Hawaii Prep World will be releasing summer previews of all 29 Oahu varsity football teams in advance of the 2017 season that kicks off in early August.
16th IN A SERIES
RADFORD RAMS
>> 2016 record and finish: 0-8 (0-7 OIA Blue); did not qualify for OIA D-I playoffs
>> Number of returning starters: 4 offense, 9 defense
>> Number of returning seniors: 3 offense, 6 defense
>> Number of starters lost to graduation: 11
>> Number of seniors lost to graduation: 11
>> Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State selections lost to graduation: Jonah Soakai, third-team RET.
>> Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State selections returning: None
>> Among 2017 key offensive returnees: Darrellson Masaniai, Jr., OL, 6-2, 280; Cameron Copeland, Sr., WR, 6-2, 175; Iovani Alatini Jr., Sr., RB, 6-0, 215; Randy Wright, Sr., QB, 6-1, 175; Austin Antoni, Sr., QB, 6-2, 175
>> Among 2017 key defensive returnees: Kyle Sudog, Sr., LB, 5-10, 170; Darrellson Masaniai, Jr., DL, 6-2, 280; Michael Pritchard, Sr., DL, 6-0, 215; Iovani Alatini Jr., Sr., DL, 6-0, 215
>> Rams with Division I FBS college offers: None
>> All-time state championships: 1 (2015, D-II)
>> All-time Prep Bowl (1973-1998) championships: 1 (1981, D-I)
>> All-time OIA championships: 8 (5 in D-I — 1960, 1961, 1968, 1976, 1981; 3 in D-II — 2005, 2012, 2015)
>> 2017 conference: OIA Blue (D-I)
>> 2017 state tournament declaration: Division I-Open
Head coach LON PASSOS on the Rams’ outlook for 2017:
“So far in the offseason, we’ve got more numbers this year than last year, so not too bad. We’re at the 45 to 48 range on varsity right now. JV is about 45. Last year we ended up with 35 varsity players at the end of the season.
“Workouts are going good, five days a week, and they’re lifting four days a week. The kids are working hard. The attitude is good. The commitment is good.
“Last year, overall, we didn’t know what it was going to be like moving up to D-I. Now, we’ve experienced it and will be better prepared now about what it takes to compete. The biggest positive we took from last year is the guys never gave up. We lost by a big amount of points, but they fought to the end. That never-give-up attitude is something they’ll be carrying over to this season.
“As a first year head coach last season, what I learned is that we as coaches have to prepare better, and one way we can do that is not make the game so hard. Make it simple enough so they can play and not think too much. It was a little too complicated last year, being that we were so young. Now the kids have more experience, but there will be some who have never played varsity before. We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves, so we simplified it with the OC (Shane Masaniai). The playbook now doesn’t have too many plays and that will allow the kids to just go out and play.
“We want to win games and make the playoffs, and that’s something we didn’t do last year. Our goal is to compete with the other teams and hopefully we can get some wins out of that.
“This year, a strength is an overall team-wise kind of bond. They’re getting a lot closer this year already. Another strength I feel is the defense, where we have more returning guys. The offensive line is practially all new guys, the same as the defensive line. We do have a couple of returning defensive linemen and there are lot of players on that side of the ball who played a lot last year.”
2017 Radford football schedule
Subject to change. Click here for the latest schedule updates.
Saturday, Aug. 12
>> Castle at Radford
Saturday, Aug. 19
>> Radford at Kaiser
Friday, Aug. 25
>> Aiea at Radford
Friday, Sept. 1
>> Radford at Centennial (Gresham, Ore)
Saturday, Sept. 9
>> Waianae at Radford
Friday, Sept. 15
>> Campbell at Radford
Saturday, Sept. 23
>> Radford at Kahuku
Friday, Sept. 29
>> Radford at Moanalua
2017 Radford varsity football staff
>> Head coach: Lon Passos (0-8, second season)
>> Offensive coordinator and wide receivers: Shane Masaniai
>> Running Backs: Matt Camden
>> Defensive coordinator: Thor Salanoa
>> Linebackers: Brodric Tavui and Cy Salanoa
>> Defensive line: Thor Salanoa Jr.
Good to see the Salanoa’s still supporting Radford.
Radford school district top players must get picked clean by the ILH.
Well that is true. When RHS was winning championships in 60’s, 70’s, early 80’s, there wasn’t the ILH “recruiting” all the pop warner middle school talent like St. Louis normally does in the Salt Lake area. Also Radford had to split Salt Lake in 72′ when Moanaloa was created and the district slowly started sending more local kids there. Now Radford has to depend on military family kids rotating in every 2-3 years to AMR/Hickam/Pearl Harbor to get a really good team along with leaning on the Halawa area.
There have been a lot of strong families carrying RHS for a long time. It’s great as a former alumni to see them still involved. Hoping for a better season. Schedule looks tough but a lot of former rivals on it. Go Rams.
kahuku fans response to every article about high school football: OMG ILH RECRUITS!!!
Not really, looks like the Mckinley, Radford, Farrington and Kaimuki fans are starting to voice their frustrations regarding the cherry picking of their top kids into the ILH.
STL latest marketing campaign is printed on shirts to attract the public housing kids.
“Private school! Public housing mentality!”
https://youtu.be/vTfJYmQiksM?t=16s
Imagine PUN or Iolani with that phrase “Public housing mentality” LOL
wait for it….soon PH(wanna be ILH)armonic will appear and accuse me of being BG Grad. Why you might ask? Cuz it hurts his feelings to know that there are more than one person our here who thinks he a dumbass.
Very Interesting topic, cause I thought at first they would still do good last year, but it seems like they move up a division, and losing there seniors. I really don’t think Radford is recruiting others players from the mainland that is very good. But the good news for them is that 61% of people transfer in and out. So you never know they will do good or not. Already 15 people are starting, and just came here. This is very interesting team, hopefully I can join their team by August.