This is how early it is in the boys basketball universe: There are still myriad tournaments to be played, and as Maryknoll girls coach Chico Furtado noted a couple of weeks ago, the boys have seven weeks (in the ILH) from day 1 to league opener while the girls had 26 days. Such is the way in the world of Hawaii high school basketball. I still miss the years when the boys and girls played in separate seasons and I […]
Every morning, the sun rises and the mind of Ron Lee is already percolating. To a large extent, life has been about work for Lee, both in the hotel industry and in his passion on the gridiron. Lee, one of the braintrusts of the four-wide offensive philosophy, finally took some time off. In the three weeks since Saint Louis recaptured the state championship with a 30-14 win over No. 1 Kahuku, he has recharged and reinvigorated body, mind and soul. […]
Girls soccer season on Oahu is quickly becoming a tale of the haves and have-nots. Annual contender Moanalua beat Farrington 18-0 on Wednesday, getting hat tricks from Kelci Sumida and Sakari Bell to improve to 2-0 early in the season. Na Menehune won their opener 2-0 over Kailua and play McKinley on Saturday. It has been the biggest blowout of the season thus far, but it is certainly not the only one. There have been five matches in the OIA […]
The 2016 Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State football team will be released this month, adding a new group of talented players to the list of greats going all the way back to the first All-State team published by the Honolulu Advertiser in 1972. Five years later, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin released its first All-State team in 1977. Prior to that, the Bulletin published only all-league teams using the rational that they hadn’t seen enough neighbor-island teams to accurately choose the best. The Star-Bulletin […]
After playing the last football game of his prep career, a 31-20 loss to Mililani in the HHSAA Division I state title game, ‘Iolani senior KJ Pascua wasn’t sure if he was done with football altogether. The Raiders’ three-sport star was the focus of Tuesday’s prep feature in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. On the gridiron, he carried the load at running back for the Raiders on his way to All-ILH first team honors in 2014, ’15 and ’16. However, his wrestling […]
Depending on the schedule, even with missing scores, the Konawaena Wildcats are either 6-0 or 8-0. Maybe 7-0. Whatever the case, the defending girls basketball state champions were a near unanimous No. 1 pick by coaches and media in Monday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10. Here’s my look at the girls poll, compared with my ballots. Disclaimer: I don’t treat my ballots as forecasts. I’m not voting based on where the teams will finish. It’s a weekly vote, so I base […]
Frigid is exactly what it is in Kansas today. Temperatures with a high of 29 on Monday couldn’t put a damper on a tremendous season for defensive lineman Kahewai Kaaiawaawa. The former Mililani Trojan started for Garden City Community College (Kan.), which went 11-0 and reached the National Junior College Athletic Association championship game, beating No. 2 Arizona Western 25-22 on Saturday. Garden City finished 11-0, claiming the title after an 18-hour bus ride into hostile territory. Kaaiawaawa, a freshman […]
So much for carryover respect. Punahou is the No. 1 team in the first Honolulu Star-Advertiser Boys Basketball Top 10 of the season, outpointing ILH rival ‘Iolani. The Buffanblu, who are unbeaten in preseason play, gathered 10 of 18 potential first-place votes in the balloting of coaches and media. The defending state champion Raiders of ‘Iolani collected five first-place votes. They lost to Kailua in the semifinals of the Surfrider Holiday Classic on Friday. Kamehameha, which is unbeaten after capturing […]