The roller coaster doesn’t end for the Kahuku Red Raiders.
For Mililani, the blend of experimental laboratory and tough-nosed fundamentals continue well into Coach Rod York’s ninth season.
Kahuku’s 27-7 loss to Mililani in the OIA Open championship game on Friday night at Aloha Stadium was, in many ways, a sequel to the first meeting between the teams. In their first matchup, Mililani prevailed 38-10 on Kahuku’s homecoming despite muddy terrain and the home team’s 51-game win streak at Carleton Weimer Field.
This time, Kahuku’s defense came up with two turnovers, but was stonewalled on the ground for much of the night. Up and down, up and down. The seven-point output is the lowest of the season for Kahuku, which scored 14 points against Saint Louis. No Hawaii team had limited Big Red to 7 points or less since Oct. 31, 2014.
That’s when — guess who? — Mililani won at Kahuku, 20-7. During the same stretch, only two other teams have held Kahuku to seven points: Bishop Gorman (Nev.) in ’16 and Bingham (Utah) in ’17.
Now the Red Raiders enter the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships with a semifinal matchup against No. 1 Saint Louis.
“Now we know who we’ll prepare for — the best team in the state,” Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho said, referring to No. 1 Saint Louis. “It came down to big plays. Mililani made four and we made one. We’ve got to be able to sustain drives.”
Kahuku’s defense brought the heat on Mililani quarterback Dillon Gabriel, but he was simply unbreakable. He was in the grasp of a Kahuku pass rusher outside the pocket, but still unleashed a long pass that turned into a 67-yard touchdown to Ryan Chang.
“We brought pressure on Gabriel, but we had broken coverages,” Carvalho said.
Gabriel, the senior who broke the state career passing yardage record last month, was composed. His counterpart, Kahuku junior Robbie Sauvao, showed enough awareness in the pocket to extend a few plays, but was on the run for most of the night. Mililani’s defense was relentless against Kahuku’s pistol and pistol “deluxe” formations. Any semblance of a Kahuku option game was disassembled early by Mililani’s front seven, including defensive lineman Mykah Tuiolemotu. The 5-foot-10, 215-pound stopper was simply too quick.
“Mykah, to me, should be player of the year, but people want to look at his size, not his heart,” York said. “His leadership, he inspires the whole team. He’s a vocal leader in the locker room and he controls the team, to be honest. He’s humble. He’s, honestly, like a coach. A leader, a captain. When he speaks, the team listens.”
Was it the best defensive performance of the season by Mililani? Probably. The Trojans certainly had plenty of discipline and excellent positioning. Mililani’s biggest defensive play of the first half came on a sack by Tuiolemotu, and after linebacker Darius Muasau forced a fumble, defensive end Shane Kady came up with the ball.
Kahuku snatched interceptions in that sequence, getting picks by Frisco Aveau and Joseph Taufa, but Gabriel struck gold. He found Cy Kuboyama-Hayashi on a 29-yard TD pass and moments later Kady came up with a sack of Sauvao. That led to a third Mililani TD late in the first half. The Red Raiders never recovered.
“When Mililani got to Robbie early, his eyes went down instead of him making his reads,” Carvalho said. “We’ll head back to the drawing board.”
The OPEN division State format is screwed up. In what playoff system do you see #1 play the 3rd seed and #2 play #4.
This way it keeps the games tougher, more hard fought throughout the tourney. In the past its been a reason to fight all through the playoffs. To get the first seed and to play the weakest in the tourney. In the past its also been sort of a “whew we made it, now we can relax” cause they would play the weakest team. This format matches the teams so they get rewarded in the end. Not just if you placed first. If #1 & #2 are truly 1 & 2 then they should be that no matter who they play…if that makes sense. Only way it would be kinda screwed up is if both 1&2 lost and you have to watch 2 more games against 3&4 for the championship, and 1&2 for the ‘runner-up’ spots…yikes!
The Open Division experiment ends next year. It’s not going to work if it remains in its present format. Since only OAHU schools play for the Open Championship they should just go back to the OIA champion against the ILH champion. Back to the drawing board ADs & Principals.
