It’s on to Cleveland … er … Campbell for the Kahuku football team after winning Friday’s big home matchup against Waianae, 28-0.
The last sentence was a reference to Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots’ head coach who doesn’t give out a ton of information to the media and repeated multiple times that, “It’s on to Cleveland,” who the Patriots were playing the next weekend, to a reporter inquiring about Belichick’s thoughts after a victory.
Like Belichick, Red Raiders head coach Vavae Tata does not say a real lot to the media, and that’s his prerogative. His mantra this year is “We’re 1-0,” in reference to each win as they happen so far in the third week of the season.
But Tata did say something telling in his 23-second interview after Friday’s game, which occurred while he was busy helping someone move the home team’s bench near a muddy sideline.
“We did some good things, but we’re not close to where we need to be,” Tata said. “If we play like we’re capable of playing, it should have been a different outcome.”
Well, seriously, thank you very much for that!! That says a lot in not so many words. The Red Raiders were in a close game, but ended up showing Waianae who’s boss by the end of the third quarter.
In Tata’s mind, Kahuku (3-0, 3-0 Oahu Interscholastic Association Blue) can play way, way better and that is a scary thought. They just shut out the No. 4 team in the land.
But the No. 1 team — those Kahuku boys — got it done with their offensive line. The back-breaking drive came at the end of the third quarter. A 12-play, ram-it-down-your-throat special in which Kahuku’s offensive line just kept on moving the pile. Elvis Vakapuna scored his second 10-yard TD for a 14-0 with 50 seconds to go in the third.
“When we went to the locker room (at halftime), we told ourselves it’s 0-0 and at the end of the day success will come if everyone does their job,” center Vili Fisiiahi said. “They (Waianae) match up physically with us, but we looked in the mirror and asked ourselves how bad we want it. We wanted that badly.”
Fisiiahi, a senior, gave props to his linemate, right guard Marcus Lombard.
“Marcus is only a freshman and he stepped to the plate when we needed him,” Fisiiahi said.
No Waianae player or coach will tell you this, but being in a 7-0 game through nearly three quarters against the defending Division I state champions is somewhat of an accomplishment for the Seariders (3-1, 2-1).
“Our defense hunkered down, but we just needed our offense to catch our backs,” said Waianae linebacker Jaylen Gonzales, who had a monster night making tackles all over the field. “We were on the field the whole night”
Fisiiahi and Gonzales both said it was “fun” to play in the game with the stakes so high. Fisiiahi said he is good friends with many Waianae players, and mentioned offensive lineman Onesimus Clarke, linebacker Josiah Viliamu and Gonzales as a few of them.
All told, Kahuku’s defense held Waianae to nine yards passing and 23 yards rushing. The Red Raiders’ offense ran for 240 yards and threw for another 39.
It was not bombs away, just as you would expect a Kahuku-Waianae struggle to go.
Harmon Brown ran for 90 yards on 18 carries and a TD for the Red Raiders, and Vakapuna rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 25 yards.
Rico Rosario was Waianae’s leading ground gainer with 42 yards on nine carries.
Waianae’s Tony Cabral blocked a 37-yard field-goal attempt by Stokes Nihipali-Botelho in the first half. Nihipali-Botelho, from his cornerback position, came through with a second-quarter interception of Seariders quarterback Jaren Ulu.
Kahuku won the turnover battle 2-0. On a blitz, safety Kesi Ah-Hoy punched the ball out of Ulu’s hands late in the game and teammate Sioeli Naupoto recovered in the Seariders’ end zone for Kahuku’s final touchdown.
The Red Raiders’ offense set up in multiple formations, including the jumbo package, the traditional I-formation as well as some 4-wide sets. Four players took snaps from center, Brown, Sol-Jay Maiava, Ah-Hoy and Vakapuna. Ah-Hoy gained four yards on fourth down for a first down on his only carry. He was the main player taking snaps as a quarterback in the elephant package in last season’s 39-14 Division I state championship victory over Saint Louis.
