Kaua‘i High School’s football team was one of the four Neighbor Island casualties to O‘ahu teams on Friday for the beginning of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Football State Championships. The HHSAA released the updated brackets yesterday
Kaua‘i High School’s football team was one of the four Neighbor Island casualties to O‘ahu teams on Friday for the beginning of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Football State Championships.
The HHSAA released the updated brackets yesterday with its being dominated by the O‘ahu teams.
The third-ranked Kaua‘i Red Raiders were knocked out of state contention on Friday upon the 17-7 loss to Radford.
Kaua‘i head coach Derek Borrero admitted that on that night, he might not have made the best calls.
“Some of my decisions, in retrospect, were ones I shouldn’t have made,” he said yesterday.
Borrero also then admitted that with the success he has had with his players — the Red Raiders were the only undefeated team in the state heading into the championships — that he had gotten spoiled.
“Things change when you play in the postseason,” he said. “The best thing out of playing in a game like this is you learn from it. (The Rams) were not pushovers. Defensively, coach (Mike) Tresler did a good job with adjustments and we shut them down in the second half. Thinking back, I just didn’t take advantage of a couple things and I didn’t use my time wisely.”
No. 4 Campbell defeated Konawaena of the Big Island 25-15 and in Division I, unranked Farrington defeated No. 4 Kealakehe 30-13. Defending Division I champions of Leilehua, although unranked in this year’s tournament, beat No. 3 Baldwin of Maui.
The teams representing the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association swept through the first round beating their Neighbor Island counterparts.
Borrero attributed O‘ahu’s dominance to the teams’ strength of schedule.
“The type of competition the Honolulu teams compete against week in and week out is on a high level. We, as a Kaua‘i team, we don’t get the chance to play O‘ahu teams because they’re already going (with their season),” he said.
To better prepare themselves against competition outside of Kaua‘i, the Raiders are able to schedule preseason games against the Big Island Interscholastic Federation teams and this year, a California team, but not any O‘ahu teams.
Division II Lahainaluna is the only one left in the championship playoffs and because of its No. 2 ranking, the Lunas (7-2) were given the first-round bye and did not play on Friday.
The Lunas of the Maui Interscholastic League will now face Radford (9-3) in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m., Friday, at the War Memorial Stadium on Maui.
This will make Radford’s second straight roadtrip to a Neighbor Island during the tournament — they traveled to Kaua‘i for the first round and now must go to Maui. A win over the Rams would give the Lunas another shot at the state title.
The Lunas made it to the title game last year where they lost out to No. 1 ‘Iolani.
‘Iolani (9-3) plays No. 4 Campbell (11-1) at 7:30 p.m., Friday, at the Ticky Vasconellos Stadium.
“I’m going to be rooting for Radford,” coach Borrerro said. “I had the chance to build a relationship with (head coach) Fred Salanoa and he seemed to be a really nice guy. If they go all the way, then our 17-7 loss is nothing we should be hanging our heads on.”
