Livai dips toe back into water of prep football

Siuaki Livai, pictured in 2002, is at least temporarily back on the high school football scene.  Craig T. Kojima / Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Siuaki Livai, pictured in 2002, is at least temporarily back on the high school football scene. Craig T. Kojima / Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Siuaki Livai is one of the most successful high school football coaches in Hawaii history and he’s been keeping a low profile.

The former Kahuku head coach, however, has been popping up on the scene recently, helping the St. Francis Saints.

“He’s come a couple of times a week for the last few weeks,” said St. Francis head coach Kip Akana, whose Saints finished their Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II regular season at 2-2. “He has strong ties to the Tongan community and we have some Tongan players. He’s an uncle to some of them and real close with all of their families.


“Siuaki comes on the field and helps with practice, gives some X’s and O’s and meets with the coaches after practice. He unselfishly gives of himself and he’s really helpful. He’s helped to settle down the staff by giving simple pointers to us about some things that weren’t so obvious to us.”

St. Francis (4-4 overall) is awaiting the result of Saturday’s Damien (5-1, 2-1) vs. Pac-Five (3-2, 1-2) ILH D-II regular-season finale. The Monarchs can clinch the league championship with a win. But, if the Wolfpack win, all three teams will enter a two-game playoff to determine the title winner.

The Saints are on a two-game winning streak, having beaten their two rivals after losing to them earlier in the season.


“If there’s a playoff, I like our chances,” Akana said earlier this week.

Livai led the Red Raiders to four state Division I championships — in 2000, ’01, ’03 and ’05, before Reggie Torres took over and coached Kahuku to state crowns in ’06, ’11 and ’12.

Is a comeback in Livai’s future?


“He told me he’s trying to avoid catching the football bug again,” Akana said.

Kiddingly, Akana added, “He’s almost there.”

COMMENTS

  1. RRFLbaby October 13, 2015 9:11 pm

    Miss the coach.


  2. Sports Fan October 14, 2015 8:17 am

    You new coach is better. He stresses academics. Academics > Sports


  3. OHHREALLY October 14, 2015 8:36 am

    Sport fan- I assume you didn’t noticed his track record, siuaki sent more football athletes to college then any school in the oia and perhaps the ILH in his few years of coaching..


  4. checkyourself October 14, 2015 11:10 am

    @sportsfan , Coach Livai is all about academics , he’s a math teacher and under his coaching reign help get more Student Athletes D1 Scholarships than any other coach at that time . Get your facts straight before you talk .


  5. rr4l October 17, 2015 7:19 am

    Apparently Sports fan never heard of the Kemoeatu brothers that between them they have 3 Super Bowl Rings, Uani Unga of the New York Giants and many more that went to D1 then NFL lol haters gonna hate but the Scholarships don’t lie haha


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Star-Advertiser's TERMS OF SERVICE. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. To report comments that you believe do not follow our guidelines, email hawaiiprepworld@staradvertiser.com.

*

RECENT TWEETS

RECENT TWEETS