Among the game’s other defensive standouts were Kahuku’s Aliki Vimahi (sack), Sedric Iafeta (sack), Christopher Tuliloa (sack), Kekaula Kaniho (sack) and Tema Lindsay (tackle for loss), and Waianae’s Viliamu (sack), Sireadan Sana (tackle for loss) and Brandon Hattori (tackle for loss).
Kahuku plays its final home game of the season against Campbell (2-2, 2-1) next Saturday. Waianae hosts Kaiser (2-2, 1-2) next Friday.
Buzz here on this late night what can you say about this defense I got two words for you Light Y… nah I pau already actions speak louder than words
the performance tonight speaks volumes
the Seasiders didn’t cross midfield held to 28 yards total offense
Good night don’t worry folks if you want an encore the big red machine will be back same time same channel
Lol buss laugh
9 yards passing and 23 yards rushing…Keep it up Defense, our Offense is coming around. Pure Dominance!
Followed the game last night on Hawaii Prep World and anytime Livestream did work (no second half action).. but good win non the less for Big Red. I know get plenty alumni living on the mainland, wish OC16 still did the internet thing for us up here, but now you have to be a subscribing member, but in our area no more time warner so can count me out. Hope they change it back for us that don’t live on the Rock.
Can’t wait for the Bishop Gorman game, got some alumni up there in Vagas that can hook up some tickets. Cheeee whoooo.
Defense looks like they coming around and flying around making hits and offense taking care of the ball, interesting to see where the polls have us this week, maybe this is the week we come in second to St. Louis, hope we don’t drop further then that in the eyes of the pollsters right? According to them, it is based upon what you do during a game…(cough cough)…
Anyways, great game by Big Red, glad no one got seriously hurt on both sides and we all know we going see them boys in blue again.
Oregon RR4L
Tata is smart he knows that the media doesnt like to credit Kahuku for anything, its always the opponent that gave the game away, so why feed the trolls? I think Paul Honda is better recepted out on the north shore cause he doesnt do reporting he does football.
ENEMY OF THE STATE
@ Red Raider 4 Life
I’m sure you still get family members in Hawaii that have oceanic cable, just have them set up a password and den give um to u then wallah! Game time… Works for me all da way in Ohio!!! Lol but you Neva hea dat from me!!
Too be fair Kahukus Dline was cut blocking, which is a legal move, to stabilize Waianaes huge offensive line. RR fans complained last year when Mililani did that to us, the only difference is that Mililanis Dlinemen were shooting sideways at unexpecting Olinemen to injure their knees which they were succesful.
Who cares about the polls. The Polls DON’T DETERMINE State championships. Here we go BIG RED!!
“Our defense hunkered down, but we just needed our offense to catch our backs,” said Waianae linebacker Jaylen Gonzales, who had a monster night making tackles all over the field. “We were on the field the whole night””
Way to throw your offense under the bus, kid.
Like I said before, Waianae is good, but overrated. Kahuku is the class of the OIA.
“Our defense hunkered down, but we just needed our offense to catch our backs,” said Waianae linebacker Jaylen Gonzales, who had a monster night making tackles all over the field. “We were on the field the whole night”
Wow. Way to throw your offense under the bus, kid.
Waianae is good, but overrated. Kahuku is the class of the OIA. #RR4L
I forgot to add to my last post, #RR4L, Jeezy always being so negative. He doesn’t like facts and is racist against Samoans. I will pray for you.
Despite how awesome Kahuku’s defense is, I always say “you can’t expect to win if you can’t even score 21 points”. Maybe before the 90s, it wasn’t the case, but it sure is now.
Great game last night. It was a hard hitting intense game as expected when playing the Pride of the West Side Waianae. Great job Big Red with your shut out last night enjoy the win and move on to prepare for Campbell. Work hard, stay humble and continue to get better each day and no matter what happens you will be happy and enjoy the game. Good luck and work hard boys. RRFL
87, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Kahuku’s defense (or any defense for that matter) wouldn’t mass cut block any offensive line as part of a defensive scheme. What would be the point in that? You basically pancake block yourself as a defender and open up holes in the d-line. The offense cut blocks, because you know.. it’s a block, which means it’s a technique designed to take out a defender and open up space for your runner/receiver.
