The defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Kahuku Red Raiders opened their season with a 49-15 win over Leilehua on Friday to run their winning streak to 14 games.
They kept their No. 1 ranking in the latest Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10 released Monday but were not a unanimous pick like they were a week earlier.
Saint Louis (0-0), which has only played one quarter of a canceled game, picked up the other two first-place votes and remains second in the poll, followed by Punahou, Waianae and Kamehameha.
Kamehameha, Mililani (sixth), Farrington (seventh) and Kailua (eighth) all jumped ahead of Kapolei, which fell from No. 4 to No. 9 after losing 35-14 to Waianae. ‘Iolani enters the poll for the first time this season at No. 10 with the Bears falling out following a 38-14 home loss to Kamehameha.
Kahuku dropped to third on one ballot and fourth on another. One voter, who had Kahuku No. 1 in the first two polls, agreed to share his comments publicly after dropping the Red Raiders to third in his poll:
“When I rank teams, I try to rank them based on the results of what has taken place on the field. Kahuku started the season with a nice win over Leilehua, but it was a 14-7 game midway through the second quarter and the Mules were moving the ball early against that defense. It wasn’t nearly as convincing of a win over Leilehua as Punahou had (70-9) just a week earlier.”
“If you still forced me to pick a team to win it all this year, it would be Kahuku, but that’s not how these polls should be ranked. It’s about what has happened on the field during the season. It’s hard to compare teams so early in the year, but two of the best (Punahou, Kahuku) have a common opponent in Leilehua and the Buffanblu were far more impressive in their win, so I ranked them ahead of Kahuku but kept Punahou behind Saint Louis, which I view with all of its returnees, as the best team in the ILH. We’ll see once the Crusaders play their first full game.”
Also receiving votes this week were Baldwin, which finished just two votes behind No. 10 ‘Iolani, and Kapaa and Konawaena, which each got four votes.
| FOOTBALL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Updated: Nov. 21 | ||
| RK | Team | Pts. |
| 1. | Saint Louis | 150 |
| 2. | Kahuku | 135 |
| 3. | Kapolei | 120 |
| 4. | Punahou | 104 |
| 5. | Waianae | 91 |
| 6. | Mililani | 67 |
| 7. | Farrington | 59 |
| 8. | Kamehameha | 32 |
| 9. | Lahainaluna | 25 |
| 10. | 'Iolani | 20 |
At least we got an explanation. Its obvious that this particular voter has never played football and probably enjoys the halftime of the super bowl more then the game itself, in fact hes probably really bummed that Adele said no to perform at the Superbowl.
Here is my ranking
1.Kahuku
2.Punahou
3.Saint Louis
4.Waianae
5.Mililani
6.Kamehameha
7.Farrington
8.Kapolei
9.Kailua
10.Moanalua
He or she needs a better excuse. ” I try to rank them based on results what has taken place on the feild”. If that’s so how the hell you going rank Punahou behind St. Louis. And after the ON FIELD performance that Kapolei showed how the hell they going be ranked in the top 10. C’mon man!
My ranks.
1.Kahuku
2.Punahou
3.St.Louis
4.Waianae
5.Kamehameha
6.Farrington
7.Kapolei
8.Mililani
9.Kailua
10.Iolani
Fair enough. Everyone has their methodology. The only ranking that really matters is at the end of the season.
I just don’t agree with Iolani being in the Top 10. They should have separate lists for D1 and D2.
So….the team that will win the whole thing is dropped to 3rd but the team that is best in the ILH is voted first…but he/she still insist that it’s based on what happens on the field. Gimme a break! You cannot spell Bias without BS.
rrforlifebaby: Iolani Football played D1 last year and has chosen do it again this year. I do agree with you that there should be a separate D1 and D2 ranking. Don’t need a Top 10 for D2, but at least a Top 5.
How the hell do you basied a game played on what happened on the field when st louis didn’t even play ,so you drop Kahuku down because they didn’t score 70 points.
zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz… *snort* *cough* huh???
oh yeah… who cares…
zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz
Castle had the most “impressive” performance last weekend and should be in the top 5. Kaiser was able to “move the ball” in their 42-7 loss against Mililani and should at least crack the top 10.
Kahuku should drop to #3 because Leilehuas coach said that if they didnt fumble 2 times, thrown that interception and converted their 3rd downs they would have won.
