Open/D-I Top Ten 2021

[HS Football Fanatic]

Having a Mule as your mascot is kind of lame anyways so I guess adding Mighty to it can’t possibly make it sound worse

Speaking of Mascots, does Punahou have one? I know that they’re the Punahou Buff n Blue. But is that it? Is their mascot just a name like the Alabama Crimson Tide? Or do they actually have some kind of physical Mascot? Like how Alabama also has an Elephant. Sorry, random question.

@Jacob Makaiwi:

Well, mules are stubborn, so perhaps Leilehua High felt they might make a good mascot: Since mules are stubborn, Leilehua High athletes should stubbornly refuse to give up or give in. I've also heard that the mule as mascot might have had something to do with the Army, since Army "brats" from Schofield attend Leilehua High.

From what I know, Punahou School doesn't have a mascot, because their nickname is "Buffanblu". And, from what I understand, that is the official spelling of their nickname. I guess gopunahou will have to confirm or deny that. Of course, that nickname is two colors: Buff, which is a dark yellow, and blue. Yes, my understanding is that the school purposely left the "e" off, and purposely left the "d" off of "and". Again, gopunahou will have to confirm or deny.

[HS Football Fanatic]

My predictions for this upcoming weekend:
- KS-Hawaii over Honokaa
- Aiea over Roosevelt
- Kaiser over Kalaheo
- Lahainaluna over Kekaulike
- PAC 5 over Pearl City
- Waianae upset over Campbell
- Kapolei over Farrington
- Kealakehe over Waiakea
- Kohala over Kau
- Kapaa over Kauai
- KS-Maui over Maui
- Iolani over Kailua
- Kalani over Waialua
- Nanakuli over Kaimuki
- Radford over McKinley
- Moanalua over Castle
- Kahuku over Leilehua
- Konawaena over Keaau
I don’t see it on Scoringlive yet, but I’m pretty sure these two are playing each other this weekend too:
- KS-Kapalama over St.Louis

I really hope Leilehua proves me and pretty much everyone wrong this weekend! Anything is possible

My only upset predicted was Waianae over Campbell. I think they’re confidence from their last win can help them edge out a close game verse Campbell.

I think some people may view PAC-5 over Pearl City as a slight upset, but I think PAC-5 having more game experiences compared to Pearl City will be the factor.

Some people also may see Kamehameha over St.Louis as a slight upset as well, but I think Kamehameha’s bye was a great advantage and I think their play styles on Offense and Defense are good neutralizers against St.Louis’s style of play. I also think their game adjustments and coaching has been better than St.Louis so far this season so I think that’s another factor.

@Jacob Makaiwi:

Yes, Kamehameha does play St Louis this weekend, probably on Friday, but I'm not sure.

Regarding Leilehua, yes, anything is possible, but not everything is probable. I strongly suspect that they'll get pounded again.

I think the Waianae v Campbell game will be a very good game. Though Campbell is ranked about #5, they have to look-out for Waianae. After all, Waianae beat Leilehua, which was ranked #8 at the time. And, not only did Waianae beat them, they whipped them. In addition, I'm assuming that Waianae, as usual, has the physical size to tell Campbell, "Wassap, wassap". Finally, Waianae has a good RB in Alvin Quisquirin-Sabagala. Something tells me it's going to be a very physical game.

Regarding the Pac-Five game, yes, my first impression was, "Really?" But, on further thought, they might be able to beat Pearl City, primarily because they seem to have fairly decent size this year. I.e., I think this year Pac-Five can at least hold its own physically against Pearl City; Pearl City is usually on the smaller side in terms of physical size.

I like Kamehameha Schools, but I have a bad feeling that they might lose. When you speak of style of play, yes, I agree that Kamehameha's run game helps neutralize St Louis in two ways: 1.) A run game eats more clock, and that serves to keep St Louis' potent O off the field longer. And, let's not forget that St Louis also has a run game, though it's not as strong as Kamehameha's run game. 2.) Kamehameha's thick, powerful O-line might wear-down St Louis' D-line, especially during the second half.
What doesn't hurt is that Kamehameha seems to have a decent pass game, so St Louis can't simply load the box each play; they have to worry about the pass, too. Defensively, well, Kamehameha's D-line is quick, and that's often bad news for St Louis' super-thick but (consequently) slow O-line. Finally, if Kamehameha can outcoach St Louis, well, that would be amazing. I mean, the Lee brothers are legendary. Is Ron doubling as OC? And of course, who can forget Cal as DC. Is Passas still there? That's another legendary coach, handling the QBs.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Having a Mule as your mascot is kind of lame anyways so I guess adding Mighty to it can’t possibly make it sound worse

