Miano’s Cougars on the prowl

It’s Rich Miano‘s first season as football coach at Kaiser, but his contribution is already evident.

The Cougars went to Nanakuli on Friday and did something no opponent had been able to do: limit the upstart Golden Hawks to fewer than 21 points. Kaiser’s 47-14 win came with continuing themes.

Versatile Kai Gonda contributes as a running back, passer, defensive back and returner. Junior Fitou Fisiiahi (6 feet 2, 240 pounds) is a wrecking ball at linebacker, and he scored three touchdowns as a rusher.

Christian Clapp continues to be a reliable target for quarterback Makana Lyman, who hadn’t played football since his sophomore season in 2010.

The OIA White playoff chase is crowded. On Friday, Kaiser (4-1 conference, 4-2) hosts Waialua, and Kalani (3-1, 3-2) visits front-runner Radford (4-0, 5-0).

8-man football opens in MIL

Molokai has some of the biggest linemen in the Maui Interscholastic League, but Seabury Hall did more than answer the challenge.

With a surprisingly large roster of 36 players, the Spartans won their debut in officially sanctioned eight-man football by edging Molokai 23-20 on Friday. In the other eight-man matchup on Saturday, St. Anthony overwhelmed Hana 48-14. Both games were played on Maui.

Seabury Hall athletic director Steve Colflesh said that in this first season, there’s not going to be an official champion. There’s no state tournament, so there is no need to determine a league representative in a postseason tournament.

Still, it was a great experience for Seabury Hall, which had never played a football game before. There were scrimmages last year and that was it.

"Molokai had their way with everybody the past two years (in unofficial games)," Colflesh said. "We’re enjoying watching the guys get more confident in themselves. Molokai kept blasting us and we kept getting back up."

With both Seabury Hall and Molokai suiting up more than 30 players, an eventual move to 11-man football would seem natural, but Colflesh disagreed.

"Oh no, no, no. We’re too small for that. We’re at the level we should be at. We don’t have big kids. We can’t play with those guys," he said. "Now, if we had 600 kids, we could have a JV program."

Seabury Hall’s enrollment is around 300, Colflesh added.