Kahuku closes with another Open championship for senior class

On the same night Kahuku won back-to-back Hawaii state titles for the first time in a decade, St. John Bosco defeated Mater Dei to win the CIF Division I Southern Sectional title and put itself in position to claim a national championship.

It was only two months ago when the Red Raiders, winners of 15 straight since the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 season, flew to California to play the Braves at Panish Family Stadium.

Kahuku had its moments, holding Bosco quarterback and Louisville commit Pierce Clarkson to 90 passing yards and one TD. Clarkson would go on to throw for 264 yards and three touchdowns against top-ranked Mater Dei.

Without Kainoa Carvalho, the lack of a big-play threat on offense made a big difference in a 34-7 loss. The gap between Hawaii’s best and the nation’s best was still there.

But make no mistake about it, after closing out a Hawaii record 10th state championship, this post-lost-season Red Raiders run ranks up there as one of the best all-time.

And that gap between Hawaii and the mainland is indeed closing.

Two losses to national powers aside, Kahuku has run through 22 consecutive opponents in Hawaii, and played its best on the biggest stage.

A year after a signature win in the state’s biggest rivalry — a 49-14 thrashing of Saint Louis to establish the biggest margin of victory for Kahuku ever against the Crusaders — the Red Raiders posted the first shutout in the top-tier division state final since 1999 with a 20-0 win over Punahou.

The Buffanblu, who averaged 43.1 points in 10 games, had scored 20 in a one-touchdown loss at Kahuku in September. On Friday at John Kauinana Stadium, it was just the second time Punahou failed to score in a game since 2011.

“We shut them down as a family,” senior cornerback Shaun Niu Jr. said. “That’s what’s different about us.”

“We’re just family,” senior safety Brock Fonoimoana added. “We’re closer than any team in the country.”

You hear it all the time. Faith. Family. Football. But time and time again, one school exemplifies it in a way that is simply unmatched throughout these islands — and on the continent.

Four hours before kickoff against St. John Bosco, the Kahuku faithful were beginning to line up outside the stadium.

An hour before kick, you were hard-pressed to find an open seat on the visitor sideline.

The support Kahuku receives from its community is a level that only comes from feeling like one another is, indeed, family.

It’s a commitment and a following that even the best schools in the nation aspire to be like.

“One of the things that I really wanted to try to present to our community was bringing Kahuku out here and allowing them to see it,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said after they got the full Kahuku experience on that sunny September evening in Bellflower, Calif. “I knew if we were to get them in here in our stadium with this atmosphere, it was going to be electric, and I’m about creating memories for young people. I think the Kahuku family and community came out here and showed us what real support is for their high school athletics.”

When the Red Raiders beat Saint Louis last season, it ended the longest state tournament title drought in school history.

Kahuku can be a tough place to coach. You only have to go back four years to 2018 when Kahuku had its fifth varsity head coach in six seasons.

That man was Sterling Carvalho, a Kauai boy who had coached under Reggie Torres and was the junior varsity coach at the time.

There were growing pains — nine losses over his first two seasons — but most around the program had a pretty good idea the future was bright.

“Sterling means everything. He’s the heartbeat of our team,” senior linebacker Leonard Ah You said. “He surrounds himself with good people who know a lot about football. If you guys don’t know, Coach Sterling is very organized. He always has everything in order.”

Ah You is part of a memorable senior class that helped make that future bright. Not only did they win back-to-back state championships, but the games with the Braves and Saint Frances (Md.) Academy, which needed a game-winning drive in the final minute to beat the Red Raiders, gave Kahuku the national recognition it hasn’t quite had.

Ah You is one of nine seniors with at least one FBS offer. While he hasn’t made his college commitment public, Fonoimoana, Stanley Raass and Kainoa Carvalho have announced their commitment to Utah and Liona Lefau will be the first Hawaii player to sign a National Letter of Intent with Texas.

They will all be a tremendous loss, but don’t mistake it for weakness.

With three minutes to go in Friday’s finale, Punahou had one last shot to get on the scoreboard. Quarterback Ty McCutcheon had a receiver deep down the middle when a kid in a red jersey came out of nowhere to run under it and make the interception.

That kid was Madden Soliai, a 5-foot-10 freshman. All he did this year was block six punts and intercept at least one pass in all four Kahuku playoff games in the OIA and states.

“Our underclassmen is top notch. Kahuku is still going to be strong like always,” Niu said. “Next year will be interesting, but we still got dogs.”