Kahuku a quiet 5-0

The crosstown battles of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu bring drama to center stage, starring Saint Louis and ‘Iolani, and Kamehameha and Pac-Five.

Campbell’s ascent — including a 14-0 win at Punahou — has brought an orange glow to the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West hunt.

But out East, where Farrington running back Tyler Taumua and his 1,152 rushing yards in six games have earned a spotlight, there hasn’t been much noise from the elite team of the division. Top-ranked Kahuku, which hosts Moanalua tonight, has merely gone 5-0, notching back-to-back 55-0 victories over Kaiser and Roosevelt since the return of head coach Reggie Torres from suspension.

Moanalua, once a mainstay in the White Conference (Division II), has gotten bigger and stronger this season. At 2-1 in league play (3-2 overall), an upset win over Kahuku would vault Na Menehune directly into the thick of the East race. Dillon Turk has emerged as one of the OIA’s leading passers (809 yards, seven touchdowns), with favorite targets in Christian Akana (28 receptions, 237 yards, two touchdowns), Jay Laudato (10 receptions) and Marciano Tauvela (11 receptions).

Laudato, at 5-foot-6 and 174 pounds, is a doubly useful weapon. He leads Moanalua with 229 rushing yards (6.9 per attempt) and three touchdowns on the ground. An offensive line led by Chris Loyd (6-3, 240) has helped Moanalua average 24 points and 288 total yards per game.

"I don’t know if it’s a thing if we have to pass more or run more. Kahuku is strong in everything they do," Moanalua coach Arnold Martinez said. "You just have to have faith in your game plan and executing your plays. Everything’s packed up in their favor, playing at home and being a strong team — Reggie does a great job — but you have to have faith."

Martinez doesn’t expect his team to get caught up in the aura of Kahuku and its enthusiastic home crowd, especially during the Red Raiders’ homecoming week.

"You don’t get caught in who you’re playing. You focus on what you can control. Our guys have great chemistry and great heart. I’m having more fun already than I did all of last year," he said. "Kahuku is Kahuku."

It seems like the Red Raiders are so good, they’ve almost been forgotten. Can that be? Why would a dominant team, especially one that has endured so much in the past year, suddenly seem a distant memory?

"Nah. Realistically, there’s no story to tell, that’s why. Punahou beating Saint Louis. Farrington has the running back. We don’t have individual stars," Torres said. "There’s not much to talk about. We haven’t done anything spectacular to write about. We’re just playing team football."

Kahuku and team football — no surprise there. But attention will come to the North Shore eventually. Why not sooner?

» While other programs have ups and downs with graduation, penalties and injuries, the Red Raiders have been model citizens for much of Torres’ reign. They aren’t Saints (Saint Louis notwithstanding), but comparatively, they’ve done little in the past two seasons on the field to distract from their accomplishments.

» After going 10-0 last year — prior to being ruled ineligible for the playoffs — Kahuku has now won 15 games in a row. Despite losing a wealth of talent to the college ranks, Big Red has permitted just 10 points in five games despite ushering in more than a dozen new starters. That kind of efficiency gets to the point where their success, at least in the eyes of a lot of other watchers and contemporaries, can be taken for granted.

» The wins over Kaiser and Roosevelt, one team extremely young and the other facing massive injury problems, took the Red Raiders off the radar, so to speak, while other elite teams had key matchups in their divisions and leagues. In addition, Kahuku had a bye last weekend. Track back before a 23-7 win at Kailua, and Kahuku hasn’t played a Top 10 team since Aug. 20 — a 13-3 victory over Kamehameha.

» In fact, the strength of the team early on has been its defense, which makes for fewer highlight videos. Kahuku’s defense, though, has championship-level mettle. The linebacker corps has stepped up, while the secondary, arguably the finest in the state, has played up to expectations. Linebackers Benneton Fonua and Johnny Tapusoa will get a lot more exposure with more marquee games. So will the secondary, which boasts a collection of versatile athletes including Kawehena Johnson, Bronson Beatty and cornerback Evan Ramirez.

» Statistically, the Red Raiders aren’t reliant on a sole player. Aofaga Wily, their returning All-State first-team running back, has dealt with injuries. The load out of the backfield has been shared by Mahonilai Fakatou, Sterling Moe, James Kahele and Wily. Combined, the foursome has combined for 678 rushing yards (6.6 per carry) and six touchdowns, yet none of the backs has more than 277 yards so far.

If it seems unusual that Kahuku doesn’t have a surefire 1,000-yard rusher this season, part of that is because of a receiving corps that may be among the best in the state. Mekeli Fiso, Spencer Nagy, Johnson and Norman Solomon-Unga have all caught at least one touchdown pass. Fiso, a 6-foot-3 senior, is averaging nearly 29 yards per catch and has scored touchdowns on half of his hauls.

Even then, this foursome of pass catchers has "only" 27 receptions as a group — because first and foremost, the Red Raiders are true to their gridiron DNA. They will pound away and run the ball even if the aerial attack, and possibility of 300 or 400 passing yards every week, probably tempts offensive coordinator Sterling Carvalho.

First-year starter Viliami "Lasi" Livai has been highly effective at quarterback with 594 passing yards, eight touchdowns and only two picks. His accuracy and arm strength on the deep ball have been impressive from day one, but again, the load of production is spread wide across the offense.

In years past, there was a coach — Livai’s father, Siuaki — who made treks to Manoa to visit with then-UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison. Livai’s inquiries into run-and-shoot concepts and minutiae led to an alteration in mentality: work on the passing game regardless of the score. This would allow Kahuku to prepare for the postseason, when opposing defenses normally geared up for the ground game. This proved to be true enough when Livai had a quarterback with a rifle arm: Inoke Funaki.

For now, however, most programs are going through transitions and the cycle of talent is much younger and generally less experienced. Whatever Torres, Carvalho and the rest of the staff have in store, they’re not about to show their cards just yet.

Remember, though, that Kahuku’s first play from scrimmage this season in a 26-0 win over Waianae was a flea-flicker. Livai, the son with the golden arm, launched a perfect bomb that ended up through the hands of a receiver.

That may have been enough to show the Red Raiders that practice will make perfect. The best they have is probably still to come.

"Our Class of ‘71 has its 40th reunion. They came to the school and visited," Torres said. "They asked, ‘Why aren’t you guys getting any press?’ But I tell them sometimes no press is good press."