For the first time since the 2011 season — a span of 92 weeks — Waipahu is ranked in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Football Top 10.
The Marauders (9-0), who shut out Roosevelt 38-0 on Friday to advance to the OIA Division II title game a week from Thursday against Pearl City, earned seven votes in the latest rankings released today to check in at No. 10. Waipahu finished ahead of Hilo (four), St. Francis (three), Konawaena (three), Farrington (three), Maui (one) and Damien (one).
Previous No. 10 Kapolei did not receive a vote this week after losing to Kahuku, 35-7, in the OIA quarterfinals.
Waipahu is the fourth Division II team ranked at some point in the top 10 this season. Defending Division II state champion Lahainaluna is No. 8 for the second consecutive week and has been ranked in the top 10 since Week 2.
Saint Louis again received all 10 first-place votes to get a unanimous nod at the top, followed by Kahuku, which was ranked second on six of the 10 ballots. No. 3 Mililani finished two votes behind the Red Raiders and was picked second on the other four ballots.
Kamehameha, which ended a 10-game losing streak to Punahou on Friday with a 44-31 win over the Buffanblu, shot past Punahou into the No. 4 spot this week. Kamehameha had not been ranked in the top four since the preseason poll in 2016.
After falling out of the sixth spot for a week, Waianae regained its No. 6 ranking after beating Farrington, 27-21, to advance to the OIA semifinals. The Seariders took the place of Leilehua, which dropped three spots to No. 9 after losing 10-6 to Campbell.
The Sabers are No. 7.
Two of the teams ranked (No. 5 Punahou, No. 9 Leilehua) will not play another game this season.
TOP 10 SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, OCT. 20
No. 2 Kahuku vs. No. 7 Campbell, 5 p.m., Aloha Stadium
No. 6 Waianae vs. No. 3 Mililani, 7:45 p.m., Aloha Stadium
SATURDAY, OCT. 21
No. 1 Saint Louis vs. No. 4 Kamehameha, 6 p.m., Aloha Stadium
Kamehameha-Maui at No. 8 Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10
| FOOTBALL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Updated: 10/23 | ||
| RANK | SCHOOL | VOTES |
| 1. | Kahuku (10) | 100 |
| 2. | Miililani | 86 |
| 3. | Campbell | 81 |
| 4. | Punahou | 73 |
| 5. | Saint Louis | 53 |
| 6. | Kapolei | 50 |
| 7. | Konawaena | 40 |
| 8. | Farrington | 23 |
| 9. | Lahainaluna | 18 |
| 10. | Kamehameha | 8 |
Waipahu will go into D1 oia. Iolani,Damien or St.Francis will not go into D1 Ilh. Why? How long can they play the victim? They cannot claim we have small players excuse. Some StL.4 th stringers have never played more then10 minutes in three years at varsity. That sucks.
Congratulations to the Marauders!
@Jason, many mainland schools are classified by total school attendance, not by whether or not they have enough players, or athletic type students. If the HHSAA used that to classify the divisions, then more than likely Punahou, Kamehameha, Iolani and Pac-Five would be in Division I (Pac-Five, because they have at least 5 schools to draw players from). And St. Louis would be in Division II along with St. Francis and Damien. On the OIA side, again most likely Waipahu would’ve been in Div I from the start. Either the HHSAA needs to consider other classification options or actually start an 8 man league on Oahu, and let those schools that wish to go that route from both the OIA and ILH play 8 man football.
Actually Waipahu is one of those areas that have studs. The Pupu area a section 8 type neighborhood. Many a St.Louis stud’s have been harvested from these streets. That and the fact that these are family neighborhoods. Lots of kids. With the new field and new pride, the program goes up. Good for the Marauders.
Waipahu has a big enrollment maybe top 5 biggest in OIA so should be playing in D1. Funny how last year they were in D1 and went winless but this year they drop into D2 with easy competition and now are considered top10 team in the state, lol that is some bogus rankings that this SA paper does. Need to make 2 polls to be fair for everyone.
St. Louis gets some Waiphau kids as well as Mililani. Gotta keep the kids home to rep that Maurader pride.
The very idea that a child has to go to their local public high school, only to rep that school in sports is crazy. Why would you limit the child’s ability to gain opportunities that they wouldn’t have had at that public school just because you want them to represent the local community in sports. There are many at private schools that represent their communities very well, even though they don’t go to school there. The same with seniors, you don’t tell them to stay home just to play for UH, in order to make them a “winner”, or to “rep”. You tell them to do what is best for them and their family, in other words, what decision presents you with the greatest opportunity to achieve a high level of success.
I think in Hawaii high school football its unfair when St. Louis and Punahou have free reign and control over the entire state to pluck stud athletes out of their OIA schools to form an ILH super team. While the OIA schools are restricted with whats left in their geographic boundaries. St. Louis got so greedy and desperate that they opened up a pipeline with Cal Lees brother coaching on Maui and trying to get Maui kids into St. Louis.
@Envy – last I checked, every kid that plays or played for St. louis is adopted into the brotherhood, they identify as a crusader and not the community they are from. Same with all the other private schools. You dont see these familys with Waipahu Maruader stickers on their cars, you see St. Louis, Punahou and Kam stickers on their cars. Its called prestige and any one that has a chance to attend the ILh does so in a hearbeat while happily leaving their local public school in the dust.
All I hear is complaining about the ILH and this article has nothing to do with it. Be proud of waipahu…
If you live Waipio, are you supposed to go Mililani or Waipahu? Because Waipio is in the middle. They male my kid zone in Pearl City, since I refuse to fo there. Which one is more closer Mililani or Waipahu?
Go Silverbacks! Bred in the jungle.
@Hawaiian, because on every article, where there is a hint of success at a private school, someone has to bring up the “recruiting” and unfairness of the private schools. It’s really unfair that private school parents still subsidize public schools that complain about the private schools having unfair advantages. My dad graduated in 1964, and he said that even back then public schools already were envious of the offerings of the private schools, yet all they did was complain but didn’t improve themselves. Look how long it took Farrington to get their new field, one would think that with the amount of students that passed through those halls over the years, their alumni would at least come up with the funds to improve their facilities and not wait for the “state” to do something. Same with the other public schools, why wait, get the alumni to contribute.
I graduated from Kamehameha. GO MARAUDERS! DO YOUR BEST! Congratulations to the coaching staff. Job well done! YAY!