That cut block is illegal, you cannot shoot below the waist of an offensive blocker. But you can shoot the gap, it’s a technique and a defensive scheme that’s been around since the 70’s or even longer. On a short yardage situation, or against an offense lined up double tight or when the oline splits are heal to toe one defensive scheme is to have the Dline shoot(bear crawl) thru certain gaps and cause a pile up to clog running lanes, forcing the ball carrier to go east/west rather then north/south.
Waianae offense runs the ball on 2nd and long, then goes for a fake punt (pass/run option) on 4th down…which ultimately lost them field position and whatever momentum they had. Thought Matsumoto’s regime was on the sideline calling plays.
Can’t keep pounding the rock, if the offensive line getting beat at the point of attack, which Waianae kept doing.
Brutal. Steven Lombard is substitute out by a 5/8 ,255 lbs bowling ball named KEFU. Really, Kahuku can split into 2 teams and be ranked 1 and 2. Pua Falemalu and Laga Thompson aren’t even playing. It’s not fair.
Chloropicrin: Just goes to show that despite hawaii prep world trying to push the narrative that waianae has a high powered (or at the very least, competent) passing attack, they really have nothing of the sort. On their best night, their quarterback will approach mediocre, but the team will live and die by running the ball and trying to overpower everyone, just like kahuku.
Waianae just ran into a team that was physically superior to them on all fronts.
First off, I understand what 87 is saying.
Secondly, I appreciate the way Jaylen Gonzalez plays; he is a straight up boss. But in reading his quote in the paper, kind of makes you wonder what the Waianae coaching staff was feeding their players. Or, maybe it wasnt’ the coaching staff and it’s the people around the team; but I don’t understand how you come to the Northshore against the defending state champs and take them for granted.
In analyzing the game, Waianae’s rb’s were inches from breaking some really monster runs, so that’s a positive for them. Waianae D was flying all over the place and popping pads, so props to them.
I’m definitely a homer, but based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m really liking our chances against BG. Big Red is a very scary team cause it felt like they were in a scrimmage game against Leilehua and they seemed to be toying with Waianae last night. Not taking anything away against Waianae, cause they really were only inches away from breaking some plays, but you just get the feeling that even if Waianae had scored, Big Red would’ve just turned it up a couple more notches.
RRFL
jeezy now you see why a quick secretive (premature) decision was made to change the state tourney format a couple of weeks ago when Waianae beat Kam, the narrative by the media was that the OIA is equal to the ILH and therefore the decision is justified. Had they waited a week and saw what Kahuku did to Waianae last night the decision would have been in jeapordy because in reality the only elite teams in the state are Punahou/St. Louis/Kahuku, there does not need to be an open division because the other 3 OIA teams will get crushed and the powers at hand know that.
The Staradvertiser is Punahou bias pushing the ILH narrative, the HHSAA president is an Iolani alum and the St. Louis alumni have many people pushing this new state format agenda. All these powers-at-hand created the pro ILH state tourney format. All those extra OIA seeds in the playoffs is just a distraction to get Iolani their automatic bit and the two (Pun/STL) elite teams in it.
@MrWendall
You talking about Waianae. Your OIA 4th seed representative for the past years. You fail you remember that I am always blows preseason games & with a rebuilding staff who knows where they are as a team. Don’t take too much credit for what these games really are. These OIA 3rd & 4th seeds cannot even make it out of the 1st round of the state tournament every year & that says a lot about these teams being #2 in the regular season of the OIA divisions.
You OIA “has beens” & aspiring high school analysts need to regroup & look at the whole revised system. They are adding 1 more ILH team to a newly created “Open Divison”. When you look at this “Open Division” you exclude one outer island & add 1 ILH. I really don’t know why this is an issue or something to cry about when it only makes the Division & Tournament stronger. If its the added ILH team that everyone is mad about. Take a look at all 3 divisions, there are a total of 10 OIA teams to 4 ILH. Do the math guys..
