Open/D-I Top Ten 2021

[HS Football Fanatic]

Scoringlive says Kahuku beat Farrington, 75-6. If it makes Farrington fans feel better, the Govs lost 72-6 to St. Louis three years ago but reached the OIA playoffs.

@gopunahou:

Ummm, that's supposed to make Farrington fans feel better? "Never mind that your school lost 75-6 this year, and 72-6 three years ago; at least you made the playoffs three years ago."

[HS Football Fanatic]

go Punahou is right. For the sake of the ILH, StL. monopoly is not healthy for other programs.

Believe it or not, I think some Iolani fans might disagree with you. 10 years ago, there was a thread that bashed people that criticized Iolani's presence in D2:
https://www.sportshawaii.com/sh/viewtop ... ilit=alone

One of the posters said that dominance from one team was good. Can you believe that? Believe it! Keep in mind that the people bashing Iolani's presence in D2 at the time were those who remembered how competitive Iolani was in the '90s (1995 was the only year they didn't beat at least one of the Big Three) and the fact they beat at least one of the Big Three between 2008 and 2010.

@gopunahou:

Well, it's not surprising that the alumni of the school doing the dominating, will say domination by one school is good; their school. And today, Iolani School is dominating ILH D1. Let's see if another school in States can take them down.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Updated Top Ten,

1.Kamehameha 3-1 Did not play. St.Louis next.
2.Kahuku 2-0 Beat Farrington 75-6.
3.St.Louis 3-3 Shutout Punahou 35-0. Kamehameha next.Move up two spots.
4.Mililani 2-0 Blanked Kapolei 20-0.Bumped down one spot.
5.Campbell 1-0 DNP Move up two.
6.Punahou 1-4 Drop one spot with loss to St.Louis.
7.Iolani 6-0 DNP. Bumped down one place.
8.Waianae 1-1 Beat Leilehua 47-6. First time in 2021 top ten.
9.Lahainaluna 1-0 Shutout Maui 24-0.
10.Moanalua 2-0 Beat Aiea 28-25.

0-2 Farrington and 0-1 Hilo drop out with losses.Keep an eye on Castle and Waipahu to move in if a team in 7-10 stumbles next week. If Konawaena and Kealakehe pile on some more wins on the Big Island,I’d have to consider them too at some point.

@unpaid: Can Iolani beat Waianae?

[HS Football Fanatic]

go Punahou is right. For the sake of the ILH, StL. monopoly is not healthy for other programs.

Believe it or not, I think some Iolani fans might disagree with you. 10 years ago, there was a thread that bashed people that criticized Iolani's presence in D2:
https://www.sportshawaii.com/sh/viewtop ... ilit=alone

One of the posters said that dominance from one team was good. Can you believe that? Believe it! Keep in mind that the people bashing Iolani's presence in D2 at the time were those who remembered how competitive Iolani was in the '90s (1995 was the only year they didn't beat at least one of the Big Three) and the fact they beat at least one of the Big Three between 2008 and 2010.

The OC completely neutered the pun offense that was very confusing to watch. They made it easy for the Crusader defense to keep everything in front and break on those screens and short passes. Screen, screen, deep shot. They also chose to test the wrong corner over and over. Not sure if it’s a new OC or the new HC’s offense. Didn’t look like they trusted the qb, while the commentators talked about how good he is. Odd. Not gonna complain about the outcome, but Sagapolutele has show he’s capable in the past why handcuff him now.

What is with this monopoly and dominance stuff? It’s only bad when it’s not your team doing the winning?

@genks:

1. I think another thing that hurt Punahou is that they didn't have much of a run game. It seemed that the only run game Punahou had was when QB Sagapolutele had to run to escape the other school's D.

2. Well, gopunahou resents Iolani School's dominance of whichever ILH division they were in. When they were in D2, they dominated that. When they moved-up to D1, they dominated that, too. For him, another factor might be the rivalry between Punahou School and Iolani School. Not a lot of love lost between those two schools. About 14 years ago, I worked with an Iolani alumnus who resented Punahou School just as much.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Hard to fill the gap when Tafiti is out. No QB pressure all night. I like the fact Brian Ah Yat is at Kam. He understands how to break down any passing offense.

@TheNewNORM:

Yeah; I didn't realize how good Tafiti is until I saw the replay of the second Punahou v Kamehameha game (the one Kamehameha won) last night. He's a senior; can I even hope that he's headed for UH? The way he played in that game, I think he could start at most colleges.

I hope Ah Yat can also break down St Louis' pass game. But, he'll have to figure-out how to stop St Louis QB Bianco's running. That seemed to have killed Punahou as much as his passing.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Kale ANE should have waited for the Farrington coaching job. Nobody cares about the poor districts like Kalihi and Waianae. ILH poaches those district dry then the Mililani crew gets the rest.

@TheNewNORM:

Did Ane know the Farrington position would open-up? Looks like he grabbed whatever he could; when McKinley High came knocking, did he throw himself at them? I was surprised he took the McKinley position, because that school is so weak in football. Imagine if he were able to take the Waianae position; while McKinley is in D2, Waianae is in Open, same as Punahou. And, how was Waianae able to clobber Leilehua last night? Leilehua was #8, and Waianae got its butt kicked by Mililani last week. I figure Ane would do at least as good a job with Waianae as its current coach is. Is there a chance Waianae might make States? Imagine if they did, and Ane were their coach; Punahou is already done. Wouldn't that have been something.