Speaking of Mascots, does Punahou have one? I know that they’re the Punahou Buff n Blue. But is that it? Is their mascot just a name like the Alabama Crimson Tide? Or do they actually have some kind of physical Mascot? Like how Alabama also has an Elephant. Sorry, random question.

Our mascot is just a name, although students of ours dress in all blue for Homecoming games (or big ones).

@gopunahou:

Well, that's the official word of a Punahou alumnus. But really, it doesn't matter whether a school has a mascot or not. In fact, it doesn't even matter what a school's nickname is, right? It's, Can that school PLAY? Mascots and nicknames don't win games.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Our mascot is just a name, although students of ours dress in all blue for Homecoming games (or big ones).

Oh cool! Anytime I played against Punahou I always wondered. And now I finally know! Thanks man

I’m sure gopunahou can clarify this, but I believe Punahou’s buff n blue nickname originated from when their campus was first built in the mid 1800’s. Back then, there were no hotels in what is now Waikiki. So from the Punahou campus, you could look out and see Waikiki beach. Buff is an old timey word for a light yellowish color (the sand), and blue refers to the Ocean blue color of the water.

@ChadFukuoka:

Well, the only thing I can add here is that I think "buff" is actually dark yellow, not light yellow.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Oh cool! Anytime I played against Punahou I always wondered. And now I finally know! Thanks man

I’m sure gopunahou can clarify this, but I believe Punahou’s buff n blue nickname originated from when their campus was first built in the mid 1800’s. Back then, there were no hotels in what is now Waikiki. So from the Punahou campus, you could look out and see Waikiki beach. Buff is an old timey word for a light yellowish color (the sand), and blue refers to the Ocean blue color of the water.

Yes. That's the truth. We also called ourselves Oahu College.

@gopunahou:

And, what's interesting is that St Louis School once called themselves St Louis College, way back.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Having a Mule as your mascot is kind of lame anyways so I guess adding Mighty to it can’t possibly make it sound worse

Speaking of Mascots, does Punahou have one? I know that they’re the Punahou Buff n Blue. But is that it? Is their mascot just a name like the Alabama Crimson Tide? Or do they actually have some kind of physical Mascot? Like how Alabama also has an Elephant. Sorry, random question.

Our mascot is just a name, although students of ours dress in all blue for Homecoming games (or big ones).

@gopunahou:

About seven or eight years ago, I watched a Punahou football game on TV. The Punahou fans were dressed in all yellow. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter; both are Punahou School's colors.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Adding the word “mighty” before a nickname is fairly common for athletic teams. I think for youth or Pop Warner football across the US, one of the age groups is actually the mighty mites. I think that’s for younger kids like 7-9. I remember that from when one of my cousins played youth football.

Yup. Pearl City, who of course are the Chargers, used to(maybe still do, I dunno) use the phrase "Mighty Chargers" all over the place. I'm pretty sure it's in all of my yearbooks somewhere. Very common to add the word mighty even if it's not officially part of the school's mascot's name. Don't know why someone's having a hissy fit over it.

@bandits1:

If you're referring to me, I wasn't having a "hissy fit" over it. You can read my response to Jacob Makaiwi's second post on the matter.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Adding the word “mighty” before a nickname is fairly common for athletic teams. I think for youth or Pop Warner football across the US, one of the age groups is actually the mighty mites. I think that’s for younger kids like 7-9. I remember that from when one of my cousins played youth football.

Yup. Pearl City, who of course are the Chargers, used to(maybe still do, I dunno) use the phrase "Mighty Chargers" all over the place. I'm pretty sure it's in all of my yearbooks somewhere. Very common to add the word mighty even if it's not officially part of the school's mascot's name. Don't know why someone's having a hissy fit over it.

I always thought it was cool that purple was one of your school colors, even though I went to Aiea, one of your rivals. It was so unique to me, I think Pearl City is the only high school on Oahu that uses that color. Do you know the origin behind the school colors? I believe purple was a symbol of royalty a long time ago, but not sure if that has anything to do with it.

