1980 is the year ‘Iolani made its Cinderella run to the Prep Bowl, where it tied Waianae 7-7.
Seariders quarterback Michael Beazley, who was the offensive player of the year in both newspapers, was 29-1 as the Waianae starter until the tie against the Raiders.
The newspapers differed on the defensive player of the year. The Advertiser was impressed with ‘Iolani nose guard Junior Tufono, who had a game-high 14 tackles in the Prep Bowl, and named him their defensive player of the year.
The Star-Bulletin released their All-State team the day before the Prep Bowl, so it didn’t have Tufono’s big game against Waianae to go by. They chose Waianae linebacker Moreli Toilolo as their defensive player of the year.
Defensive lineman Albert Tufono of ‘Iolani was the only sophomore selected by either paper to their first teams.
Both teams had one player from the Neighbor Islands — Kauai linebacker Craig Koga — on their All-State teams.
For a listing of all prep football all-star teams that have been posted, click here.
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Iolani was no Cinderella team. They always put out competitive teams year in and year out under the late, great Eddie Hamada. I was at that Prep Bowl game in 1980, Waianae vs Iolani. Waianae came in a heavy favorite. But it was Iolani who pushed Waianae all over the field, both sides of the line of scrimmage, all game long. Waianae was lucky there was no overtime back then. Iolani had taken total control of the game in the 2nd half. 2 length of the field drives in the 4th quarter, but no points to show for it. Their kicker missed a point blank FG attempt last minute of the game. That was back when they had super wide goal posts. The once proud Waianae Searider football program never been the same since. I know a starter on their 1977 Prep Bowl championship team. He told me Larry Ginoza gave a chicken-skin locker room speech for the ages before that 1977 Prep Bowl game, about how nobody thought Waianae had a chance against Punahou. No way Larry Giznoa gives that pregame pep talk in 1980. Cuz everyone thought Waianae would blow out Iolani. Waianae had only 2 big offensive plays all game. Luckily for them they were back to back, which got them inside Iolani’s 10. Even then it took them like 8 plays to finally score on a desperation 4th down pass.
What is Mahatma Gandhi (i.e. Pink Sushi)’s obsession with the 1980 Prep Bowl?
Besides, the 1993 was Iolani’s best ever.
Take it easy Owl! Gandi obviously enjoyed that game. Ahh yeah, Iolani had a pretty good 93 Team; Ah Yat, Pacheco, Takemori, Kitsu, Wong. The Iolani teams didn’t really start making a big impact till Wendell Look went to their No Huddle Offense.
93? Punahou was runner up to crusaders. Iolani came 3rd… The 80 prep bowl was a good one. Iolani was manning Waianae in the trenches. That was the mystery of the whole event.