As the years go by, if you are a Division II football team from around the state, you might not want to draw a game on the Garden Island against whoever the representative from the Kauai Interscholastic Federation is for that particular year.
Kauai teams are 12-3 in home state tournament games at Vidinha Stadium in Lihue since the inaugural event in 1999.
Two of those recent games in particular were unbelievably close, going down to the final play and leaving visitors from Oahu seeing green.
In 2013, Kauai High beat Pearl City 13-7, but with less than a minute to go, the Chargers had a razzle-dazzle play going with a lateral on the sideline and only green field in front. The runner was eventually dragged down. For a photo and a story about that play, click here: http://bit.ly/2fb9Rzq.
On Saturday, Kapaa was clinging to a 21-14 lead and eventually got the victory but not without dramatics on the final play, when running back Kapena Texeira fumbled the ball and picked it up. Had he not picked it up, a swarm of Damien defenders were ready to scoop and score for a possible tie game. For a photo and story of that play, click here: http://bit.ly/2fRkpUp.
Here are the KIF teams’ results at state tournament games played at Vidinha Stadium.
Division I
>> 1999: Waimea 20, Kailua 18
>> 2001: Waimea 41, Castle 20
>> 2002: Waimea 24, Kailua 21
Division II
>> 2003: Damien 17, Waimea 13
>> 2004: Kauai 49, Pac-Three 7
>> 2006: Kauai 17, Waipahu 6
>> 2007: Kauai 40, Roosevelt 9
>> 2008: Radford 17, Kauai 7
>> 2009: Kauai 28, Hawaii Prep 14
>> 2011: Kapaa 7, Pearl City 0
>> 2012: Radford 22, Kauai 21
>> 2013: Kauai 13, Pearl City 7
>> 2014: Kapaa 30, Pearl City 22
>> 2015: Kapaa 24, Lahainaluna 0
>> 2016: Kapaa 21, Damien 14
As a resident of Kauai, I am proud of how both teams played, they all fought hard until the end. The only thing I found disappointing was the complete disregard to the sanctity of the game by the officials refereeing this game. I saw several blatant penalties that happened directly in front of the referee that was not called. I can understand the disgusted cries that could be heard clear across the field from the family and friends of the Damien boys. Having a referee officiating a game in the semifinals for the state championship when there are members of his family playing on one of the teams creates what I feel is a conflict of interest and he should have recused himself from the game so that his impartiality cannot and would not be questioned. This way all players involved can/would feel proud of their efforts in such a competitive game, regardless of the outcome.
People are saying, no team can win on Kauai, officiating stinks. Make them come to Honolulu and play, they will get they butts handed to them. Damien or whatever team in the division, was never going to get a fair shot on Kauai. Kahuku couldn’t win on Kauai. Shame on you guys.
@lala…kahuku is on a different level!
I think that if you look at the stats for this game, Damien should have won, at least on paper. Kapaa had a total of 156 offensive yards while Damien had 328 yards. Typically, the offensive yards gained during a game corralates with the score, but in this case it does not. It is highly suspicious as to why……Anyways, great game and I look forward to the finals this Friday!
IRT to No Name…I understand that Kahuku is on another level, what I am saying is that the officiating is so bad on Kauai, that even Kahuku couldn’t beat Kapaa, on Kauai. Watch what happens when they play in Honolulu, where there is REAL officials, and not their uncle/aunty refereeing. Kauai sucks.
When I was on kauai for the 99 waimea vs kailua game. The home team fans were saying kailua got robbed! Refs called back 3 touchdowns, 3! I thought that was unusual at the time, but didnt want to start on conspiracy theory.