KAHUKU, Hawaii — The “rooted” versus “recruited” debate took center stage at Carleton Weimer Field on Saturday night.
Campbell, championing the former with some apparel on the visitors’ sideline and stands, proved too much for Kahuku and its newly imported quarterback Matai Fuiava in a 21-13 road victory — the first for the Sabers on the North Shore since 1996.
Sabers senior signal-caller Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele connected with receiver Zayden Alviar-Costa seven times for 122 yards and a touchdown and Campbell (8-0), while slowed by Kahuku’s formidable defense, completed a sweep of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Open Division regular season at 5-0.
[Note: See below for more photos of Campbell-Kahuku football.]
Sagapolutele, after taking a victory formation knee and gazing in triumph upon the Sabers’ crowd, downplayed the commotion surrounding Fuiava, a 6-foot-3 junior and part-time starter for national power St. John Bosco. In a highly unusual move, Fuiava picked up stakes from Southern California and switched schools in the middle of the season. He arrived in Hawaii this week and was cleared to play in rapid succession.
“We didn’t even pay attention to it,” Sagapolutele told Spectrum News. “You know, we knew what our guys could do. He’s a great QB of course, but just focusing on our game, what we could do, that really just settled the tone for us today.”
In combination with Mililani’s 21-13 win at Kapolei, the OIA Open four-team playoff bracket is set. In two weeks, top-seeded Campbell will play fourth-seeded Kapolei while Mililani will face Kahuku. The top three will advance to the HHSAA Open bracket along with the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion.
“One way or another, we’re hoping to see them again,” Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho said. “That’s what a lot of our players (say). Don’t hang your head. And that’s true. We’re going to see them again, and that’s all we want.”
A rematch between Campbell and Kahuku in the OIA or HHSAA tournaments could be tantalizing, not least because Fuiava, a part-time player at national powerhouse St. John Bosco, had barely settled in Saturday and had absorbed only a fraction of the Red Raiders’ playbook. His first pass was a 22-yard dart to Mana Carvalho that offered an instant image of his potential.
Kahuku also brought in a sturdy offensive lineman in Jacob Maiava, the younger brother of USC quarterback Jayden Maiava who was plugged in from Crean Lutheran (Calif.) and played most of the way Saturday. A CIF ruling on his status as a transfer player prevented Maiava for playing at Crean this season.
Like Fuiava, who threw 13 touchdown passes and for 1,155 yards in six games for Bosco, Maiava found no such red tape at Kahuku.
“This team is never about one player,” Carvalho said. “So we got additions to it, but it’s never about adjusting to them. It’s just maintaining our culture, keeping our composure and moving forward as a team.”
Fuiava rated the Kahuku Red Sea favorably against what he experienced from fans at St. John Bosco.
And he credited his new teammates for welcoming him without bitterness. He said that although he was cramming on the playbook; he recognized that his options were not what they will be in a matter of weeks.
“One-thousand percent, things will get better,” Fuiava said. “We were limited … because we only had a week to jell, to get the plays down. Coach is going to open up the playbook in this bye week and I’m just going to study the whole playbook, get everything right, so come playoffs, we’re going to be able to expand the ball, expand everything. Our motion. We’ll be good.”
Fuiava began school at Kahuku on Tuesday, he said. When he first entered the game, he received an ovation from Red Raider Nation. He first got a feel for the Kahuku fan base when he arrived with Bosco last year, when the Red Raiders sprung a huge comeback for a 30-23, upset over the national No. 3 Braves. Fuiava did not play in that game, but he recalled going shopping for Red Raiders merchandise and being treated to some gear by a friendly auntie.
With starter Troy Mariteragi injured and Fuiava in the program for mere days, Carvalho gave backup quarterbacks Christian Sanford-Tupuola and Kalaheo Kanae-Oliveira a series apiece. The first began at the Campbell 6 when Malaki Soliai-Tui blocked the Sabers’ punt on an opening three-and-out drive and the Red Raiders got a Manoa Kahalepuna 21-yard field goal out of it.
Fuiava was 12-for-27 for 171 yards, including a 34-yard scoring sling to Aiden Manutai in the fourth quarter.
On the decision to come out to Hawaii at midseason, Fuiava said, “That, I will just leave up to my family. … We all had to come together as a family and make that decision. My dad had to move out here.”
Typically, a football transfer player must spend some time in an acclimation process before he can play, but Carvalho said that was waived because Fuiava was already an active player at Bosco.
Were a rematch to happen, expect more drama. Saturday’s game was highly chippy; aside from a few players who made an individual effort to greet opponents, the teams did not shake hands afterward as the Sabers made their way to the buses amid boos from the home crowd.
“Those kind of things is all based on the administration, and we follow and respect the administration,” Carvalho said. “Talking with Coach Darren Johnson, I respect him and his program. It was a mutual respect between him and I, and whatever the administration decided, they decided. Main thing is everybody gets out of here happy, unharmed.”
In contrast to Kahuku’s extensive history of gridiron success, Campbell lacks a league or state football championship at the highest tier of competition. It has two OIA Division II titles (2004, 2008) in its history.
This year continues to feel like a year of destiny for the Sabers.
Sagapolutele, who in his next game will likely set the Hawaii high school career passing yardage record, was mindful of history when he spoke after the win.
“This is a great feeling,” he said. “You know, since I’ve been at Campbell we (hadn’t) beaten them yet. (It was) a hard-fought win. They’re a great team, they have a great defense. They held us to 21. We just kept going. Our defense didn’t stop. And you know, it’s all glory to God, always.”
Sabers defensive back Braysen Cullen caught Fuiava on a blitz for a strip sack in the first half, which Campbell parlayed into a 33-yard touchdown connection between Sagapolutele and Alviar-Costa for a 14-3 lead.
The game swung in the Sabers’ favor for good Campbell forced a three-and-out on Kahuku to open the second half, followed by a 74-yard scoring drive — with Sagapolutele’s bomb to Alviar-Costa accounting for 50. Sagapolutele tried to punch it in himself from the 7, but was firmly denied by the multi-purpose star Mana Carvalho, who knocked Sagapolutele’s helmet off. The QB had to exit for a play, but his teammates picked him up as running back Brystin Sansano took a handoff and did the rest at the bottom of a scrum.
“The team, the D-line, the O-line, the receivers, they’re fighting for me,” said Sagapolutele, whose lip was bloodied on the play. “And if I don’t have a little fight in me, then what leader am I? What type of leader’s that?”
Sagapolutele completed 18 of 25 passes and threw for 239 yards.
After Kahuku drew within a touchdown on Fuiava’s jump ball caught by Manutai with 4:38 left, Campbell put the game away with a 10-play drive to consume the rest of the clock. The key play was a 29-yard third-down connection between Sagapolutele and Tainoa Lave.
Campbell became the first Hawaii team to beat Kahuku on its artificial turf field since the sparkling surface debuted in 2022. The Red Raiders’ only two losses there before Saturday were against two national powerhouses — Saint Frances (Md.) in 2022 and Mater Dei (Calif.) this season.
Hawaii Prep World has Mililani alum Dillon Gabriel at 9,848 yards, with Sagapolutele 75 yards short of the record.
ScoringLive.com and Spectrum OC16 Sports have Sagapolutele 170 yards short of the mark.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.