@ChadFukuoka:

If I could go ahead and jump-in here, yes: Purple is the color of royalty.
Also, there are two other high schools on Oahu that use purple: Damien School and Hanalani School.

[bandits1]

I always thought it was cool that purple was one of your school colors, even though I went to Aiea, one of your rivals. It was so unique to me, I think Pearl City is the only high school on Oahu that uses that color. Do you know the origin behind the school colors? I believe purple was a symbol of royalty a long time ago, but not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Yeah, purple is a pretty cool color at any level of sports -- TCU, UW, Baltimore Ravens, etc... Damien is purple, too, but I think they're purple and gold whereas Pearl City is purple and white. Yellow was sometimes used as our accent color back in the 80s and 90s, but it seems the all-popular black has taken over. And I had no idea why our color is purple so I looked it up on the school's website:

"How did PCHS get the colors purple and white and the mascot “Chargers”?

"When class of 1974 was at Highlands Intermediate they chose the colors purple and white, and the mascot “Chargers”. They chose purple and white because community teams were those colors."

My predictions for this upcoming weekend:
- PAC 5 over Pearl City

I think some people may view PAC-5 over Pearl City as a slight upset, but I think PAC-5 having more game experiences compared to Pearl City will be the factor.

If Pearl City's starting QB is back in uniform I'll take the Chargers. He missed last week's game for undisclosed reasons.

[HS Football Fanatic]

OIA TOP TEN
After 2 weeks and other local polls, my Top 10 OIA.

1. KAHUKU
2. MILILANI
3. CAMPBELL
4. WAIANAE
5. KAPOLEI
6. WAIPAHU
7. MOANALUA
8. RADFORD
9. FARRINGTON
10. CASTLE
Roosevelt
Kailua
Aiea

Did not know Bobby George was OC at Waianae. Like Kahuku, WAIANAE will now pass first before the run. Proof in the pudding the one week swing from Mililani lost to Leileihua win.

Radford jumped in all the way from D2, because of a solid team and Coach Fred Salanoa influence.

@TheNewNORM:

I didn't know Bobby George was there, either. Yes, he was an outstanding QB for St Louis School. I didn't see the Leilehua game; did Waianae pass the ball a lot? Isn't that a switch; Waianae is famous for smashmouth, ground-and-pound football. But if they have to run, they have a good RB in Alvin Quisquirin-Sabagala.

Radford seems to have a good RB in Christian Payton.

[ChadFukuoka]

Yup. Pearl City, who of course are the Chargers, used to(maybe still do, I dunno) use the phrase "Mighty Chargers" all over the place. I'm pretty sure it's in all of my yearbooks somewhere. Very common to add the word mighty even if it's not officially part of the school's mascot's name. Don't know why someone's having a hissy fit over it.

I always thought it was cool that purple was one of your school colors, even though I went to Aiea, one of your rivals. It was so unique to me, I think Pearl City is the only high school on Oahu that uses that color. Do you know the origin behind the school colors? I believe purple was a symbol of royalty a long time ago, but not sure if that has anything to do with it.

@ChadFukuoka:

If I could go ahead and jump-in here, yes: Purple is the color of royalty.
Also, there are two other high schools on Oahu that use purple: Damien School and Hanalani School.

Ok. I forgot about Damien, and had no idea Hanalani also used purple. I guess Pearl City is the only public high school on Oahu with purple as one of its colors.

[HS Football Fanatic]

I always thought it was cool that purple was one of your school colors, even though I went to Aiea, one of your rivals. It was so unique to me, I think Pearl City is the only high school on Oahu that uses that color. Do you know the origin behind the school colors? I believe purple was a symbol of royalty a long time ago, but not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Yeah, purple is a pretty cool color at any level of sports -- TCU, UW, Baltimore Ravens, etc... Damien is purple, too, but I think they're purple and gold whereas Pearl City is purple and white. Yellow was sometimes used as our accent color back in the 80s and 90s, but it seems the all-popular black has taken over. And I had no idea why our color is purple so I looked it up on the school's website:

"How did PCHS get the colors purple and white and the mascot “Chargers”?