That’s how this state work’s period, it’s how much money you got and who you know…. ever since 1999 post prep Bowl Era, hasn’t the state title game featured ilh#1 vs oia#1 anyways? I alrdy know ilh folks will label us as crybabies but they were the ones crying about not having a 2nd team in states….. it’s all about the money, that’s why ilh games aren’t televised. We only see ilh play on tv once a year and that’s state semifinal game, then you gotta pay to see the title game on ppv. The last time I think ilh played on tv outside states was a preseason in 2010 St. Louis vs Kahuku, televised because the game was on an oia field but if it were at the stadium chances are it would have nvr been on t.v….. and we all know what happened that game
@Jeezy33 cutting the oline is the best way to stop that elephant formation. “Pancake yourself and create holes”?? LOL!! It shows your limited knowledge of football basics and as a Kahuku fan you’re better off chopping in the stands. LOL!!
If you create a pile at that line of scrimmage, where can the ball carrier run? One of two places, wide right or wide left and unless the play is designed to go wide right or wide left, the ball carrier won’t have his blockers for when he has to bounce out. There will be no holes to run through if there’s guys lying down in the gaps. This is football 101. That’s a goal line stance. You shoot the gap, as Alpha stated, it’s been around forever.
Kahuku started off wrong by going spread O first. They should have ran it down Waianaes throat from the jump. The score would’ve been very different.
Game was as expected last night. Waianae playing right into the teeth of Kahuku’s game plan. If you do that your percentages of winning against a team that eats up the run is very low to nonexistent. Kahuku will always stick to the game plan. I couldn’t understand why Waianae went from a “balanced offense” to a 90% ground game attack last night. Kahuku sees that everyday at practice if they scrimmage each other. I thought it was a good old school battle. Everyone must’ve enjoyed a little throwback of how it was in the past. Good hard faught game by both teams.
The “Michigan Recruit” is sugar coated.
Freshman or no freshman, that ain’t no building material to send to the “Big House”.
@Alpha
I get the whole debate you’re talking about & labeled “crybabies” is just because its the same excuses all these OIA guys give. It never changes. But answer me this question:
Is the 2nd place ILH team better than the OIA’s #2, #3, #4 & outer island seeds every year?
Remember if they better than at least one team of four of these mentioned in the question. Than there’s no debate, the system got it right.
Adding one ILH school just saved the state money by not flying an outer island here & added money to the pot by granting the 2nd seed ILH. How much revenue & how much people bothered to watch Mililani play Hilo last year? My TV was off after the 1st quarter.
Personally they should go back to Interleague play & seed the playoff by regular season standings. Or base the State Tournament by power rankings like the college BCS format. Whatever they decide nobody will be satisfied.
Got17, waianae went to rushing 90% of the game because their “balanced offense” is a media created myth. Throwing in a four wide look every now and then doesn’t mean you have a passing game worth speaking of. Ulu is not a very good passing quarterback, which is okay because waianae is a power running team with very limited skillsets. If they can’t overpower their opponents at the line of scrimmage, or if they are down by a few scores early, they’re toast.
And I do agree that the kahuku quarterback is very overrated and his verbal offer by Jim Harbaugh was a publicity stunt. Kahuku will just rely on brute strength and overpowering at the point of attack. Both teams players’ for the most part, will have their glory years in high school and then spend the rest of their days going to their homecoming games and drinking beer in their garage, reminiscing about football games played 30 years ago.
“Personally they should go back to Interleague play & seed the playoff by regular season standings. Or base the State Tournament by power rankings like the college BCS format.”
Yes. Let the deserving play. This is America.
@ Auwe…
what was that??
cheeeee whoooooo
@ Jeezy and Got… Wow must be easy calling a Freshmen QB overated from your couch. Questions to you guys. Have you attended any Kahuku Practice this season, GPA Camps, or even JPS Games in the last 2 years? You guys watched 2 GAMES andalre3ady calling his a bust before the kid even get 50% of the snaps…Jeezuz guys. I am not a Kahuku fan or alumni , but I did watch 2 years of JPS games with SolJay and Laie crushing the competition.
