The No. 1-ranked Kahuku Red Raiders had been practicing it for months waiting for the right time.
It came in the fourth quarter of the OIA championship game in the Open Division with the scored tied 14-14.
Facing a fourth-and-6 at the Mililani 26, the call of ‘Summer special’ was sent in.
>> PHOTO GALLERY: Kahuku vs. Mililani
Named after junior Liona Lefau‘s mother, Summer, Lefau wasn’t about to let the play call go to waste. Quarterback Waika Crawford took a deep drop and rolled to his right before throwing across the field to Lefau, who leaked out from his spot on the line and caught the ball near the Mililani 10, where he was hit for the first time.
One defender bounced off, a second couldn’t come up with the tackle, and a third was trying to make a play when Lefau fell over the goal line for a 26-yard touchdown that proved to be the difference in Kahuku’s 21-14 victory on Friday night at Hugh Yoshida Stadium.
The play gave the Red Raiders the lead for the first time all game. It proved to be the difference in Kahuku winning the OIA championship for the fifth time in six years and for the 28th time in school history.
“I knew I needed to get in there for my team and it was a tied game,” Lifau said. “I knew I could make it in there.”
“We’ve been practicing that play for weeks,” added Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho. “We actually dedicated that play to (Liona’s mom) and we were just waiting for the right time … and it was executed very well.”
Crazy effort by Liona Lefau on a 4th-and-6 pass from Waika Crawford to put Kahuku up 21-14 on Mililani in the OIA Open title game with 7:35 to play. pic.twitter.com/jGTT4k2rY7
— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) December 11, 2021
The game was over when junior linebacker Leonard Ah You forced a Mililani fumble with 1:11 to go after the Trojans had converted a fourth down. Mililani’s Kapono Ho‘okano-Sallas caught a pass and made two defenders miss to pick up the first down. As he ran for more yards, Ah You came from behind and swiped down on the ball, forcing it loose.
Brock Fonoimoana made the recovery to allow the Kahuku offense to finish off the game in victory formation.
“All we had to do was focus on getting off the field and the game was over,” Ah You said. “Big time players make big plays so I tried to go out there and make a play for my team and my community because this championship means so much to them.”
Kahuku (8-0) entered the game having won all seven of its game by at least 26 points.
Mililani got the start to the game it needed if it wanted to upset the team it lost to by 35 points during the regular season.
The Trojans intercepted two passes in a span of 30 seconds and led 14-0, but couldn’t score over the final 43 minutes of the game.
“I will probably be tossing and turning a long time knowing we was up 14-0,” Mililani coach Rod York said. “You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
York’s 100th win in his 11th season at Mililani would have been one of the sweetest, but instead, he’ll have to go for it against ILH champion Saint Louis in the semifinals of the Open Division state championships next Saturday at Farrington.
Kahuku will play Saturday’s Campbell/Waianae winner in the other semifinal.
“I’m just so proud of our boys how they’ve persevered throughout this whole season and even last year with no season,” Carvalho said. “For them to be down 14-0, they never stopped believing. They never got down on any one person, any one sides of the ball, everybody stayed positive together and I think that was the biggest thing.”
Crawford bounced back from throwing a pick-six on his first attempt to finish 10-for-16 for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
He played every drive after starter Jason Mariteragi was intercepted on his second pass of Kahuku’s first drive in the game.
“Because of this rain we needed our quarterback to run a little bit more and I didn’t want Jason to get hurt,” Carvalho said. “(Crawford) was able to give us that little bit extra with his legs throughout the game.”
Lefau led the Red Raiders with eight tackles and had one of two interceptions thrown by Mililani.
Kahuku football is not a real issue, and is so manini and trivial compared to the serious and outrageous violations of international law and Hawaiian Kingdom law and sovereignty. The continuity of the Hawaiian Kingdom is a juridical fact in rem and not merely an opinion in personem. This means that the continuous existence of the Hawaiian Kingdom-the state, the country-is a legal fact that affects everything, it is not a personal opinion that exists only in the mind of the individual. This juridical fact means that the US presence here is that of an occupier, for it has never acquired the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Hawaiian Kingdom over the Hawaiian Islands. Ending this occupation will yield tremendous economic benefits to all who reside or transact business in the territory of the Hawaiian Kingdom, not only aboriginal Hawaiians and non-aboriginal Hawaiian subjects-even Americans and all others. The liberating effects of ending the occupation would be, as the prophet Isaiah was inspired to write, “to undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free.” So this voice will not be silenced, the Almighty One willing, by the ignorant and the brainwashed, nor will it be shamed or intimidated into exile from this forum. Attack with ad hominem and name calling if that is what you choose to respond with, and it has already begun, but it will not deter this voice of Hawaiian patriotism and truth. You can name call and make all the personal attacks you want, but you cannot refute with facts and truth against the truth spoken here by this voice. The Almighty One willing, my love for my country-the Hawaiian Kingdom-and my forebears and the wonderful legacy and heritage they left to me, will steel the will I have to persevere against any and all opposition, even against those who think of themselves as the derogatory name they wish to be called by.
Have you seen the size of the Kahuku team compared to Mililani? By visual looks, kahuku supposed to demolish mililani. Mililani is so small compared to kahuku. And for Kahuku to squeeze by . Crazy
#42 OGG RRFL – just love the examples you gave, especially the Kaiser Cougars- Hot moms over the age of 35! Lol ain’t gonna lie, they have lots of them!
Don’t know where you got the idea that I said all Polynesians enrolled at that particular school are Hawaiian, an indication-perhaps- of your intellectual dishonesty!
@ OF RR4L – Lol! Love the examples of each school’s mascots!
Kahuku Red Raiders the pride of the north shore. There are kids in Laie, Hauula, Kaaawa, Sunset and Kahuku elementary schools already imprinted red raiders. From the flag, termite, peewee, popwarner and big boys football players fantasizing imitating today’s heroes just as generations before them. This is not a trend but a way of life. Like the gospel whether born to it or not this community will convert you. There is no other like it anywhere RR4L RED RAIDER NATION. God bless the Kahuku Red Raiders.
Mr Hubbell, how many of those elementary school students will go on to become a Crusader, Warrior, ‘Iolani Raider, Buff’nBlu, Monarch, Owl, Spartan, Junior Rainbow, Wolf Pack, Knight, Surfrider (that one sounds a lot more fun than being a red raider!) More importantly, how many of them are capable of performing at a proficient level in reading and mathematics? And how many are Hawaiian Kingdom subjects being inculcated in to believing that they are something they are not (American)? Your “community” may not be quite as unique-and certainly not superior-as you believe.