Only in Hawaii does this happen. #1 seed always plays the lowest seed period. Total $ grab for HHSSA to pit STL vs. Kahuku. Does anyone really want to see this matchup again?? While the Haka and Tomahawk chants will be entertaining this is another blowout game for the Crusaders as STL front 7 is on another level than Mililani. STL vs. Mililani is all that matters now.
Sorry to say but Kahuku’s offense was pathetic. There defense kept them in the game for the first quarter and a half. When you can’t block or sustain any drives it put them in a hole. Take nothing away from Mililani’s defense. They were faster, stronger, and dominant. Kahuku’s offensive line was totally confused on who to block. It seemed as though when Kahuku’s offense couldn’t generate any positive yards the play calling became suspect. Which led to the offense just checking out.
Block, tackle, run, pass. Move the ball, score. Stop the other team, no let ‘em score. Nuff said. Congratulations Mililani. Kahuku, lots of work needs to be done.
Same scenario happened lastyear when 2 ILH teams were in. They couldnt put Stl and Pun in the same bracket regardless of the ranking.
Get rid of the state tourney, OIA1 vs ILH1 end of story
HHSAA and Spectrum / OC 16 are in it for the money. In regards to more TV games, the attendance suffers all around. I bet the D1 schools had boosts in homefield attendees this year because not all there games were on TV, where as the Open OIA team games were on TV every week, thus losing money at the gate and concessions, money that goes directly to the schools.
In regards to seeding, if only O’ahu schools in open tourney, then yes I agree go back to prep bowl format. I’d rather watch Kahuku play punahou in the early game.
Open Division States format/system is screwed big time. Suppose Farrington pulled off an upset last nite, given they only won one game in the season and they’re the 3rd seed. Really? What about Punahou, I think they deserved to be in it. They ended the season rank #2. They beat Farrington, Campbell and Mililani. They should take the top 3 Open teams regardless of OIA n ILH preference + the OIA Champion in my opinion.
Great game Mililani..Hats of Coach York and his coaching staff…Don’t know about this playoff Format..St.Louis and Mililani should play next week for the title, instead of dragging out the inevitable…Don’t know what’s going on in our house, but something is obviously wrong…No swag at all…Big disappointment with our offensive scheme….Oh well…Good Luck Mililani
I disagree with everybody format, I believe this is good format, but not 3 OIA Teams, it would be 2 OIA and 2 ILH now that sounds fair to me, I believe yall crying, because you team is not on there. I got people saying it should be 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd. Everyday yall complain, but something, what do you guys want? What do you want to see happen? Like to be honest am tired of changing all the playoffs, and format every year, this is bs. And every day same it crap like recruiting, playoffs. This needs to end this year. They just kids, let them play, and have that experience this not professional football. No wonder why people hate Hawaii Football, cause yall complaining. Am speaking the truth, if you want reply with negative comments go on ahead I really don’t care.
@notes lol!!! Such a St. Louis hater every post. That’s why I’m here to be a kahuku hater right back lol
#6 notes
Aloha stadium rules affect all families and not just kahuku.
Top 4 open teams with the best overall records should go to the ship regardless if OIA or ILH.
OIA trying to make money off students?
Why does the OIA make the ILH students with school ID’s pay for a entry ticket when they’re respective school was playing at an OIA venue? Charge the adults, but c’mon man not the students. If 2 OIA schools were playing then students from both schools with proper student ID’s can get in free right?
Isn’t this correct?
Be fair to all students if their school is playing.
the game for Mililani was won in the trenches. Mililani’s DLine was taking the Kahuku OLine’s lunch money all game long. all that size up front for Kahuku wasn’t enough for the Trojans’ undersized yet quick & agile front seven.
