The 2012-2013 OIA East Girls Soccer. "Moanalua Na Menehune" Take Both The JV & Varsity Wins Over Roosevelt.

Moanalua Na Menehune #5 Storm Kenui

The 2012-2013 OIA East Moanalua Na Menehune and Roosevelt Rough Riders played their first game on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 at the Moanalua High School football field.

Moanalua JV Head Coach, Rod Fujimoto said "we have eight sophomores and twelve freshmen this season, so it's pretty new.  Of the eight returnees from last year, six are starters, and the rest will be freshmen starting tonight.  The JV is always a new crop of girls every year and they are progressing since 3 weeks ago till now.  We played a tournament that showed us where our opportunities are and what we need to work on.  The girls are very humble, work very hard, are eager and willing to learn."

Last year, Moanalua Na Menehune Varsity girls won the 2011-2012 OIA Red Division Soccer Championship (10-0-3) over the Kapolei Hurricanes (9-3-1).  Head Coach Nikki Dela Pena said this is her biggest roster yet and so far they've had a very productive pre-season.  "This year I have a returning mid-fielder Storm Kenui #5 (photo above), All State Team, all OIA and leading scorer for our team. She was our most valuable player for two years in a row and had a very good showing at regionals in Arizona, and she will be carrying our offense.  Also working with her on the outside wings is junior Chelcie Sugioka "Mana" #9.  Mana, has been with me since a freshmen and I'm looking for her to play an important roll this year.  In the back, I have Isabelle Delgado "Izzy" #1 a senior and a 4-year starter, and she'll be anchoring the defense in the back.  Again, this is my biggest roster and I have a very big senior class this year.  I want the younger girls to soak up as much knowledge and skills from the seniors so they can pick-up after them."

Tonight, the Na Menehune JV girls played awesome defense against the Rough Riders to take the game 10-1, as did the Na Menehune Varsity girls who kept a tight control of the ball to beat the Rough Riders 1-0.  To see the OIA standings "click here."  For Varsity photos "click here." JV photos "click here."

2012 First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA D-I State Champs "Kahuku Red Raiders" and D-II " Iolani Raiders"

Kahuku Red Raiders RB/LB #33 Aofaga Wily

Tonight's games at the Aloha Stadium is all about who are the best football teams in the state.  The Division I, Kahuku Red Raiders play Punahou Buffanblu, and in Division II, the Iolani Raiders play Lahainaluna Lunas in the 2012 First Hawaiian Bank Football Championship.  In the first game between Iolani and Lahainaluna, Iolani scored a TD in the 1st quarter, 7-0.  The Lunas took the lead in the 2nd quarter, 7-14 and held the lead all the way into the 4th quarter until the Raiders came from behind to win the game 36-33.  What a heartbreaker for the Lunas.

Prior to the start of the second game between Kahuku Red Raiders and Punahou Buffanblu, I spoke with both head coaches.  Head Coach Reggie Torres related "our team had a great week of practice and it's going to be a great game.  Punahou has a great offense and we'll just take it a game at a time, and this is just another game to focus on.  This is our last leg of our journey and just hope we can finish on top."  Head Coach Kale Ane related, "we're excited, the kids and coaches and a great crowd tonight. We're happy to be here and have the opportunity to compete in tonight's championship."

The Division I game started off with Kahuku taking the lead 21-0 in the second quarter.  Punahou came back in the third quarter making it 21-7 with 5:51 left on the clock, and struck back again making it 21-14 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.  In the fourth quarter, Kahuku took over the lead 35-14 with 9:40 left on the clock.  Aofaga Wily, #33 (photo above) ran in the final TD, sealing the game for the Red Raiders 42-20.  The Kahuku crowd must have accounted for the majority of the football fans tonight.  All you could see on the Makai side of the stadium was solid "red."  The cheering and support for Kahuku was overwhelming, especially with their red and white towels waving in the air (see video and action photos). More stats, "click here." For the action photos, "click here."

Kapolei Hurricanes "vs" Waipahu at Kalaeloa Baseball Field

#44 Kaumana Naki - #10 Skye Kawai Olores-Fernandez - #5 Allen Fo'i
Owner "Kapolei Hurricanes" Troy Fo'i (back row) 

I was invited by Head Coach Kaleo Fernandez of the Kapolei Hurricanes to the Kalaeloa (Barber's Point) baseball field for a game between the Kapolei Hurricanes and the Waipahu Big Boys.  I spoke to the owner of the Kapolei Hurricanes, Troy Fo'i (photo above) who told me, "we started this league about 6 years back because our bigger kids couldn't make the weight limit for the Pop Warner.  The league started off with Father John back in Maile and this other team in Kahuku, originally with only 3 teams, and it kind of developed into 3 organizations, the Hawaii Pacific League Big Boys, Hawaii Junior Prep Big Boys, and now this is the Hawaii Elite Pacific Big Boys."