He, he, some of you forgot to put in the Kahuku JV right below Farrington; just an idea whereas there should also be ratings for referee no matter by Division or all bunch together and off course by name, now that should sure draw a lot of below the waist attention. .
I too would rank punahou ahead of kahuku. What I seen so far that teams been moving the ball on kahuku defense.
The season has just started and the HATERS are already starting to come out.
Everybody pro Punahou, let them get passed St.Louis first…. of course it’s a new season, but no dramatic changes from last few seasons yet. The teams that are supposed to win are winning, and the ones that are supposed to lose are losing…. these voters are starting to nit pick and look for any reason to throw the ilh some shade nd get dem at no.1…… politics man….
Give rats. Go grind all those other guys. Red Raiders can win without your hype. We did last year. The only guy that has any sense is Rob DeMello
All it matters is who’s on top at the end of the season..
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s an all OIA state final, if Waianae’s D can turn it up a notch and their offense consistently gets better. Kahuku vs Waianae for the state, setting up the first all OIA final.
The sports world on Twitter reported that Tua leaving STL? Prank or Foreal? Someone on here knows.
Looks like Dave Readon was passing news from his “sources”, bum scoop from what it’s seems like.
@Chloro I want to see that happen and high possibility it could happen
It would be cool, ’06 was the closest, Kahuku beat Bawldin on a Hail Mary and Waianae lost on a pick 6 to STL. That year’s Kahuku’s Defense had Kaniela Topolotu and Waianae Defense had George Kauwalu.
FEAR the “W”. Not a fan but Waianae looks well balanced this year be it all of 2 games. A Waianae team that can pass spells big trouble for the rest of the teams. They got a good defense and solid running game. Westside will have something to say about that Ship this year! Believe Dat!
Rico and Javen, the two running backs for Waianae are probably the fastest running backs in the state. I was impressed with their speed. Kahuku doesnt have that kind of speed at RB but they have monster full backs that will bulldoze their way to 5 yards at a time.
Well Waianae needs to get passed the Kahuku hump, something they haven’t done in a while. Kahuku has been owning Waianae for a long time. They matchup with them physically every time they play, probably the only team in the sat ate that can, but for some reason can’t get that victory.
Waianae offense line can steamroll teams with a weak defensive front like Kapolei, but when they play upper tier teams, their OLine needs to finish off block to let Towne and Rosario buckaloose.
Either this voter is clueless or said voter just wants an ilh team at the top. If the voter is going to use “what happened on the field” as a factor then time of possession should be considered. Punahou’s passing game obviously will have more time due to incomplete passes as well as a pass happy leilehua, whereas a running team like the Defending Champions have. The clock will continue to run in between plays which the prolly gain 3-5 yrds per play unlike a passing team which has a greater chance at eating up more yards per play with using less time….yeah, total bias towards a private school…. this state does not want teams like Kahuku, Waianae, Farrington at the top…. their fans are either too ghetyo, too local, too loud and are primarily Polynesian. Yes I dropped the race card and don’t bring up ILH cause the majority of Polynesian that attend there are on the football team or volleyball. Idk how many Poly’s are in the local media voting for team rankings or writing articles but it’s right in front of our face.
Nothing to do with race, more about ignorance of the sport. Remember that the coaches no longer are voting in these polls so its left to the media folks who are geeks that have never played football, or if they did they played on a D2 team.
Oh yeah. Sorry, i forgot Iolani is in D1. Thanks for the reminder
Lol. Kapolei moved the ball pretty good against last years D and look what happened. People too quick to already write off Big Red. Still too early in the season.
Waianae does look like a really solid team tho. Need to see how well they play against a better passing O.
June Jones may know his stuff, but its another thing to teach what he knows to high school kids. Took awhile before it clicked for Rolo. Who knows how long it’ll take the canes qb and receivers to get it together.
Punahou should be #1 going by that voters logic… Lol!
“JUST WIN BABY!”
Oh no, the wheels are falling off Kahuku’s band wagon….NOT.
Just remember how we were ranked week after week last year and all the “Oh, they haven’t played anyone yet, their schedule is WEAK…” Yup, how that turn out for you Haters??
So no worries, even way over here in Oregon.
Big Red Got This.
Ranking Spanking,
Nobody should care about stupid rankings in the first place, it doesn’t mean a damn thing!!
