Defending state champion Kahuku remains at No. 22 in the latest USA Today Super 25 rankings released on Monday.
The Red Raiders were idle last week after finishing the regular season 7-0 in the OIA Blue. Kahuku (7-1) hosts Leilehua (4-4) in the quarterfinals of the OIA playoffs on Friday night at Carlton Weimer Field.
There was almost no change in the top 25 as the top 16 teams all remained in the same order as most schools on the mainland are still completing their regular seasons and won’t start playoff games for a couple of more weeks.
Kahuku is ranked No. 7 in the West Region trailing Bishop Gorman (Nev.), Mater Dei (Calif.), St. John Bosco (Calif.), Mountain Pointe (Ariz.), Centennial (Calif.) and Bingham (Utah).
Kahuku 2016 State Champs…..
Finish strong boyz, red raider strong! Nothing is guaranteed you need to work for it.
Everyone know knows it’s either going to be Punahou or St Louis who wins the state football championship. Apparently Kahuku has no depth this year. They already lost a starting OL for the year. Anyone really think Kahuku can knock off 2 ILH powers 2 weeks in a row to be able to win the state championship?
Kahuku had better be aware of Leilehua and their fabulous coach Nolan Toku-da. Leilehua is the one team that has continually tormented Kahuku throughout the years. They beat Kahuku in the semifinals of the 2004 state tournament They knocked out Kahuku again in 2008 also in the state semifinals. In 2011, again in the sate semifinals, they lined up for a FG that would have knocked out Kahuku yet again, but was just wide. Nolan Toku-da has never had great talent at Leilehua, but he has the formula for beating Kahuku.
Gandhi will eat his words!
Why everyone saying Kahuku gotta beat I’ll two weeks in a row..don’t be surprised if kapolei knocks one out. Every year Kahuku gives Ilh hard time even if we have a rebuilding year. Ilh doesn’t play this type of defense they just score quick against no D and offense is off the field to rest. They never could grind it out easily against our D.
@Mahatma Gandhi…you can keep your two senses to yourself you don’t even know what your talking about
Stay humble and focused Boiz!
Just let us keyboard idiots talk smack…lol.
Nice to be recognized, but this ranking doesn’t mean much if we don’t win states!
As far as depth, I wouldn’t be too worried just yet.
Ghandi has a point that Leilehua has played spoiler to Kahuku before but not this year, sorry but Kahuku is too strong. As for the smash mouth style of play the offense does need to have 3 deep on the oline and RB’s because llike last year everyone was banged up by the time the state tourney. The OIA tourney will be physically brutal but if Tata did it last year I cant see why he cant do it again this year.
Kapolei upset StL/Puns? killing me, not even close. The state tourney will be a reminder to the OIA how much better the elite/priviledged ILH schools are.
My percentage of these teams to win the state title:
Kahuku 80%
Punahou 65%
St.Louis 60%
Kapolei 0%
Waianae 0%
Farrington 0%
If they are changing things up, why not classify divisions by number to players on a team? Is it fair that a 60 player team play against a 30 player team? Or an 80 player team play against a 60 player team?
In other states they classify divisions by school population size. Larger student body = higher division.
Just asking.
Good luck, Play safe.
Still no changes in Hawaii whereas Kahuku Red Raiders are still the State of Hawaii High School Football Champions until proved otherwise?
Congratulations to Kahuku and to Leilehua.
What great programs to watch this coming Friday.
Kahuku not doubt has the winning advantage. Size,strength and numbers. Elephant formation running smash mouth rugby style football.
Bishop Gorman did expose some weaknesses.
The only way to beat big red is to beat them at their own game. And honestly, no OIA team could possibly do that at the moment.
There is always a but…. Imagine an elephant formation base. One that runs and passes from this formation. Seven on the line of scrimmage. 6 of them are still eligible receivers. If Leilehua can come up with a scheme that can pass and have an effective run, mules may have a chance at a competitive game.
2 QBs and multiple receivers out of an elephant formation will confuse Red Raiders and will force them to play man. Can Big Red play man coverage when the offense is in an elephant formation?