"When class of 1974 was at Highlands Intermediate they chose the colors purple and white, and the mascot “Chargers”. They chose purple and white because community teams were those colors."

My predictions for this upcoming weekend:
- PAC 5 over Pearl City

I think some people may view PAC-5 over Pearl City as a slight upset, but I think PAC-5 having more game experiences compared to Pearl City will be the factor.

If Pearl City's starting QB is back in uniform I'll take the Chargers. He missed last week's game for undisclosed reasons.

@bandits1:

Damien School says their colors are purple and maize, but maize is basically the same as yellow. Lots of schools that have gold as one of their colors use yellow in its place, anyway.

And yes, Pearl City has been using black. Their football team has been using black pants for several years now. And, about three years ago, their baseball team used black shirts, albeit with purple trim.

[HS Football Fanatic]

I always thought it was cool that purple was one of your school colors, even though I went to Aiea, one of your rivals. It was so unique to me, I think Pearl City is the only high school on Oahu that uses that color. Do you know the origin behind the school colors? I believe purple was a symbol of royalty a long time ago, but not sure if that has anything to do with it.

@ChadFukuoka:

If I could go ahead and jump-in here, yes: Purple is the color of royalty.
Also, there are two other high schools on Oahu that use purple: Damien School and Hanalani School.

Ok. I forgot about Damien, and had no idea Hanalani also used purple. I guess Pearl City is the only public high school on Oahu with purple as one of its colors.

@ChadFukuoka:

Yes, Pearl City High is the only public high school on Oahu with purple.

[Jacob Makaiwi]

Doing some research, I believe Coach Passas is living in Las Vegas and has been passing his football knowledge around the mainland. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is still involved in Hawaii football in some ways. But I’m not sure if he also has a home in Hawaii at the moment or how often he does comes back here.

A July 3, 2020 khon2 news article shared this:
“Despite his recent travels, Passas will remain on the coaching staff at Saint Louis, which ushers in the Ron Lee era whenever games are next played.”

That statement was over a year ago before the 2020 season was cancelled altogether. I’m sure that article was referring to the possible 2020 season. Not sure about this season.

He’s not on this year’s roster per ScoringLive. But ScoringLive might not list every single coach on each team. Scoringlive 2021 currently shows the St.Louis coaches as:
- “Head coach: Ron Lee (XX season, X at Saint Louis)
- Associate Head coach: Cal Lee
- Co-offensive coordinators: Rob Crowell, Howard Peralta
- Co-defensive coordinators: Shawn Kalima, Keone Batoon”

From what I know it’s not a guarantee that he is on their staff this year. My honest guess is that he’s not actively coaching St.Louis QB’s this year. But even if he is not coaching them, he probably volunteers assistance to St.Louis whenever he has extra time or if the Lee’s ask him for some mana’o on occasion.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Doing some research, I believe Coach Passas is living in Las Vegas and has been passing his football knowledge around the mainland. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is still involved in Hawaii football in some ways. But I’m not sure if he also has a home in Hawaii at the moment or how often he does comes back here.

A July 3, 2020 khon2 news article shared this:
“Despite his recent travels, Passas will remain on the coaching staff at Saint Louis, which ushers in the Ron Lee era whenever games are next played.”

That statement was over a year ago before the 2020 season was cancelled altogether. I’m sure that article was referring to the possible 2020 season. Not sure about this season.

He’s not on this year’s roster per ScoringLive. But ScoringLive might not list every single coach on each team. Scoringlive 2021 currently shows the St.Louis coaches as:
- “Head coach: Ron Lee (XX season, X at Saint Louis)
- Associate Head coach: Cal Lee
- Co-offensive coordinators: Rob Crowell, Howard Peralta
- Co-defensive coordinators: Shawn Kalima, Keone Batoon”

From what I know it’s not a guarantee that he is on their staff this year. My honest guess is that he’s not actively coaching St.Louis QB’s this year. But even if he is not coaching them, he probably volunteers assistance to St.Louis whenever he has extra time or if the Lee’s ask him for some mana’o on occasion.

@Jacob Makaiwi:

Passas has been a real thorn in the side of other ILH schools for decades. He's one of the main reasons St Louis School has had so many great QBs over the past 35 years or so. I mean, he simply attracted great QBs to that school. It's a little easier to produce a great QB when you have great raw material to begin with.