Granted the UM offer is quite premature however the upside on this kid is amazing. He is coming into his own. Last nights game was a game that Tata should have given him the reins. Those receivers dropped some balls and yes, his arm is a Freshmen Arm he doesnt have Taulias, but what he does have is No Fear, Running ability and can manage the Kahuku games until he is given the free reins.
His offer was based on POTENTIAL, not what hes has done so calling him overated is an understatement to what this kid will accomplish.
@Got17…. yes it was refreshing to watch smash mouth football again. It was a close game till the 2nd td. Hatori was a big loss for Waianae….
@iSpeakReality…. totally agree with the new format being competitive and the 2nd place ilh team will be favored over the #2 #3 #4 oia teams….. but it’s the math part that you mentioned exposes the ilh bias with this format….. let’s take the Open Div and Div.1 format….. 8 available slots for 14 oia teams to fill (that’s alil more then half) vs 3 available slots for 4 ilh teams to fill (that’s 90% representation). There’s 22 oia school playing for 10 slots in the 3tier format compared to 7 ilh schools playing for 4 available slots.now throw in the competitive level the ilh plays they will garuntee have a longer run in the playoffs which equals to more games thus more $$$, those 4 teams make a good run earn $$ kick back some of that to the 3teams that didn’t make it to build their programs. You split that same dollar amount in the oia it won’t go for much considering the number of teams.
Lay off of the kid and his UM offer, remember Marcus Mariota received his Oregon offer after a football camp solely based on his ability and forty time without even starting a single game, and look how that worked out. That’s why we are where we at, and not scouting future college football players. All we do is criticize and add in our 2cents, myself included.
zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz
Fakas…. I guys KILLING me!!
Next debate topic: Where does da red fern grow?
C U guys in Vegas. Tuning out until then.
BG will be fun. Hope we keep it close and competitive.
RRFL!
zzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz
Gonzalez is right! The pressure is always on them with constant gambling of the waianae coaches. The offense scheme was terrible! Short passes not bombs. Run straight not sideways! First downs first. Touchdowns will come later.
How do you base an offer off a QB that plays half the game & an offense that throws less than 10 times a game? Another combine kid?
I seen nothing “impressive” with him. All passes was 5 yes outs & hitches.
@GOT17, the UM offer like I said was quite premature, but lets remember UH and everyone didn’t give Mariota a chance, and guess where he got his offer at a CAMP in OREGON. UM jumped on POTENTIAL and if Soljay balls out in all 4 years, UM will be first to be heard…Harbaugh saw his JPS films and his performance at UM CAMP.
You must be blind braddah, Run under pressure throw accurately to his weak side and he avoids pass rush…easy cuzz hes getting more games and hes going get that experience..
Great, you need free tickets? I’d rather just buy my own and not have to waste my time bothering anyone. The game won’t be close. But on a more important note, I miss 88. Where are you my buddy?
Got17 is probably an ILH fan and thinks the game revolves around one person…the QB. Well we all know how well those teams out there with elite QBs are doing…2nd place or lower. Keep cheering on your one man teams and Kahuku will keep winning titles as a whole team.
