KAHUKU, Hawaii — One of the landmark prep football victories in Hawaii history began with some deep self-reflection.
Kahuku was routed to the tune of 55-8 at national No. 1 Mater Dei at the Santa Ana Bowl on Sept. 9, the most lopsided defeat in the proud program’s history. The Red Raiders were left to rue a slew of errors that caused them to repeatedly give the ball to an opponent that didn’t need the help.
“It started from the very next day. We got right back on the board, going over all the film, the mistakes,” quarterback Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa said.
The two-time defending state Open Division champions were humbled. Even against the five- and four-star players Kahuku has chosen to measure itself against a couple times a year, self-expectations were much, much higher.
There was even an acknowledgement that several new transfer players on the roster had the Red Raiders feeling “iffy” at times about the chemistry that had been a true asset during their title runs, according to utility star Kaimana Carvalho.
“I told our players, what we can do is control what we can control,” head coach Sterling Carvalho said. “That’s all we preached all week long. We cannot control that somebody is running a 4.4 (40-yard dash) and somebody is 6-6, 300 pounds. But we can control taking care of the ball and executing on all of our assignments, and that’s what we did tonight.”
The horns honked, the band drummed and the North Shore denizens celebrated well into Saturday evening as the Red Raiders delivered a 30-23 stunner over defending national champion St. John Bosco, the No. 3 team in the land, at Carlton E. Weimer Field.
“Tonight showed us that we can come together as a team and finish to the end,” said Kaimana Carvalho, the nephew of the coach.
Yellow flags flew throughout the emotionally charged contest, but especially in the final minutes, when the Red Raiders were aided by two 15-yard Bosco penalties on a 10-play, 70-yard drive that was capped with Tagovailoa-Amosa’s 18-yard keeper up the middle with 23 seconds to play. It included a pass interference call on fourth-and-10 from the Kahuku 30 that prevented the game from ending in Bosco’s column.
There was more consternation at the finish, when Braves quarterback Caleb Sanchez threw a slant pass over the middle to Daniel Odom. As soon as the receiver caught it, linebacker Malaki Soliai-Tui drilled him with enough force to make his helmet pop off as time expired. It was a violent collision, but upon replay it appeared to be a legal body tackle.
The officiating crew tossed a flag, but as that happened a Bosco staff member angrily tried to confront another official and a second flag was tossed. The officials conferred on the field and a moment later called the game over. Bosco players and coaches eventually came over to shake hands with Kahuku while the Red Raider bleachers rumbled and fireworks popped.
It was a difficult defeat to swallow for a proud program like Bosco (4-1), which hadn’t lost to an out-of-state opponent since it met St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) to open the 2017 season.
Bosco coach Jason Negro tried to balance his frustration with the officiating with pointing out his team's mistakes and extending credit to Kahuku. The Braves were assessed 15 penalties for 163 yards compared to Kahuku’s 13 for 105.
“It seemed like every time we had a stop, especially on fourth down, it was so disappointing that you think you win the game and it’s snatched right from you,” Negro said.
“I was disappointed, but I was glad that our kids continued to fight hard, and don’t let that take anything away from Coach Carvalho and the Kahuku Red Raiders. They deserved the win.”
In terms of an opponent’s national prestige, it was believed to be the highest-ranked team ever defeated by a Hawaii school. No. 7 Bakersfield (Calif.) lost to Saint Louis in 1991, 30-13, per HawaiiPrepWorld.com.
Sterling Carvalho expressed gratitude to Bosco, which brought a few hundred fans, for playing his team for a second straight year. The Braves beat the Red Raiders 34-7 in Bellflower, Calif., last year on their way to the national championship.
Carvalho said he thought the rulings in crunch time by the local officiating crew were justifiable.
“Calls went our way, calls went against our way tonight. It’s just the way it happens,” he said.
Kahuku gave itself a chance by playing an exceptionally clean first half in which it scored touchdowns on its first three drives to take a 22-3 lead. Kaimana Carvalho, fulfilling the utility role of his cousin Kainoa Carvalho from two years ago, scored on rushing and receiving touchdowns and even threw a successful 2-point conversion pass. Aiden Manutai ran back a 54-yard interception return of Caleb Sanchez.
Bosco locked in at halftime and rattled off 20 straight points with poise. It led 23-22 with the second of running back Chauncey Sylvester’s rushing touchdowns.
After an ill-timed interception by the Kapolei transfer Tagovailoa-Amosa, the Braves had it at midfield but couldn’t do anything with it; they punted for the first time, a 15-yard shank that kept hopes alive for the North Shore faithful.
“They had the mentality of coming in here, just beat us and walk over us,” Kaimana Carvalho said. “But one thing they don’t know about Kahuku is, no matter what, we’ll fight to the end.”
Kahuku needed the pass interference call to get jump-started. Once it did, Tagovailoa-Amosa found Manutai and Carvalho with passes. After a targeting call on the Braves moved the ball up to the Bosco 26, Tagovailoa-Amosa connected with running back Va’aimalae Fonoti for 8 yards.
Then Tagovailoa-Amosa took it up the gut 18 yards for the go-ahead score on a designed play, redeeming himself in full.
“Just trust each other and play ball, man. That was it,” the quarterback said of what was going through his mind on the final drive.
“Bosco was a great team,” he added. “We had to come into the week very prepared. It all paid off. This puts not only our city, but our state on the map.”
Fonoti’s leaping 2-point conversion pass was good to Kekua Aumua Jr. for the final margin.
Bosco outgained Kahuku 353 to 222. Sanchez was 25-for-32 for 211 yards to Tagovailoa-Amosa’s 9-for-20 for 89 yards, but both of Sanchez's picks were costly; besides his pick-six to Manutai, he had a ball taken by Terahiti Wolfe in the end zone for a touchback near the end of the third quarter. Tagovailoa-Amosa also ran 15 times for 71 yards.
Sterling Carvalho said afterward the sensation was comparable to that of winning a state championship.
“It’s on an all-time high,” he said of his emotions, “but right now my heart is just full, full of gratitude. For my players, no matter what they persevered. It was easy for them to say, you know what, we lost last week. We got another demon of a team against St. John Bosco. But no, they persevered. They believed in it, and so I thank them for believing in themselves and giving all they had tonight.”
Now the Red Raiders (5-1) will have to come down from the high of beating a national power to take care of business in the Oahu Interscholastic Association. They head to Nanakuli on Saturday.
Some more photos from the game:
Correction: A previous version of the story listed an incorrect family tie between Sterling and Kaimana Carvalho.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.