Just watch and enjoy all Hawaii high school teams and cheer on the KEIKI…
All you RRFL fans are funny. I remember very well, all you talked about was ranking doesn’t matter last year. Both Kahuku and Puns played the mules and puns looked a lot better than Kahuku. It’s way too early to talk about the states anything can happen. Don’t sleep on the Crusaders this year. Even though Puns look better than Kahuku, they are the defending champs and deserved to be on top until someone beats them. This is my ranking
1.Kahuku
2.Punahou
3.St.Louis
4.Waianae
5.Farrington
6.Mililani
7.Kamehameha
8.Kapolei
9.Kailua
10.Iolani
People, let’s not let this SA bogus high school football ranking get to us. For several years, I have mentioned that the SA should have two separate rankings, Division I and Division II, since both division do have a state champion. I totally agree with rrforlifebaby and football junkie that rankings should be by division. As an example, if Iolani had to play against division I teams throughout the season, they’re most likely would not be on the radar for the top ten rankings. As the person that provided his input for the weekly football rankings based on comparing scores from the previous week, his votes shouldn’t be considered because of being bias. His mentality is to have a team rack up the score despite of the mercy rule (winning by more than 35 points and have a running clock), in other words, rack up the score no matter who you play so that team would be ranked high. Some coaches prefer to pile up the points, like Punahou, and some knowing that a win is imminent and because of the mercy rule, would let the 2nd and 3rd unit play most of the 2nd half and risk having injuries to the 1st team players. A win is a win whether it be by 1 point or 6 points. Like I’ve said, this SA ranking is bogus and people, don’t let it get to you because the real ranking will be at the end of the season and who ends up as the state champion for division I and II.
I really don’t understand how the polls can rank teams after playing non league, preseason, and even after teams from Hawaii play teams from the mainland. This is a joke of a ranking system.
So these voters are saying,Top Ten teams please blow out the other team every week to get our respect and points. Sad. I seen the Kahuku Leileihua game as a scrimmage with Tata going with all qbs and defensive players.
Its funny how all the townies was in love with the High Octane passing game of Mililani and St.Louis the past few years. Thats all good and dandy because it is exciting to watch teams not play defense and out score each other. All a while the red raiders stuck to their usual strategy of dominating the defensive side and special teams ….which was criticized as being BORING by all the oc16 announcers, media and newspaper writers. What did Big Red do? shut those passing offenses down. Now this year you hear talk of other coaches emphasizing the defense and special teams play. LOL
I think the media better learn more about football and write about all three phases of the game instead of the pretty “pass and catch” game.
Wow, it is amazing to read all of the comments and it give me a clear understanding on why many of you have other jobs outside of being professional sports analyst. I am a RRFL fan, even though I never graduated from Kahuku, my klds all attended that school. As for comparing Kahuku with Punahou in trying to rate the team let me drop some info on you, Kahuku and Punahou defense both surrendered over 200 yards passing to the Mules, Both teams also had well over 400 yards on offense PUN 530, KAH 425. Many people always say the RRFL is always crying and complaining and that is a lot of you know what. There are not to many teams that can lose top quality players to St. Louis, Punahou, and Kamehameha and still field a team that can compete. To all of the dream busters, boo birds and nay sayers, especially those in the private schools please don’t forget that the private schools are actually paying to have the top players from communities throughout the state play at their schools. The difference with a school like Kahuku and many other is community support, The Mules, Seariders, Trojans and other schools in the OIA have that community spirit that propels the players to go above and beyond to make their schools and communities proud. This is no knock on the boys that go to private schools, hey better for them but let us please keep it all in perspective. As for the Kahuku game, all the comments are a bit funny, all I can say is that the D played well and they are still jelling (hey they lost 5 key ALL State Players), the Offense did well and played hard with a Freshman QB, overall Kahuku scored in every area, Defense, Special Teams and Offense sounds pretty good to me. Maybe all the negative comments come from the fact that if this was the level Kahuku started at can you imagine what they will be like next week. The team improved with every game last year and I expect they will do the same this year. All I can say to all of you making comments is to support your teams and stay positive, enjoy the game and remember these are only teenaged boys.
Why did the #17 LB return to Kahuku from Punahou, was it because his older brother lost his starting spot last year during the playoffs? Good thing he back at Kahuku, now his faddah no need hide in the parking lot and spy.
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Signature: I think there is more football intelligence in the comments section then the article itself. #HideandPost #BumbyGetFired