Radford & Nanakuli to D1 / Waipahu & McKinley moving down

[Tmanz]

Its the most likely scenario. Its mentioned in this article as Salanoa steps down

http://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/football ... teps-down/

New division to look like this I guess:

Red:
Castle
Kahuku
Kaiser
Leilehua
Nanakuli
Radford
Waianae

Blue:
Aiea
Campbell
Farrington
Kailua
Kapolei
Mililani
Moananlua

I would swap Nanakuli for Aiea

[Markeke]

With coach Sala noa leaving and basically all the transfers graduating, Radford may teeter on dropping to the bottom.

[unpaid]

Radford and Nanakuli are probably in for a rough season in 2016.

The Rams ,like Iolani at the beginning of fall 2015,look to have about 5 impact players returning. Radford,like Iolani this year move up to D-I. Iolani had as many impact players returning for 2015 as St.Louis did,but I did not believe Iolani would be in the top ten at the end of the year. Those players made their impact on the D-II level,and the Crusader guys had made their impact at the D-I level.
St.Louis was going to be a contender in 2015. So even though Radford ,like Iolani is moving up after a D-II state championship year with five playmakers returning,I think Iolani proves you have to be cautious about how the skill set displayed in D-II works out when those same players get moved up to D-I. I think Radford will be near or at the bottom of the Red or Blue,whichever one they get assigned to. Nanakuli,has two impact players returning and I expect the Golden Hawks will struggle next year also.

Looking to next season...Mililani might not even be ranked preseason next year,Campbell may continue to flounder.Damien and St.Francis will battle it out for the ILH D-II...but there is one team that looks like a heavy favorite for the 2016 state title in D-II and it is not an OIA or ILH squad.

[leadership]

Let me guess....Konawaena. so obvious since you ranked them high all year.

[Bus3001]

Radford and Nanakuli are probably in for a rough season in 2016.

The Rams ,like Iolani at the beginning of fall 2015,look to have about 5 impact players returning. Radford,like Iolani this year move up to D-I. Iolani had as many impact players returning for 2015 as St.Louis did,but I did not believe Iolani would be in the top ten at the end of the year. Those players made their impact on the D-II level,and the Crusader guys had made their impact at the D-I level.
St.Louis was going to be a contender in 2015. So even though Radford ,like Iolani is moving up after a D-II state championship year with five playmakers returning,I think Iolani proves you have to be cautious about how the skill set displayed in D-II works out when those same players get moved up to D-I. I think Radford will be near or at the bottom of the Red or Blue,whichever one they get assigned to. Nanakuli,has two impact players returning and I expect the Golden Hawks will struggle next year also.

Looking to next season...Mililani might not even be ranked preseason next year,Campbell may continue to flounder.Damien and St.Francis will battle it out for the ILH D-II...but there is one team that looks like a heavy favorite for the 2016 state title in D-II and it is not an OIA or ILH squad.

To me its pretty sad seeing 2 schools with Large enrollments Waipahu & Mckinley dropping to division 2. Waipahu is the states 2nd largest public school with 2,400 students while Mckinley is 9th with 1,750 students. Also whats sad is I drive my Bus route past both schools and and see so much big kids that don't play football and i always ask them "why don't you guys play football?" most of them say "they don't like the coach" or "they gotta watch their little bothers or sisters" It's sad. IMO Radford will struggle a lot more then Nanakuli with what they got coming back. Yes they are the 2x returning D2 JV Champions but Half of those kids have left via military transfers. Now Radford may get some transfers coming in But they won't know until Summer next year. As for Nanakuli they were the runner up both times to Radford in JV an was actually the Regular season JV champs both times now i don't see them having military transfer issues so they will have those kids ready for D1. As for next year in D2 yes Konawaena should be the early Favorites BUT if Iolani does decide to exercise their option of going back to D2 then they WILL have a say. Kaimuki will be better next year with what should arguably be the best RB in D2 next season and if they can run it like how Radford did this year then they will have a say too. Also can't count out Kapaa or Lahainaluna & Kamehameha Hawaii although sounds like next year they will be rebuilding after losing so much playmaking seniors.

[unpaid]

The heavy favorite I have in mind is not Konawaena. The Wildcats do not have as many proven playmakers coming back as the team I have in mind.

