Open/D-I Top Ten 2021

[HS Football Fanatic]

@Chad Fukuoka: Yes, it's Bartley; sorry. Don't know what made me type Bradley.

And yes, as I said in my post, I suspect Failauga decided to turn his back on football after high school. It's his choice, of course, but it does seem like such a waste of talent. Would have loved to see him pound the rock for UH.

Yes, I remember Wily. Although, with Kahuku High, they produce so many talented football players, it seems harder for each one to stand-out from the others.

[gopunahou]

If Alfred didn’t get any D1 offers, then that’s ridiculous! He was a State Champion his Junior year, got Hawaii’s all time rushing record early into his Senior year, but still had no offers coming in, not even from UH. Maybe he did and it was never announced, but if you look him up he’s not playing ball at any level. And he just graduated in 2019.

There’s only a few explanations. 1) football just wasn’t for him (least likely I think). 2) Maybe he didn’t have the academics (even though articles of him showed him working on his academics and football being a drive to do good in school.) 3) Maybe he had personal or family responsibilities. There’s a bunch of justifiable reasons.

But the one reason that would make me really really upset is if he didn’t have enough interest or exposure for scouts. If people didn’t care to even look at him because he played in a lower division. If no scouts, not even UH scouts tried to reach out or look into him. I’m not sure if or how many football camps or bowl games he went to, but statistics and game film should suffice for at least a UH offer. Anyone with access to internet can look at his hudl highlights for goodness sake! To be brutally honest, even a huge Hawaii High school football fan like myself wouldn’t initially be interested to watch him play. I only paid attention to him because my Mules were in the same division as him and I saw how out of this world he was on the football field any highlight or live game I watched him play. There must be really sloppy scouts if Alfred Failauga never got one D1 offer. My thought is that if exposure truly is something that needs to help in our local boys’ recruitment, then Noah Bartley needs as much exposure as he can get, especially with only one year ever on a Varsity football team. And one that only has a few scheduled games. Sorry for this long rant, just food for thought. I really hope Noah Bartley and plenty others who deserve it, get offers. And I hope Alfred Failauga didn’t get jipped due to lack of exposure. If so that’s messed up!

@Jacob Makaiwi:
Yeah, Failauga was really something. I have to believe that UH must have at least made him an offer. I mean, when you've got an RB as outstanding as Failauga in your own backyard, you automatically make him an offer, right? You'd think it would be almost a reflex action. So, why isn't Failauga playing at any college? My hunch is that he just didn't want any part of the rigors of college, coupled with the higher intensity of college football. If I'm right, that's really too bad. I mean, Failauga had so much talent, you know?

As for scouts, I have to believe that college scouts have local "feelers". Someone here in Hawaii must have alerted college scouts. I'd have to imagine that at least two colleges must have made Failauga offers: UH, and at least one mainland college, I'd have to assume. Which leads me to assume that Failauga might have had the attitude, "Well, it was fun playing football in high school, but college + college football is a bit much for me; too intense. I'll just kind of fade-away quietly". Again, that's just a guess on my part, but does anyone have a better one?

Bradley is one hell of a runner; you'd think he has bionic legs or something. When you look at him on TV, it's not like he has bulging, oak-tree legs or something, so I don't know where all that power comes from. It's like he's something of a freak of nature (and I mean, "freak" in a good way, as in something almost hard to believe). I don't think Bradley should have to worry about exposure; if no word got to college scouts about how good he is, then that's on them, not him. I think Bradley should just about assume that UH has a spot for him; a starting spot. When was the last time UH had a power runner like him?

I think his last name is Bartley, not Bradley. I’m assuming you’re referring to the Kamehameha running back. Noah Bartley is his full name, I believe.

People have different goals, and are placed in different life situations after high school. We all go our own ways, to a certain extent. Maybe for whatever reason, college football wasn’t in the cards for Failauga.

Another successful high school running back, who at least ended up playing at UH, but not having the successful career many had anticipated, was Aofaga Wily out of Kahuku. Injuries, I think even a concussion, and being placed down the depth chart, took him out of the scene. Sometimes, things just don’t work out, even if it’s not the person’s fault.

We are likely playing KSK again, and should that happen, we can't make Bartley look like Barkley (Saquon, that is).

Anyway, at least Wayne Taulapapa has had a solid career so far. Always nice to watch him succeed.

[HS Football Fanatic]

@gopunahou: You mean there's some kind of ILH tourney? I thought the school with the best record after two rounds was champ already.

And yes, I remember Taulapapa. Kind of like Bartley, right? Somewhat elusive, and hard to bring down. By the way, is Taulapapa still playing? With whom? Totally lost track of him.