You hate I speak facts
This is the worst format ever , how dumb can the committee be. Campbell don’t belong in there , punahou vs mills and saint Louis vs kahuku now that’s a state semi final , well kahuku s not that much better either so ya format sucks . Btw, after kahuku got molested by mililani last night , what do kahuku people got to say now ? Mililani recruites? The refs ? When the refs helped u guys out so much last night and still got molested lol
BREAKDOWN OF OPEN DIV TALENT:
Campbell WEST / “DE” allstars
MILILANI Central Oahu / “DE” Allstars
Kapolei WESTSIDE / “DE” Allstars
Kahuku Poly Transfer/Utah Allstars (*not this year)
St. Louis Academy Hawaii state ALL STARS
Punahou Hawaii State / “Kahuku” All Stars
Farrington “Lose all there talent to ILH” GOVS
Waianae “Lose all there studs to ILH” Seariders
Although this going ruffel a few feathers i know inside yall be laughing CUZ U KNOW ITS TRUE!. Just having fun with Kahuku cuz u guys still good with or without some transfers and lose A SHIT LOAD of talent to St. Louis academy and Punahou . As far as Millz and Campbell .. THANK YORK and JOHNSON for going out and recruiting the talent to bring to your school. LMAO
You guys commenting need to stop thinking small. Look at the big picture, the kids benefit from playing more games and being on TV. College scouts can watch these games without flying out here giving our kids a chance to get offers to play at the next level.
It’s common sense why there is no tailgating allowed. First of all there isn’t enough security to monitor the parking area. Secondly, do you want adults drinking and entering a venue with kids present? Could you imagine all the overage children coming into the stadium? This is high school, not college or pro. It is both responsible and intelligent for the stadium not to allow tailgating. This also doesn’t speak of the extra custodians needed since we know many people will not pick up their trash. And then extra trucks will be needed to empty the trash.
Where is all this money coming from? You think these people will work for free?
whatever you say, koko.
@notes. Just get off this site. You’re just a former Kahuku student who could never play football.
Do you disagree @notes? It’s interesting that almost every post you have something to say, but all of a sudden you don’t.
Where do you expect the money to pay additional security, custodians, and trash pickup from? They are already losing money since they have to pay outrageous utility bills, stadium staff, etc. And you think the OIA wants to pay more money just so fans can tailgate?
That is absurd. I guess you really have no eperience in business. That is a recipe for going bankrupt.
But hey, let’s keep some fans happy, even if it means they are going to lose way more money.
HAHAHHA.
But, “Whatever I say.”
#exposed #allihearissilence #whateverisay
post #20 is an imitator of me. This website allow anyone to post with duplicate names, that punahou kid “education first” was the one dublicating all the big dog posters on here like me, 88, toomeke and the original annywaayss!!
@koko, no tailgating created bcuz kahuku fans were tailgating. no haka bcuz kahuku was haka’ing.
#ENEMYOFTHESTATE end of story
Next year 2 ilh teams and 2 oi a teams. Semi oia 1&2 play each other, ilh 1&2 play the other. Championship ilh vs. Oia.
@RESPECTtheROOTEDnotRECRUITED
TRUE
It’s shouldn’t be OIA or ILH who is the best teams in the state everybody talking about two different league this year they all played each other take the best teams then have playoffs so what if you are ILH or OIA the bottom line the best and the teams that deserve to play on should unless the OIA should call it the OIA state tournament and invite one team from the ILH who ever don’t agree that this tournament is rig and full of shit then that’s means you are full of shit we are hurting the guys that deserve to be in state tournament
@Hammer
As a coach/strength coach, can you answer one Simple question? Do you think it’s FAIR for one school to be able Recruit and another cannot?
Anybody with Common Sense please answer?
ILH have no district boundaries so STL have players from all over Oahu, Maui, Kauai and BI. ADVANTAGES!
OIA schools are limited to 10 mile radius district boundaries and on top of that the ILH poach the best talent in those OIA areas. DISADVANTAGES!
and this one finally takes the cake! ILH, STL hold their kids back so they 19yrs old playing against 17 yr ols OIA kids. (Tua graduated from STL at 19).
I see that Education First is posting as multiple user names again in posts 28 and 23. All of you need to understand something: The only reason why the ILH even wins is because of their cheating and recruiting and assembling ALL-STAR TEAMS in order to beat Kahuku. Everything in the state is designed to target Kahuku and all you guys do is laugh at us.
ANY championship that ANY ILH team wins in ANY sport should have an asterisk next to it. It’s not a true win if you have to buy your championships and teach your kids that hard work and playing hard is secondary to throwing money and buying players.