Head Coach Kaleo Fernandez

"Today's game is part of the Hawaii Elite Pacific Big Boys.  This group I got this year are brand new kids who never played football before and I'm just here to help them out to develop their skills for high school level and just to give back to the community.  I've been a coach at Kapolei High School for almost 4 years, helping out Head Coach Darren Hernandez and his staff as the DT/DL JV and Varsity."

"As for the outcome of today's game, main thing to me is to go out there and give it our all and I hope the kids just play their heart out and just have fun!  These kids are not just athletes, they're student athletes first.  I do grade checks and as you can see some of the kids can't play.  I go by the 2.0 GPA ruling and have the support of the parents, and they like this ruling.  I stress education first.  The other coaches for the Kapolei Hurricanes are Head Coach Kaleo Fernandez, asst. coaches Keoki Ka'apana, Allan Kapuniai, Bobby Carillo and Jacob Ramos.  To see today's video and action photos, "click here."

BIIF Division I Champions Kealakehe Waveriders take on OIA Division I Farrington Governors.

Farrington RB #25 Abraham (Amo) Silva

Tonight at the Waveriders Stadium in Kailua Kona, the BIIF Division I Champions, Kealakehe Waveriders (10-1) who defeated Hilo 40-22, take on the OIA Division I Farrington Governors (9-2) who defeated Leilehua 52-26 in the Division I, 2012 First Hawaiian Bank Football Championship First Round. 

I spoke to Farrington Governors Head Coach Randy Okimoto prior to the game and he related "We know that they have some big linemen, a big fullback, a speedy quarterback, and some speedy skilled guys so we know that we have to pay attention to these areas of their game and that's what we plan to do. On offensive we do what we do and run the ball as long as we protect the ball and not make too many penalties, that's been our nemeses this year. So if we eliminate this and protect the ball and do what we do on offensive, we'll let the chips fall and see what happens in tonight's game."

As for the Kealakehe Waveriders Head Coach Sam Papalii, "As a team, we would like to continue to play winning football and we're very confident. We know that we are going up against an outstanding football team physically and big like us. Offensively, we like to hang on to the football and ball control. Defensively we want to stop their running game and any play action passes. For our special teams we want to be sound and don't give up any big plays on defensive and in special teams. If we possess the ball and maintain ball control and keep their offensive off the field, then obviously it will give us a better chance because they have an explosive running attack."

Kealakehe #2 Lennox Jones

The game started off with Kealakehe scoring first, 6-0 with 8:28 on the clock. Farrington with their running game, came right back 8-6 in the 1st quarter. It was a battle of the "Titans" on both sides with Kealakehe #2 Lennox Jones with a total of 136 yards for the night.  Jones is a slippery fellow that can move, dodge and weave in and out with his speed and was awesome tonight.  The Waveriders came just within 2 points of the Governors in the 4th quarter, 25-27 with 6:48 on the clock. Three turnovers by Kealakehe sealed the game for the Governors ending the game 34-25. 

It was a bruising game, but a well played game on both sides. In game #3, Farrington now moves on to play Kahuku at 7:30pm on Friday, November 16, 2012 and in game #4, Punahou plays Mililani at 4:30pm at the Aloha Stadium. Winners of Game #3 and Game #4 will play for the Championship on Friday November 23, 2012 at 7:00pm. For more stats, "click here." For the action photos, "click here."

2012-2013 Chaminade University Silverswords "vs" D-One Stars

Chaminade Silversword Freshman #3 Sabrina Angle

Head Coach Bobby Keanini

Tonight, the Chaminade University of Honolulu Silverswords 2012-2013 Women's Basketball team started off their season with a game against the D-One Stars at their McCabe Gym. Head Coach Bobby Keanini for the Silverswords had this to say about this year's season, "we have a good returning crop coming back and we're still a small team, but again we shoot the ball well and we have great young ladies that work really hard." "We have returning all conference players, #10 Dianna Zane (Senior) and #21 Jordan Ahakuelo (Junior). They'll be playing a huge part in what we do. We also have three freshmen that will contribute a lot to the program and should get us to the outer bounds of the conference; and we should be working our way back up into contention somewhere in-between the conference. As for the outlook for this year, our ladies work hard and it will be an exciting year to see what we can do and hopefully it comes out in the plus side for us."

Head Coach also mentioned to keep an eye on #50 Rhani Kaneaiakala (Senior), #24 Shana Kawakami (Freshman) and #3 Sabrina Angle (Freshman), who tonight ended up scoring a high of 15 points and the D-One Stars #33 Jamie Smith with 24 points. The D-One Stars ended the game 78-47. "Click here" to see action photos. Stats, "click here."