Comments on: Punahou: Must be seen to be believed

By: Real

Real — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:42:52 +0000

Smoking Duck and in response to your first comment, you clearly haven’t seen Tagovailoa play yet. I too was a Ryder Kuhns fan, but this sophomore is phenomenal. Plays with poise well beyond his years. Marcus Mariota developed into a great quarterback. He played sparingly his junior year behind an experienced (and underrated) senior, Jeremy Higgins. And correction, Jeremiah Masoli did play. He came to Saint Louis his senior year and split time with Cameron Higgins. Both quarterbacks played well that year, but it was a small, scrappy Punahou team that beat the Crusaders 3 times that year (2005). This was just before Punahou had become a popular destination for many great athletes. That 2005 Buff n Blu team didn’t have loads of division 1 talent (if any). But they were scrappy and fearless, and came with three yards of upsetting a much better Kahuku team in the state championship (28-21). And Kahuku team was LOADED with division 1 and future NFL talent. Which goes to show that hardwork and a fearless attitude can elevate the game of a team that was expected (by almost the whole state) to get slaughtered by Kahuku.

By: Real

Real — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:26:43 +0000

Smoking Duck sell their soul? And do you mean ACADEMICALLY deficient? Don’t speak of what you know nothing about. True, the talent at those 4 schools you mentioned are at a premium, but don’t downplay the work that those boys put in on the field AND in the classroom. These kids choose at the school they are at. Don’t blame them for wanting to have quality educations and to be coached by the best coaches the state has to offer. And yes , I remember days when the competition seemed to be more equally distributed. I have heard this argument for years now. Typically from a parent of a student-athlete who attends a school that is struggling on the field. My response has always been the same to this; what kind of message are you sending to the kids that don’t attend a Mililani, Kamehameha, Kahuku, Saint Louis, Punahou? That they cant compete with these schools? That their talents are inadequate? It’s seems like the people that argue this point spend so much time thinking about how these schools are ‘stealing talent’ that they forget to pass on to their kids the secret to success on the field and in life…HARD WORK! The schools that continue to have success know all about that. Rather than sulk and talk bad about schools because they have talented athletes, why not bite your tongue, drop your head, and keep pushing? Work harder. And then the other teams would be more competitive. That’s the kind of Hawaii football that I grew up watching. A tough brand if football where there was no underdogs because of the mentality of the players throughout the state. No fear and relentlessness. These days only a few teams dominate because the other schools lose before the game is played. Either they fail to work hard and improve their game, or their scared.

By: bleedred

bleedred — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 22:57:16 +0000

SmokingDuck, well said. But you still gotta love those “diamond in the ruffs”, Tuimasealii from Waianae two years ago, Nanakuli’s got a lineman going to University of Colorado next year, I think Kaiser has a couple of players with D1 offers etc..

By: Smoking Duck

Smoking Duck — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 12:38:13 +0000

bleedred, Hawaii does indeeded continue to produce great players. But those great players are now concentrated on 4 teams, St Louis, Punahou, Kahuku and Mililani, making for gross mismacthes when those teams play other schools. I remember how balanced the ILH was in the 1970s. My faddah would take me to games and we would watch the tripleheaders. Blame St Louis. Punahou had to recruit to keep up with them. I think Pac-5 and Iolani have given up, either not wanting to sell their souls to have acedemically deficient players or not wanting to be in a recruiting war with St Louis.

By: bleedred

bleedred — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 07:18:40 +0000

Both Sophomore QB’s on the Puns and Crusaders are complete studs. Hawaii football continues to produce quality footballers. Cheers to another great Football season in Hawaii.

By: Smoking Duck

Smoking Duck — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:46:11 +0000

How does Ryder Kuhns lose his starting QB job? The StarAdvertiser had him listed as the #1 QB in the state in preseason. Someone got to explain that to me. I wonder if St Louis is tired of explaiing how Marcus Mariota did not start until his senior year and how Jeremiah Masoli never played at all.

By: Paul Honda

Paul Honda — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 21:13:09 +0000

True, P.T, it’s early (for Punahou), but for a first game, there were very few errors. Having all this “extra time” to practice is a blessing rather than a curse. Remember the olden days when teams had two- and three-a-days and games didn’t happen until late August?

By: tubby

tubby — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:48:16 +0000

In the radio pre game (good coverage, i thought) the announcers said Kuhns gave up his starting position this past week in practice.

By: P.T

P.T — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 14:46:47 +0000

Hey Paul it’s kinda hard to gauge Punahou right now especially since St Louis’ defense has been “horrible”. If they can do this same thing against Kamehameha, I’ll be convinced. Good write up.