Lahainaluna just lost yesterday 34-10 to Kam Kapalama (D1..open division?) TOUGH TOUGH TEAM! Lahaina hung in there for 4 qtrs, anybody’s ball game till giving up 21 pts in the last 4 min of the game. The depth and size eventually wore the smaller guys down. Although we (Lahainaluna) lost this game, Im positive and confident enough to say we would be competitive against D1 teams.

Im not saying we belong there in D1, what I’m saying is D2 (not just Lahaina) has to be respected if not noticed. As you said, there is a lot of talent in Hawaii and all that should be recognized regardless of the division.

Kamehameha coach:

“going into the 4th quarter I had absolutely no idea how the outcome was gonna be, they are a well disciplined, well coached football team. One of the best high school football teams I’ve seen in my 2 years here”

“not just because of the elements (Da Imu), you gotta be ready for the elements, but the LUNAS are an incredible football team. I see why they’re champions”

Lets take boxing for instance, its split up by weight class but they are all boxers (in this regard everyone Open/D1 and D2 are all playing football). But in boxing you wouldn’t compare a heavy weight to a feather weight and say, that feather weight boxer should be ranked alongside the heavy weights because they are that good.

They could be great, fantastic even. But all things considered they are a great feather weight boxer (D2) and should be considered as such, a great D2 program and should not be considered among the heavy weights (Open/D1).

Why not give D2 its own top 10. Why not allow more D2 schools opportunities to be recognized.

By the way this is an issue I see in other sports on HPW as well, I think there are some other sports that could easily have a D1 first team and D2 first team but they end up getting combined yet there is so much talent to recognize in the state.

I can say this, the team is coached well, they run schemes that work with the personnel they have and the kids give great effort. They have great community support and have represented Maui well in all its state appearances.
Enjoy the recognition and good luck this weekend against the Hawaiians from Kapaaaaalama.