Konawaena’s Andrade chooses UH

Mike Andrade‘s dream has come true, with a few road blocks along the way.

Andrade signed a letter of intent to play football for the University of Hawaii on Tuesday, shortly after getting positive results on his SAT. Utah State also offered the 6-foot-2, 260-pound defensive tackle a scholarship.

Andrade, who also played middle linebacker, led Konawaena to the Division II state tournament. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds and is one of the top rodeo cowboys in the state in his age bracket.

He was a second-team Star-Advertiser All-State selection by coaches and media.

Another Cooper aims for title

He’s only a sophomore, but Blake Cooper‘s arrival at Pearl City came with all kinds of comparisons and expectations long before he won a title on Saturday.

Cooper, who won the OIA 147-pound final in dominant fashion, is the younger brother of former state champion Ray Cooper, who graduated last year.

The younger Cooper placed sixth at 142 last year. On Saturday, he was dominant to the point that he was penalized for basically pile-driving his opponent. He was pegged as the top seed in the weight class for this weekend’s state championships at Blaisdell Arena.

Mustangs have bigger goals

With 6-foot-6 Nainoa Frank — a Junior Olympic volleyball player — Josh Ko, Derick Morgan and Shem Sukumaran all juniors, Kalaheo is an early favorite to contend for next season’s Oahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball championship, probably in the Red (Division I) Conference.

Coach Alika Smith‘s team won what is believed to be a record 40 games this season, including Saturday’s Division II state championship final against McKinley.

The JV team had a plus-.500 record, Ko noted, so the varsity is likely to move up when the league resets designations this offseason.

"Hopefully, we’ll move up and compete with the best teams like Punahou, Kamehameha and AOP," Ko said.

Morgan is already looking forward to a move up.

"The Red has tough teams, but we’ll work hard in the offseason," he said. "Our chemistry helps us a little more than most teams."

Sukumaran has yet to let go of that little edge, the one that drives him harder, even after winning a D-II crown.

"No one thought we’d be there. We were the underdogs," he said. "If everyone gets better and we stay together, we could make a really good run next season. The chemistry is there."