You ask me a question do you think people should recruit let’s take st Louis since I been with coach cal and no him for years coach cal welcomes any and everyone who wants to play football for st louis st louis don’t give scholarships no more that’s a fact they have work study were a student’s work after school and doing the weekends and the school will take money off there tuition now let’s take mililani I never new that mililani have a housing complex in mililani with all the samoans they have on there teams but the OIA has the rule anybody can play for what ever team you want kahuku is the same Utah samoa and all over I didn’t know that every samoan is related talk about in breeding worst then molokai so my answer is if you look at all the top teams which punahou is the worst they give full scholarships all good the teams is trying to get the best athletes no one is breaking any rules but now to me the OIA has the upper hand because example mililani is losing there quarterback this year they can shop around at other schools for a quarterback with they will I hope that I answered your question
@Hammer Yes, you are correct. St. Louis does not offer scholarships any more…. they offer sponsorships. Cmon, man. Do you think we are stupid. My son was offered a “sponsorship” to play there. So don’t give me this BS that they no longer do scholarships. All St. Louis does is look for every loophole in the rule book to give them the edge. If ILH played by the same rules as OIA, we would not be having this conversation.
St Louis recruits the best from everywhere.
Try dig deeper though… how many players on St Louis was held back and how many are truly in the right grade? They always going have one edge when their players challenging kids younger than them. Everybody give accolades to their players but when a 19 year old challenges 16 to 18 year old they will have the upper hand. Go back and check the ages of all their top players.
I like see St Louis have a team that is true to their grade play Kahuku, Mililani and Campbell.
@Truth Hurts
PREACH…. St Louis would not even hang with Mililani, Kahuku, or Campbell if they followed the same rules.
FACTS are FACTS & the TRUTH is the TRUTH !!
ILH Advantage’s > OIA Advantage’s !!
yep. cheating is the only way St Louis can win. If this entire state wasn’t controlled by the ILH, they would do the right thing and vacate all of St Louis’s championships and end their football program. The OIA should never have allowed this alliance and should’ve never agreed to a state tournament that includes the ILH
@Hammer November 4, 2018 8:28 am
I been with coach cal and no him for years coach cal welcomes any and everyone who wants to play football for st louis st louis don’t give scholarships no more.
kahuku is the same Utah samoa and all over I didn’t know that every samoan is related talk about in breeding worst then molokai.
Cal & STL Academy should be Embarrassed to have you saying stuff like
“Kahuku Samoans inbreeding like Molokai”??
I really hope you’re not a true coach!!!!
post 29 and 35 = the imposter “notes” aka mr punahou!
More power to all the recruiting schools like STL, PUN and Millz i truly hope the kids benefit from exposure and opportunity. but dont ack like u a king when u know all u doing is gaming the system.
Bro up your ass if you want to talk about recruiting look at mililani you all those samoans live mililani kahuku is just as bad every year there are bring guys from all over and don’t forget the OIA does not have no rules you play where ever you want talk facts talk facts or shut up every OIA team can build there team for free cause going to a OIA school is free stop your crying and know the facts should be happy for guys that has the opportunity to go to any private school you are cry baby and everybody is jealous of st Louis
Kahuku crying about recruiting is the pot calling the kettle black. Kahuku recruits nationally and internationally so stop crying. Living with his “Uncle” is getting old. Just call it what it is, recruiting. Kahuku, flown not grown. And last I checked, Tuitele kid is only 17 so what now?
Hammer has a point, Mililani don’t have no soles, Campbell’s QB is from held back and from Kailua and Kahuku recruits world wide. Look at Kahuku’s fricken international basketball team each year. Which one of you liars saw Tolu Smith play PAL growing up in Hawaii? Choke OIA players are held back. Notes and ??? talking about Tua being 19 when he graduated, #13 Pilanca DB for Mililani will be almost 20 when he graduates from HS, he started out at STL. None of these other OIA held back QBs will ever be as good as Tua either. Gabriel was held back and his Punahou classmates graduated last year. Olomua was 19 when he graduated and should’ve graduated a year earlier from Farrington. Just accept that STL and the ILH is better than the OIA and stop using the cry baby recruiting argument that Notes and ??? keep touting. BTW they’re the same psycho person.