[Jacob Makaiwi]

@Highschool Football fanatic. This is what a Scoringlive Aug.16, 2021 article says about the ILH’s new schedule that was approved (this was after the OIA postponed their play and the ILH made adjustments). Looks like a tourney in the end

Saturday, Oct. 16
Open Division third seed vs. Open Division second seed at TBA
Division I second seed vs. Division I first seed at TBA

Saturday, Oct. 23
Open Division 2-3 winner vs. Open Division first seed at TBA

For Open Division, the #2 and #3 seeds play each other first and the winner plays the #1 seed a week later to see who the lone ILH representative in the State playoff race will be. The weeks will have to be pushed back a little because some of their scheduled games (from the day the schedule was originally approved) were cancelled due to covid-19.

[Jacob Makaiwi]

I’m assuming their seeding will be according to their record at the end of their regular 4 game season and maybe whoever won the face to face battle more is the higher seed? IDK haha. But Kam is 2-1 with one more game to play. St.Louis 1-1 with 2 more games to play. And Punahou 1-2 with one more game to play. All teams are in the race, even if either Punahou or St.Louis has a 1-3 record to end the regular season. #1 seeding is definitely something to strive for, but #2 or #3 will still be in the race. There’s literally a way they can all end the season with 2-2 records each! I wonder what will happen with seeding then? Haha

Back when I was playing varsity at Kamehameha it was the one with the highest record who was the lone ILH representative. It was that way for as long as I can remember and I think they even did that last year too with Pun and St.Louis trying to win the regular season record. Sometimes an ILH team knew there state tournament chances were unattainable with a few games left in their ILH season. It was a bummer that there has been no ILH playoff format. The only way that happened was if 2 of the top teams had even records at the end of regular season. They then played an extra game (the unofficial ILH championship game) to determine the lone ILH representative. So I’m happy for the ILH teams this year because they’ll still have hope. This playoff tournament for the ILH will be fun!

[Jacob Makaiwi]

@gopunahou yeah man, Wayne Taulapapa looks like he’s doing really good at Virginia! Good rushing numbers for a D-1 football running back. And I see he’s one of 4 captains on their team, so he is definitely is making a great impact on that program and on his team.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see him play that much when he was in high school. His Junior and Senior year I was away from home on a 2 year mission for The Church (which is funny because Wayne also ended up doing a 2 year mission as well). But I do remember him vaguely when they won the State championship his Sophomore year. I just remember constantly hearing about a Punahou Polynesian RB (must be a Punahou pattern after Lakalaka) doing well at the Varsity level as an underclassman. I also watched some highlights on him before and it looked like he was a great Hawaii High School RB! So happy for him and his success at the next level!

[HS Football Fanatic]

@Highschool Football fanatic. This is what a Scoringlive Aug.16, 2021 article says about the ILH’s new schedule that was approved (this was after the OIA postponed their play and the ILH made adjustments). Looks like a tourney in the end

Saturday, Oct. 16
Open Division third seed vs. Open Division second seed at TBA
Division I second seed vs. Division I first seed at TBA

Saturday, Oct. 23
Open Division 2-3 winner vs. Open Division first seed at TBA

For Open Division, the #2 and #3 seeds play each other first and the winner plays the #1 seed a week later to see who the lone ILH representative in the State playoff race will be. The weeks will have to be pushed back a little because some of their scheduled games (from the day the schedule was originally approved) were cancelled due to covid-19.

@Jacob Makaiwi: That's bad news for Kamehameha (I like Kamehameha Schools). Here I thought they'd only have to beat St Louis once more, and they're in. Nope. Makes you wonder if Kamehameha might even lose to Punahou if the two schools meet again. After all, they won by only a TD. Question: Was Punahou's last TD scored against Kamehameha's starters, or was it against their relievers? I suspect Maafala left the starters in, knowing how good Punahou's pass game is. Well, Punahou went ahead and marched down the field pretty fast and pretty easily.
If I were Maafala, I wouldn't even play Bartley and Ah Yat against Kahuku. That "game" isn't a game at all; it's a controlled scrimmage. With St Louis coming up the week after, Kamehameha simply cannot afford to lose Ah Yat and Bartley, especially, to injury. Let Apao start at QB, and let Mahiai start at RB. Then, pull both of them out for the 2nd half. Kamehameha might need Ah Yat and Apao against St Louis, and Mahiai needs to spell Bartley against St Louis. The time to get down against Kahuku is States; it's almost certain they'll be there. Kamehameha won't, unless they take ILH.