We all know this formation is Kahuku’s Bread and butter. Or in this case green banana and palusami.
Can they defend the pass off this formation?
Hmmmm something to think about. Bishop Gorman was successful in their war plan. Will coaches take a chance? When something’s not working you have to adapt to be successful. If you can’t beat um join um. But pass the ball. Good luck to both programs. Have fun and be safe.
CHECKYOSELF BEFORE YOU WRECKYOSELF AND IM OUT!!!!
checkyoself. The only thing that the BG game proved was that they had faster athletes then Kahuku, how is a team from Hawaii going to clone BG athletes? I say that there is no Offense in Hawaii that is balanced and superior enough to overpower Kahukus D like how BG did.
Kahukus DBs are superior run stoppers as well as coverage guys so your plan to pass out of the elephant package will not work. Nolan tokuda always says something about how the mules coulda/shoulda/woulda beat kahuku so dont be surprised if Kahuku walks away with the W and Leilehua also celebrates with a moral victory.
Who is this Ghandi blog??? Yes, Kahuku can really knock off 2 ILH powers 2 wks. in a row….nothing more and nothing less. First of all, St. Louis doesn’t have the offensive line to withstand a punishing defensive attack like Kahuku as Punahou exposed St. Louis for what it really is couple wks. ago when they played each other. I can see Kahuku just chomping away at St. Louis and making chop steak out of that Tua fellow who is the QB at St. Louis. Punahou might hang with Kahuku for the first 3 quarters but Kahuku’s defense will eventually wear down Punahou and win the game in the 4th quarter. No doubt, Puns will score against Kahuku but so will Kahuku score against the Puns but, in the last analysis, Kahuku will eventually wear down and overpower a tiring Pun defensive unit trying to stop a PUNISHING RUNNING GAME SUCH IS AT KAHUKU. Nothing more and nothing less.
My percentage of these teams to win the state title:
Kahuku 80%
Punahou 65%
St.Louis 60%
Kapolei 0%
Waianae 0%
Farrington 0%
HAHHAAHAHAHAH! I guess while you were correcting your mommy’s papers you forgot to do your math. How can you have percentages that add up to more than 100%. Your percentages add up to 205%. Where is the other 105% coming from?
HAHAHA. You must have went Kahuku….hahah classic. grading mommy’s papers. I am calling a huge BS! You cannot even add!
Gandhi – love the break down when kahuku plays leileihua but could you also break down kahuku vs punahou or St. Louis in the state tornament? Not much to say other then complete domination.. i think you should ask yourself can both teams beat kahuku especially in the championship game?
what people should be asking if can Kahuku kids count to 20 with their shoes on…@OHREALLY
“OHHREALLY October 10, 2016 at 7:32 pm
Gandhi – love the break down when kahuku plays leileihua but could you also break down kahuku vs punahou or St. Louis in the state tornament? Not much to say other then complete domination.. i think you should ask yourself can both teams beat kahuku especially in the championship game?”
Stop it. You guys are making like Kahuku annihilates Saint Louis every single game. They don’t. Kahuku games against ILH teams are usually pretty close games that could go either way, especially against Saint Louis. Kahuku is a very good team. Saint Louis and Punahou are also very good teams. Give credit where credit is due.
@al
Kahuku has 8 HHSAA championships
St. Louis and Punahou combine for 5
…yeah, I would say that’s domination.
@good story Kahuku wins a lot of titles. The games are usually close. Overall, Kahuku’s games with Saint Louis, including non-state tournament games, are close as well. A lot of Kahuku fans tend to act like ILH teams can’t compete at all with them and that’s not true at all.
http://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/football/kahuku-saint-louis-renew-the-rivalry/
ilove88 is attacking Kahuku students gpa’s because he is also “EducationFirst”
and al is the same person too…This little boy that is a former cheerleader at Lowell High in Sanfrancisco has bipolar disease on his lafa (translation: he dont know if he a boy or girl) haahahahhaaaa! …..with multiple personality disorder in his brain! hahahahahaaaa
LESSS GO RED RAIDERS! POSITIVE VIBES FOR OUR BOYZ GEARING UP FOR THE PLAYOFFS! Less do this! From the 1970’s to the 2016’s we always support our team! We love all our coaches that have ever coached us…yes even the idahoan and this crusader guy! lol WE REP THE OIA! Be humble and hungry!!
