Comments on: Kaiser’s Ethan Lynch is the latest Cougar to come up big during 4-0 start

By: Katosan

Katosan — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 16:48:06 +0000

My little sis was in that Kaiser class of 1997!
That class has some talented baseball players too.
I remember playing Pop Warner some of their older bros for the Hawai’i Kai Dolphins.
I didn’t end up attending Kaiser since I had to move to the mainland….Den my parents move back once I graduated LOL

By: Kapuna

Kapuna — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:54:08 +0000

Update. Who knew that the 1996 Kaiser Cougar season (and all the seasons since Kaiser HS was built in 1972!) was in the archive section of this website?

https://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/kaiser-football/statistics/

Found this information – although I am not sure if “pre-season” games were “Officially counted” back then. (Although I do remember Brett Kakuda scoring six Touchdowns against Waialua! )

[Again… Back then, “Pre-season” games really did not count – they were more like today’s NFL “Pre-season” – they played the games to get ready for the Regular Season. Statistics were not officially kept back then. They were glorified scrimmages – so we never counted them. I guess the rules were different back then. Different time… O`ahu Prep Bowl instead of HHSAA First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championships. I remember when still had the NFL Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium (stadium still nice and new!)… Then again, we used to be able to go to the Airport gate and greet or send off ohana right at the gate, too. Ah, da good ole dayz! ]

By: Kupuna

Kupuna — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:08:14 +0000

Aloha.

Dear Noelle, Nice story about the current Kaiser Cougar football team and their 4-0 record so far this season. What a start! It seems to me, if I remember correctly, there might have been an “undefeated” team at Kaiser High School under then head football coach Tony Gayer (Now a vice-principal who still coaches) and a great group of young assistant football coaches. Granted, the conferences/divisions back then were much different, still had the Prep Bowl and the schedule was different, as well.

Hmmm, Da kine – come to think of it, there year was 1996 and the Cougars of Kaiser high – led by QB Grant Sato and RB/WR Brett Kakuda started the OIA season with a record of 7-0! They went to the playoffs as the “Blue” Conference Champions (yep, they had a Red, a White, and a Blue division back den… for those who remember!) and they went upset a bigger team in Aiea HS in the playoffs (coached by Wendell Say) before losing in the 2nd round of the playoffs to eventual OIA Champ, Wai`anae HS (under then head football coach Leo Ta’aca).

Here’s one source to verify this 7-0 record:

http://archives.starbulletin.com/96/10/31/sports/story2.html

Maybe someone at the OIA headquarters can also verify this – or someone at the newspaper?

(not many 29-year old head football coaches these days in Hawai`i – whole coaching staff was 20-somethings in 1996!)

Thank goodness they hired Bill Von Arnswaldt as the Athletic Director!

[Sure, the 1979 Kaiser team recruited very hard to put together a “Prep-Bowl” champion under head coach Ron Lee, and Rich Miano was the head coach in 2013 when they won the Division 2 “State” championship. However, let’s not forget the very good 1996 football team of Kaiser High School – arguably one of the best teams in Kaiser Cougar football history.]

aloha