This year Kahuku zero recruits, heck 4 starters and 3 2nd stringers left from last year, thats a -7 ratio. Not to mention 2 starters at STL and 2 starters at PUN, 2 at Kam from Kahuku. Thats a total -13 ratio for Kahuku.
Mills have 1-3 transfers in every year to build for the future.
ILH need to recruit 10+ every year to field a team bcause they have no district.
It is what it is, Who can game the system the best.
I’m curious to know how many kids from StL that get a D1 offer actually make it to the school that they selected. I’ve heard (not confirmed) that a bunch of their kids can’t go because of grades or SAT scores. They end up at JUCOs, have to red shirt.
Can anyone confirm this?
Post #40
If Gabriel didn’t leave Punahou after his 8th grade year, then he would have graduated with guys like Tufono and Liufau. So class if 2019.
Who cares if any school recruits or can get students to come via the GE rule. If the school and/or team sucked, do you think families would allow their children to attend that school?
I continue to read excuses, insults, and just nonsense. There are some of the most pety and pessimistic people here. Do you teach your children to cry, moan, and make excuses?
I would hope you would teach your kids to compete and look at the huge challenge and embrace it and try to overcome it.
1st off Koko B Ware has the best name on this damn website I gotta step my name game up.
2nd is players transferring and playing for other teams against the rules? no? Then what you crying about? That’s just like if Campbell constantly posts Kahuku only beats them because kahuku players are way bigger. Being bigger is legal and so is transferring. Just because a player is from a different district doesn’t mean he has to go to his district school. If Tuitele never went to St Louis that doesn’t mean he’s be at Farrington. He mayve ended up at Punahou or Damien or Mililani. Stop taking credit for players just because they have family in your district
3rd you want to name all these players that start at other schools. I can say that the kid may be a talented athlete but St Louis or Mililani or Punahou of Campbell or where ever made him the player he is. Being born in kahiku’s district isn’t going to mean you big and good at football. Neither is just playing for laie park as a kid.
Note you just disrespectful and a crybaby.
88 I want my t shirts lil fella!
There are places you can call for that frustration you are feeling. You don’t have to take it out in articles about high school football. I mean you must be frustrated and angry at life since you feel the need to lie about having a son. Not sure what “speaking from experience” sounds like but I’m guessing you have nothing better to say.
Sometimes I think shooting blanks would’ve been easier. I’m telling you, you may THINK having kids is easy but it’s not. Even if you could fool some poor female into carrying on your trash talking , unhappy dna, you have no idea how challenging being a parent can be. You would need to be an example for your kid every day. You wouldn’t have this much time to hit the refresh to see what Robocop said. I got time because for the last 2 hours one of my kids have been at an appointment. So I’m giving you some real life advice. You need to be ready for the day you are a parent.
Seems to be a legitimate argument every year about combining The Private schools and the Public schools….There’s a simple answer to this argument, but only if you can answer this question honestly..
Does the Public and Private schools play under the same rules.? Honest answer.NO
And does these rules give advantages one over the other? Honest answer…YES
And does the Private schools care..Honest answer…No
So will it change…Honest answer..No
@HSFootball
YOU said it all !!!
47 HSFootball, that is the best post ever and should shut down any argument about recruiting and fairness. I will cut n paste for all articles.
Just bcuz a hard working local family make sacrifices to jump on the bandwagon of power schools with other elite kids (stl, pun, mills) in hopes of exposure getting a college scholarship, does not mean it has to come at the expense of beating up on disadvantaged OIA schools. Damien, iolani and pac 5 left the ILhbig3 in the dust because of inequality. Now the big3 trying to strong arm the OIA to play with them. You can Pay all that tuiton for private school also means you can pay a little more to send your teams to the mainland to play against other recruiting catholic schools.
Two seperate leagues, keep them seperated. Prep bowl OIA1 vs. ILH1 is all we need.
#47
Why don’t we add the following question to your list:
Do all of the top ranked OIA teams have ALL of their kids from ONLY their district (and be honest about the BS DE’s out there)?
Honest answer: NO