[HS Football Fanatic]

@gopunahou yeah man, Wayne Taulapapa looks like he’s doing really good at Virginia! Good rushing numbers for a D-1 football running back. And I see he’s one of 4 captains on their team, so he is definitely is making a great impact on that program and on his team.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see him play that much when he was in high school. His Junior and Senior year I was away from home on a 2 year mission for The Church (which is funny because Wayne also ended up doing a 2 year mission as well). But I do remember him vaguely when they won the State championship his Sophomore year. I just remember constantly hearing about a Punahou Polynesian RB (must be a Punahou pattern after Lakalaka) doing well at the Varsity level as an underclassman. I also watched some highlights on him before and it looked like he was a great Hawaii High School RB! So happy for him and his success at the next level!

@Jacob Makaiwi: Oh, so he's at Virginia. I had no idea; I had totally lost track of him.
And, you're right about a "Polynesian pattern" at Punahou School. I suspect that former Punahou HC Kale Ane started that pattern at about '03, perhaps. I suspect he had made it a point to recruit Polys. I'm kind of glad he's instead McKinley HC now; I don't care for Punahou School, but I'm OK with McKinley High. Let him recruit Polys to that school. He'll have a much harder time of it, as McKinley High is only in D2. How do you recruit players to a D2 school? Almost impossible. Even D1 schools would have a hard time recruiting. Up until he left Punahou School, that school came to be known as "Kahuku South" to some guys, because quite a few Kahuku players transferred--or, were recruited--there.

[Jacob Makaiwi]

@Highschool Football fanatic. This is what a Scoringlive Aug.16, 2021 article says about the ILH’s new schedule that was approved (this was after the OIA postponed their play and the ILH made adjustments). Looks like a tourney in the end

Saturday, Oct. 16
Open Division third seed vs. Open Division second seed at TBA
Division I second seed vs. Division I first seed at TBA

Saturday, Oct. 23
Open Division 2-3 winner vs. Open Division first seed at TBA

For Open Division, the #2 and #3 seeds play each other first and the winner plays the #1 seed a week later to see who the lone ILH representative in the State playoff race will be. The weeks will have to be pushed back a little because some of their scheduled games (from the day the schedule was originally approved) were cancelled due to covid-19.

@Jacob Makaiwi: That's bad news for Kamehameha (I like Kamehameha Schools). Here I thought they'd only have to beat St Louis once more, and they're in. Nope. Makes you wonder if Kamehameha might even lose to Punahou if the two schools meet again. After all, they won by only a TD. Question: Was Punahou's last TD scored against Kamehameha's starters, or was it against their relievers? I suspect Maafala left the starters in, knowing how good Punahou's pass game is. Well, Punahou went ahead and marched down the field pretty fast and pretty easily.
If I were Maafala, I wouldn't even play Bartley and Ah Yat against Kahuku. That "game" isn't a game at all; it's a controlled scrimmage. With St Louis coming up the week after, Kamehameha simply cannot afford to lose Ah Yat and Bartley, especially, to injury. Let Apao start at QB, and let Mahiai start at RB. Then, pull both of them out for the 2nd half. Kamehameha might need Ah Yat and Apao against St Louis, and Mahiai needs to spell Bartley against St Louis. The time to get down against Kahuku is States; it's almost certain they'll be there. Kamehameha won't, unless they take ILH.

@HS Football Fanatic. You’re right. Injuries make a huge difference. Let’s just hope that no one gets hurt on every team. There’s only a few games left in total for the ILH.

My thought is that I don’t see either one of these Open ILH teams totally Out-talenting the rest of them. I think they’re all evenly talented as a whole with individual strengths stronger than other teams.

St. Louis and Punahou have elite QB’s. Kam has 2 guys at QB that aren’t Elite, but have even playing experience between the two of them and can do their job well. Kam has the best run game and the best RB in the ILH. Punahou has really shifty receivers who work very well in open space. St.Louis has an amazing slot back in Kekahuna with incredible breakaway speed and agility who also does extremely well at RB. St.Louis has a great receiving core all around the board. Each team has very talented front sevens on D. Punahou may have the best Linebacker in the State by the end of the year. Each teams Olinemen are gigantic all around with great strength and good athleticism. Kam has shorter DBs, but have fast closing speed and hit pretty well. Punahou has tall and strong Cornerbacks that they use to their advantage very well in coverage. St.Louis has a great secondary that can easily cover anyone.

So for me, the football talent between each of these 3 teams as a whole (not as spread out individual talents) is about even. I’d say whoever makes it out of the ILH will be the one with the best coaching from now on. St.Louis has one of the best Hawaii High School football coaches of all time, so that’s definitely scary for Pun and Kam. But you never know. All teams have the pieces in terms of overall talent. I’m just excited to see which Coaching mind will prevail at the end of the ILH season and championship.

[TheNewNORM]

@Chad F. Aofaga Wily had a career ending head injury at UH. Also Punahou over St.Louis 28-20.

[HS Football Fanatic]

@TheNewNORM: You're predicting Punahou over St Louis 28-20? OK, could you explain why/how you're predicting that? If I had to make a prediction, I'd go 28-17 St Louis.