I don’t know what game u guys were watching but damn they ain’t doing that freshman QB any favors… First pass to #5 DROPPED… 2nd pass was on the money also dropped by the RB… Then coaching staff got worried and went to the jumbo package and then a number of times when the jumbo package had trouble and it was 3rd and long they threw the QB out there to get the first… Kid gets the 1st then they take him back out and run the jumbo again??? I don’t get it… Kid also through about 2 ducks but Das what u get when u don’t get your QB into any kind of rythm by taking him in and out and not letting him finish drives..I think he threw all of about 11 passes! I don’t see how u guys in here can evaluate a kid by barely even getting a chance to see him play in a game… They should let that kid loose! Kahuku already knows what it has in the running game, they should get a passing game going because even the WRs don’t know how to catch the ball! Lol… Like someone on here mention about his JPS career he killed it… Come to St. Louis we got the coaching and track record to help you take your game to the next level! Kahuku will keep winning championships no doubt but will they win where it counts and get kids to qualify for college scholarships? I bet a handful of the kids that have offer won’t qualify academically…
Instead, make ready for them Red Raiders JV pile drivers to follow upgrade for the next 4 years whereas only next in line is our Junior Varsity and they too did just as well despite the grand fathered scoreboard shown Kahuku 34 and Waianae 13; so what does that all amount to? Yep it’s the final score at the end of the JV game that’s viable toward being future varsity champions.
We are sure proud of our JV winning with big scores and so here’s smash mouth congratulations from the old school. RR4LE
Yeah Sol Jay is not a quarterback. He is just an athlete that is fast in Hawaii nei. He cannot throw with accuracy because he is an athlete. He wil probably lose that Michigan offer cause they will see he is not a Qb. Please donate so we can get a new football field. We have so many NFL players but our stadium looks ugly. Our scoreboard doesn’t work either. ?????
Jealousy is a female trait my bradah. Grow a pair and move along….
@Bigg Sarge
Mariota was fit for the Oregon Duck offense. This QB might be moved elsewhere as an athlete if he goes beyond high school. Michigan like tall qbs with a big arm.
@87
Bro, you guys got all state players that don’t make it after high school. How much does that say about your football program? They can’t get it done in the books.
ESPN U,#3 Bishop Gorman vs #5 Cedar Hill
Looks like second seed in the blue is up in the air between Farrington and Kapolei. The open division tourney OIA slots will be Kahuku, Mililani and toss up between Waianae, Kapolei and Farrington; one of them will be left out and play in D1 bracket.
My question is, (likely won’t happen) what if the team that’s left out, don’t want to contend for D1? Open tourney or bust mentality? kinda like how they had the consolation OIA playoffs back in the 90’s, no one really cared, only the kids and parents.
Got17 college is not for everyone, even kids that dont play sports cant make it into college this is the OIA where broken families and low motivation exists, the very elite kids with a mixture of athletic talent and book smarts escape to and/or get recruited to the ILH – The ILH dont have to deal with troubled kids as a matter of fact all they do is take good kids and make them better, the OIA takes bad kids with bad habits and has to get them to graduation. so its not a fair comparison academically, financially or athletically.
For some strange reason im thinking that the coach for Kapolei is drooling at the chance to play in the D1 brackett where there are no big dogs and an easier chance for him to win a championship so that he can finally insert the word champion into the resume of his bluechip athletes. Welcome to Hawaiis AYSO football league.
88
I don’t usually agree with Redraiders but seems to me that, “Kahuku Alumni” is very jealous about the Maiava kid… Maybe this person is related to the other QBs that Maiava beat out over the summer… Kid should’ve just came to ILH from the start because I know u can always transfer back without sitting out a year from ILH to public school… Kahuku fans seem like crabs in a bucket! Lol, instead of be happy for a kid in their community they come out with the haterade! People from that community, a lot of them are hypocrites anyway acting like they good church people but then u see em doing what they not supposed to… Brah I crack up at them! I hope the kid transfers cuz red raider nation doesn’t deserve a talent like that and to be honest they don’t need a QB they can pound their way to a championship again! Sit out a year and come to St. Louis! We got coach Vinny to help u get to the next level and coach Cal with all his connections…
@RednBlue
Bro these guys is funny. They hate on their kid & than they act all community based, “we all for each other”. Than they complain about rules that they have no control of.
@87
So you are agreeing that you guys only produce “high school” athletes. Beyond high school is not an option because you guys deal with troubles kids. Graduation is the end of the road.
And this is the reason why you all live for “high school” football. You guys will never see outside the box.
Got17, you ain’t fooling anyone. What does that mean…that you have 17 screen names? Nice try Education First…still spewing out same garbage.