[Getreal$]

Unpaid- If I had to predict next years top DII teams, I would say Kapaa as the heavy favorite with over 30 returnees and a solid D. St. Francis to me is another young team with lots of potential and came on strong at the end of the year. Waipahu just based on their new coach and enrollment. Konawaena will be hard to beat in the BIIF but they do lose some talented players at skilled positions, and Lahainaluna will be back in the mix again next year but stronger. So here it is, my early predictions:

Top tier
1-Kapaa
2-St. Francis
3-Waipahu
4-Konawaena
5-Lahainaluna

In the mix
Damien
Kaimuki
KS Hawaii

Of course lots of things can happen between now and then which could turn this list upside down.

[unpaid]

Getreal$,

I too think Kapaa is the heavy favorite for the D-II title next year.Transfers could add or subtract from any team but,Kapaa has the most returning impact players with 8 in my view. The next closest teams to the Warriors would be Damien and St.Francis with 5 each. Konawaena will have 3..but those three are 1st Team All-Staters.so we will see.

The wild card in D-II is how do the incoming demoted teams from D-I do. McKinley and Waipahu have no impact players returning for 2016..but both schools are what I call yo-yo schools who bounce up and down between OIA D-I and D-II. McKinley seems to be down in talent and numbers so the Tigers might not make a mark right away.Waipahu has numbers and enrollment on their side,so they might start a run to get back to D-I over the next two seasons.

[University Ave]

How do you determine "returning impact players" from each team? I know Kapaa returns a bunch but if you are purely making judgements for next season off of this then I feel you missed the boat on St Francis. The Saints graduated 6 players and were loaded with talent and size. From what they return, they probably return a lot of impact players considering they made a nice run at the end of the year. OIA teams are somewhat negligent for a while because of the enforcement of the non transfer rule beginning this year. No longer can players just roll over to the best looking OIA team in D2 to win a state title. Lahainaluna will be good with a lot of returning starters. But I really feel that judging teams off of retuning impact players is not very accurate. You have no clue what these programs have coming up from JV and that's half a team. Can you honestly name impact players from JV teams? Or can you name 9th/10th grade players that played varsity last season that were key contributors? I think those kids make a better claim to having a better team the following year.

[unpaid]

An impact player is a player who has done his job well enough on the the field to win some level of post-season honor whether it is all-state,all-league, 1st team,2nd team,or honorable mention.

Kapaa has 8 coming back for 2016,Damien and St.Francis have 5 each. Those three teams would be at the top of my pre-season rank for 2016 if I had to do one now...which I don'T. Just food for thought. To me,wins and losses are what counts,no matter how many impact players I think are coming back for a team...that team needs to win to stay ranked.

The best programs have good coaching staffs and the players buy into what the coaches are teaching....so ,the best teams have a solid underpinning beneath those all-stars consisting of the rest of the team's players who will perform the fundamentals to the best of their ability. The best teams will have some all-stars for sure,but there has to be a solid foundation of role-players who understand the coaching concepts and execute them well for a team to be very successful.

I think Kapaa is a heavy favorite to win the D-II state title,but understand,in my ranking system,my preseason evaluation is just a starting point...wins and losses are what ultimately count when the season begins. St.Francis can prove me wrong by winning it all next year. Kapaa can prove me right by winning it all next year. Maybe neither one will win it next year...could be another team totally.

[gopunahou]

Regarding St. Francis--were most of their key contributors sophomores this past year? Because that's what I've heard--that the bulk of their great intermediate teams from 2012-2014 consisted of members of the class of 2018.

[unpaid]

I looked at a roster for the Saints..they have around 34 sophomores and juniors on their squad and only seven seniors. The number of sophomores and juniors is pretty evenly split. In terms of the players I consider impact players ,Supilani Mailei,Destin Pakele,and Micah Kalei are juniors and the other two impact guys are sophomores Tyson Shimabukuru and Singilau Pututau. With well over 75 percent of your squad being underclassmen,I think you can say that the next two years look pretty rosy for St.Francis.

I think ILH D-II is between St.Francis and Damien next year.Damien also has five impact players returning. These players,to me,are Marcus Faufata-Pedrina , Soane Tuihalafatai,Rush Asing,Scott Lam,and Kaimana Cameron.

Overall,I would say that the Saints junior class is better represented than the sophomore class is in terms of impact players. One thing is for sure,the Saints junior and sophomore classes right now are the bright immediate future for that squad.

Don't sleep on Damien...the Monarchs won the ILH last year,and they have enough power left to have a say next fall as well.