Last year I said Stl.was going to smash.Kahuku 49-13….I had to eat my hat.
@al
Let’s be objective here…we don’t have to look much further than last year. I think the only people who really believed that Kahuku was gonna win were from Kahuku. A lot of that mindless banter about “who can’t compete with who ” came from outside. We proved you all wrong, go ahead and fact check. Most pundits did not give Kahuku a chance, so let’s not get too comfy on that soap box.
Al- Kahuku is 5-1 vs St. Louis in state championships. Yes two were wins by 1 point, almost a decade ago. The two most recent wins are a combined 81-34.
A ship does not sail on yesterday’s wind. The past is the past. This years defense is averaging 7 points a game, if they didn’t go on a mid season trip.
In the third quarter of last years final game, Philippe commented on the receivers had a “great season in the ILH.” The score was 29-7 and the announcers were talking up the ILH team. Also watch again, there is no “first Hawaiian first down” clips for Kahuku, only St. Louis. Didn’t Kahuku score any first downs?
I think the OIA is being foolish for having 12 out if 14 “D1” teams in the OIA playoffs. Take it down to 6, give the guys a rest, some time to heal, and not get injured needlessly.
Looking forward to the game.
good story “@al
Let’s be objective here…we don’t have to look much further than last year. I think the only people who really believed that Kahuku was gonna win were from Kahuku. A lot of that mindless banter about “who can’t compete with who ” came from outside. We proved you all wrong, go ahead and fact check. Most pundits did not give Kahuku a chance, so let’s not get too comfy on that soap box.”
you completely sidestepped what I was saying. I’m saying that Kahuku vs Saint Louis games are very competitive. Kahuku fans tend to have this weird inferiority complex about how everyone is against them and that Kahuku destroys every opponent they meet and it’s not even close. Kahuku is a great team for sure. But let’s be realistic. Put Kahuku in the ILH and it will get very competitive. Kahuku and st louis plays in more than just championship games.
” Jason Keuma October 12, 2016 at 5:47 am
Al- Kahuku is 5-1 vs St. Louis in state championships. Yes two were wins by 1 point, almost a decade ago. The two most recent wins are a combined 81-34.”
Jason, the reason why the two wins by 1 point was over a decade ago was because St Louis hasn’t played Kahuku in the finals since over a decade ago, excluding last year. Either Saint Louis didn’t qualify for states or Kahuku lost or was disqualified before the finals.
Also, only choosing the last two wins as an arbitrary cut off point to prove that Saint Louis (or anybody else) can’t compete with Kahuku and then saying “the past doesn’t matter anyway” is intellectually dishonest. Because if you go back one year further to 2013, then all of a sudden you see Saint Louis blowing out Kahuku 45-24. Now why would you only go back two years instead of three? or four? or one? So obviously the way you’re measuring it isn’t useful.
I’m saying, if you look at the totality of their games since the state football tournament era, they are two very competitive schools playing close games.
It would be exciting to see an OIA/ILH merger for this very reason.
To claim “dominance” as in, nobody can compete with Kahuku like a lot of the more arrogant kahuku fans tend to do isn’t true.
Since the beginning of the State Championship era, the ILH has scored 198 points on Kahuku, while Kahuku has scored 241 points on the ILH. Winning by an average of 9.3 points in their 8 wins, and loosing by an average of 16 points in their 2 losses. However, their last two wins have been by 20+ points.
In the championship games where Kahuku is not participating, the ILH has scored 225 points to the OIA’s 138.
In 2010 due to an illegible player, Kahuku was disqualified in the playoffs. Kahuku disclosed the use of the ineligible backup player. The following year, a ton of “leave no doubt” t-shirts were seen being sported through the north shore.
There is nothing that will sway my opinion that Kahuku has out performed the ILH in this post prep bowl era.