MILILANI, Hawaii — State championship No. 10 made for a perfect night for the Kahuku football team.
The Red Raiders, backed by a rollicking Red Sea where one side of the John Kauinana Stadium stands once stood, were stalwart in defense of their hard-earned 2021 title. They blanked Punahou, 20-0, to repeat as the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Open Division champion on Friday night.
As the seconds ticked down, Red Raiders coach Sterling Carvalho got a celebratory dousing of ice water and promptly ended up on his backside on the ice and slick turf.
“I did a slip, and somebody undercut me, and it was just a madhouse,” Carvalho told Spectrum News with a laugh. “But hey, if I had to do it again, I’ll do it again.”
Doing it again for Kahuku (12-2) meant a second season of undefeated play against Hawaii teams; Big Red has won 22 straight against local opposition. Its only losses this season were to mainland powerhouses St. John Bosco of California and Saint Frances of Maryland.
Senior playmaker Kainoa “Kaikai” Carvalho said the captains called a players-only meeting on Thanksgiving night to settle a buildup of nerves.
“We just wanted to come together as captains and as a team to spread some words of positivity and just relax the team,” Kaikai Carvalho said. “And the spirit was strong.”
Kahuku gained 437 yards of offense to Punahou’s 197.
The Red Raiders possessed at nearly a 2-to-1 ratio, at over 31 minutes to 16:52. Junior running back Va’aimalae Fonoti consumed yards and clock alike in covering 112 yards on 23 carries.
The 5-foot-7, University of Utah-bound receiver Carvalho was back in peak form to cap a season defined by an ankle injury and gradual rehab. He had seven catches for 79 yards and booted field goals of 21 and 40 yards.
“The first time I tried to kick a field goal, it kind of hurt, but it’s senior year,” he said. “I had to do everything (I could). So I’m just glad I could contribute to the team.”
Senior quarterback Waika Crawford did damage with his arm and his legs, throwing for 177 yards and running for 69. He punched in a 1-yard score amid a pile in the first quarter and found Kaimana Carvalho for a 13-yard touchdown near the back left pylon with 27 seconds left in the first half.
He was picked once, end inghis lone season as a starter with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions. He tore off some big runs early in the game when, he said, some miscommunication with Fonoti worked out – he simply ran through the holes that were designed for the running back.
“I just seen everyone was putting in effort. Everyone wanted to win, so that’s why we won,” Crawford said. “Over there, I could see on the Punahou side that they were kind of sluggish and they were getting down on themselves. So, I knew we just had to keep it up.”
While Kahuku enjoyed mixed success in capitalizing on its scoring opportunities, its large defensive line largely swallowed up the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions’ ground game, and its talented secondary made life difficult for senior quarterback John-Keawe Sagapolutele, who went 16-for-33 for 129 yards.
This one was not nearly as competitive as the nonleague meeting the teams played on Sept. 3 on the North Shore, won 27-20 by Kahuku on a walk-off sack of Buffanblu backup quarterback Ty McCutcheon.
“This game, we were healthy. We had everybody back,” Sterling Carvalho said. “And we knew we could finish, and that’s what we did. When the game is on the line, our guys, we have heart. We don’t just play with our minds. We play for our heart and we play for each other, and that’s what you seen tonight.”
For most of the Red Raiders, it was a season that featured the first home games of their career after Carleton Weimer Field underwent an extensive renovation during the pandemic.
“This (season) was my dream. This is everything I dreamed for,” Texas-bound senior linebacker Liona Lefau said. “Playing in front of this crowd, of course, playing in the North Shore, at Kahuku, coming home, playing in front of the people I love the most. It’s everything I dreamed of.”
It was capped with the first shutout in the top tier state championship game since 1999, the first year of state tournament play, when Saint Louis blanked Kahuku 19-0.
“I’m pretty sure the last time was us, right?” said Lefau, who, like many in his football-crazed community, knows the game’s histories. “So, I don’t like the fact that the last time was Kahuku. (But) the fact that we got a goose egg in states, I love it.”
The first-time state venue, Mililani, sold out its roughly 4,600 capacity well before kickoff. In the second year of state play since Aloha Stadium shut down, the HHSAA elected to move it from Farrington. Kahuku team members said the location didn’t matter and that Red Raider Nation would follow. Punahou fans also showed up in droves, packing the visitor stands and hillside to overflow.
Kahuku recovered three Punahou fumbles, intercepted a ball, broke up five passes and hurried the quarterback eight times. The Buffanblu’s last three possessions of the game ended with a turnover.
While Kahuku would not always capitalize on its scoring opportunities, the Red Raiders overwhelmed with their sheer quantity of chances; they reached the red zone on their first six possessions and jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead.
Punahou (9-2), making its first state finals appearance since 2014, had just one red zone scoring opportunity in the fourth quarter. But linebacker Leonard Ah You forced a fumble on Buffanblu running back Iosepa Lyman at the 3 yard line, and Ah You recovered it himself.
“We had some key fumbles,” coach Nate Kia said. “They didn’t really have the opportunity to capitalize off of that, which was big for us. However, it prevented us from the production that we needed.”
Running back Ala‘i Williams, who set a state tournament record with his 237 rushing yards and four touchdowns in a 52-24 semifinal win over Mililani, carried it just three times for 5 yards before giving way to Iosepa Lyman.
Kia said Williams was not injured and that he preferred to go to more empty sets in the backfield based on the way Kahuku was lined up.
“Obviously, after the last game, they were really keying in on him, so that’s one of those things where we had to go in a different direction,” Kia said. “They were stuffing the run early.”
After receiving the HHSAA koa trophy, the Red Raiders turned to their rabid fans and executed their signature haka for the second straight year.
Saint Louis (four) and Kahuku (two) remain the only two schools to win a title in the Open Division since it was added as the new top tier in 2016. Kahuku’s total haul of 10 state titles, however, is now three clear of its chief rival.
The state Division II championship between King Kekaulike and Waimea is at 4 p.m. at Mililani and the Division I final between Waipahu and Konawaena follows at 7.
A few more pictures from Friday night:
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com