[OldManJenkins]

I have heard the D1 champs got moved up to mid Dec, did other Div change also?

[ChadFukuoka]

I have heard the D1 champs got moved up to mid Dec, did other Div change also?

I didn’t notice. Where did you hear that?

[HS Football Fanatic]

@Highschool Football fanatic. This is what a Scoringlive Aug.16, 2021 article says about the ILH’s new schedule that was approved (this was after the OIA postponed their play and the ILH made adjustments). Looks like a tourney in the end

Saturday, Oct. 16
Open Division third seed vs. Open Division second seed at TBA
Division I second seed vs. Division I first seed at TBA

Saturday, Oct. 23
Open Division 2-3 winner vs. Open Division first seed at TBA

For Open Division, the #2 and #3 seeds play each other first and the winner plays the #1 seed a week later to see who the lone ILH representative in the State playoff race will be. The weeks will have to be pushed back a little because some of their scheduled games (from the day the schedule was originally approved) were cancelled due to covid-19.

@Jacob Makaiwi: That's bad news for Kamehameha (I like Kamehameha Schools). Here I thought they'd only have to beat St Louis once more, and they're in. Nope. Makes you wonder if Kamehameha might even lose to Punahou if the two schools meet again. After all, they won by only a TD. Question: Was Punahou's last TD scored against Kamehameha's starters, or was it against their relievers? I suspect Maafala left the starters in, knowing how good Punahou's pass game is. Well, Punahou went ahead and marched down the field pretty fast and pretty easily.
If I were Maafala, I wouldn't even play Bartley and Ah Yat against Kahuku. That "game" isn't a game at all; it's a controlled scrimmage. With St Louis coming up the week after, Kamehameha simply cannot afford to lose Ah Yat and Bartley, especially, to injury. Let Apao start at QB, and let Mahiai start at RB. Then, pull both of them out for the 2nd half. Kamehameha might need Ah Yat and Apao against St Louis, and Mahiai needs to spell Bartley against St Louis. The time to get down against Kahuku is States; it's almost certain they'll be there. Kamehameha won't, unless they take ILH.

@HS Football Fanatic. You’re right. Injuries make a huge difference. Let’s just hope that no one gets hurt on every team. There’s only a few games left in total for the ILH.

My thought is that I don’t see either one of these Open ILH teams totally Out-talenting the rest of them. I think they’re all evenly talented as a whole with individual strengths stronger than other teams.

St. Louis and Punahou have elite QB’s. Kam has 2 guys at QB that aren’t Elite, but have even playing experience between the two of them and can do their job well. Kam has the best run game and the best RB in the ILH. Punahou has really shifty receivers who work very well in open space. St.Louis has an amazing slot back in Kekahuna with incredible breakaway speed and agility who also does extremely well at RB. St.Louis has a great receiving core all around the board. Each team has very talented front sevens on D. Punahou may have the best Linebacker in the State by the end of the year. Each teams Olinemen are gigantic all around with great strength and good athleticism. Kam has shorter DBs, but have fast closing speed and hit pretty well. Punahou has tall and strong Cornerbacks that they use to their advantage very well in coverage. St.Louis has a great secondary that can easily cover anyone.

So for me, the football talent between each of these 3 teams as a whole (not as spread out individual talents) is about even. I’d say whoever makes it out of the ILH will be the one with the best coaching from now on. St.Louis has one of the best Hawaii High School football coaches of all time, so that’s definitely scary for Pun and Kam. But you never know. All teams have the pieces in terms of overall talent. I’m just excited to see which Coaching mind will prevail at the end of the ILH season and championship.

@Jacob Makaiwi:
I don't know, I don't see the three schools as even. If you ask me, St Louis has a clear advantage: Their pass game. I mean, the only ILH school to beat them was Kamehameha, and they needed the help of four turnovers and a 4th-down sack on St Louis' last possession. Even then, they won by only 2 points. If you look at the yardage that game, St Louis had a huge bulge. Yes, Kamehameha has an outstanding run game, but even with that, they couldn't touch St Louis in total yards.

Yesterday, the Star-Advertiser had Kamehameha alone at #1, no longer tied with St Louis. If anyone had to bet their lives on it, would they bet on Kamehameha beating St Louis again? I wouldn't. TheNewNORM might have something to say about Punahou beating St Louis; he's predicting Punahou over St Louis, 28-20. I don't know; the only way I could see that happening is if St Louis is really "off" that game, or suffers some kind of catastrophic meltdown, or if Bianco was injured in practice and can't play.

[TheNewNORM]

Why? Because the first meeting was at Punahou, 90 degree, hot afternoon, blinding sun. Plus Pun is behind the 8 ball.