• Laura Tyler, Castle, 2013
• Paige Mahuka, Kapolei, 2013
• Chenoa Johnston, St. Francis, 2014-15

Chelsey-Ann Kaimi is the only non-kicker of the bunch, scoring the only touchdown by a girl when she broke the plane for Nanakuli in 2000. Here is a Star-Bulletin story from that day: Touchdown scores more than 6 points.

According to Cisco, soccer standout Tui Moe was the first girl to suit up for a high school team in 1994 for Punahou, and she became the first female player to score a point with a PAT against Morse (Calif.) in the Shawn Akina Classic at Aloha Stadium.

Punahou coach Dan Morrison had Lisa Kowal take over for Moe in 1995, and Kowal had a few PATs but never made a field goal.

That honor would have to wait one more year, when ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look had Angela Ichinose line up for a 27-yarder in a 30-6 blowout of Kamehameha at Aloha Stadium. Ichinose’s attempt was true and erased the point-after attempt she missed a drive earlier.

Kalaheo’s Jessica Kisor matched Ichinose with a 27-yarder the following year, but was no backup. Kisor hit Kalaheo’s only two field goals for the season (her other one was 25 yards) and was successful on 23 points after. She was the first girl in Hawaii honored as the best kicker when she was named to the OIA Blue conference’s first team after the season.

A girl would have to wait five years before getting another chance, and Darci Hata of Pac-Five made the most of it. The Maryknoll senior was named a second-team ILH all-star after making 15 of her 17 extra-point attempts and hitting her only field goal attempt, a 27-yarder against Saint Louis.

Although she only lined up from 27 yards out, Hata still holds the record for the longest completed kick by a girl in Hawaii. She drilled a PAT from 35 yards out in a win over Damien. The Wolf Pack weren’t the best at discipline that day; Hata also made a 32-yard extra point and was perfect on her PATs.

Chelsie Sato of McKinley, who was also the setter on the volleyball team that season, has the longest field goal by a girl with a 33-yard effort in a preseason win over Pac-Five.

Kodi Look was the next girl to get a shot, for her father at ‘Iolani, and made 25 of her 27 PAT tries with one miss coming off a bad snap.

Kamehameha’s Tarra Gabriel launched field goals from 27 and 25 yards in 2009.

Longest completed kicks by a girl

• 35 yards: Darci Hata, Pac-Five
• 33 yards: Chelsie Sato, McKinley
• 32 yards: Darci Hata, Pac-Five
• 27 yards: Angela Ichinose, ‘Iolani
• 27 yards: Jessica Kisor, Kalaheo
• 27 yards: Darci Hata, Pac-Five
• 27 yards: Tarra Gabriel, Kamehameha
• 26 yards: Arielle Stoyanow, Kapolei
• 25 yards: Jessica Kisor, Kalaheo
• 25 yards: Arielle Stoyanow, Kapolei

Don’t think of the above list a a fluke of circumstance or a trivial rundown of coaches’ whims. If the list of coaches (Dan Morrison, Look, John Kapele, Don Botelho, William Moeva, David Stant, Nelson Maeda, Randall Okimoto and Darren Hernandez) who have allowed a girl to play with the boys has anything in common, it is that they all have reputations as no-nonsense, old-school football minds. Should Hernandez be faced with a situation in which he needs three points during his playoff run, there is no doubt he would call on Stoyanow, who has kicked a 45-yarder in practice, to collect the points.

But will it be from farther than 35 yards?