[gopunahou]

Hard to fill the gap when Tafiti is out. No QB pressure all night. I like the fact Brian Ah Yat is at Kam. He understands how to break down any passing offense.

@TheNewNORM:

Yeah; I didn't realize how good Tafiti is until I saw the replay of the second Punahou v Kamehameha game (the one Kamehameha won) last night. He's a senior; can I even hope that he's headed for UH? The way he played in that game, I think he could start at most colleges.

I hope Ah Yat can also break down St Louis' pass game. But, he'll have to figure-out how to stop St Louis QB Bianco's running. That seemed to have killed Punahou as much as his passing.

Bianco's running hurt Kamehameha in the second game.

I think that the player we expected to start at RB (Alai Williams) missed most of the year. Don't think he's played since the 1st KSK game.

And Iolani hasn't dominated D1 as much as they dominated D2. They've won a lot of games against OIA D1 opponents but haven't won a D1 title. Top-tier OIA D1 teams have also given them battles. Iolani's presence in D1 would only bother me if they started fielding the kind of teams they did in the 90s. Good thing Iolani was playing the big boys as much as they were playing Damien and Pac-Five in the 90s.

[HS Football Fanatic]

Hard to fill the gap when Tafiti is out. No QB pressure all night. I like the fact Brian Ah Yat is at Kam. He understands how to break down any passing offense.

@TheNewNORM:

Yeah; I didn't realize how good Tafiti is until I saw the replay of the second Punahou v Kamehameha game (the one Kamehameha won) last night. He's a senior; can I even hope that he's headed for UH? The way he played in that game, I think he could start at most colleges.

I hope Ah Yat can also break down St Louis' pass game. But, he'll have to figure-out how to stop St Louis QB Bianco's running. That seemed to have killed Punahou as much as his passing.

Bianco's running hurt Kamehameha in the second game.

I think that the player we expected to start at RB (Alai Williams) missed most of the year. Don't think he's played since the 1st KSK game.

And Iolani hasn't dominated D1 as much as they dominated D2. They've won a lot of games against OIA D1 opponents but haven't won a D1 title. Top-tier OIA D1 teams have also given them battles. Iolani's presence in D1 would only bother me if they started fielding the kind of teams they did in the 90s. Good thing Iolani was playing the big boys as much as they were playing Damien and Pac-Five in the 90s.

@gopunahou:

Yeah, Kamehameha's front-seven has to figure-out a way to contain Bianco. I think it all comes down to the quick down-linemen getting penetration against St Louis' fat, slow hogs on O-line. But perhaps the LBs need to stay home so they can hammer Bianco if he decides to tuck and run. I suppose they'll keep Palama at rush end; he's supposed to be an LB, I think. He was kicking Bianco's butt at rush end the first time they played each other.

We'll see what happens to Iolani at States. Meanwhile, they play Kailua before then. I thought Kailua's O-line would flatten Iolani's D-line, but I don't know now. Kailua got beat by Waipahu on Friday.

[Jacob Makaiwi]

My Saturday night predictions and the outcomes:
- Leilehua upset win over Waianae 21-13
- Waianae over Leilehua 47-6
- Kahuku over Farrington 42-7
- Kahuku over Farrington 75-6
- Castle upset over Roosevelt 28-21
- Castle over Roosevelt 18-14
- Keaau over Waiakea 49-10
- Keaau over Waiakea 20-17
- Kaiser over Waialua 21-15
- Kaiser over Waialua 31-7
- Pearl City over Radford 35-6
- Radford over Pearl City 39-21
- Nanakuli over Kalaheo 33-3
- Nanakuli over Kalaheo 49-0
- Waimea over Kauai 28-14
- Waimea over Kauai 30-13
- Baldwin over Kekaulike 35-14
- Baldwin over Kekaulike 22-0

7 out of 9 predicted right. Waimea and Kauai game closest to being predicted right with just 3 points off.
14 out of 18 winning team outcomes predicted right over the weekend about 78% right.
Great job to all teams that played last week, and good luck to this upcoming week. I’m bummed out for Leilehua, but it must have been good for the fans in Waianae finally being able to cheer in their stadium and capping it off with a victory in the end. This weekend the Mighty Mules play with who I think should win it all in the end- Kahuku. Going to have to play perfect to stand a chance against them.

HS Football Fanatic- to answer your question to why some people add the word Mighty before the word Mules for Leilehua, it’s because technically that’s the full name of their mascot. Mighty Mules is their name on Leilehua’s school emblem and the sign at the front of the school says Leilehua High School- Home of the Mighty Mules. So technically that’s why some people call the Leilehua Mules, the Mighty Mules. But no harm in just calling them the Mules. And no I only played on the Varsity for 2 years. I just meant that I played all 4 years in High School at Kamehameha. 2 in JV and 2 in Varsity.

[gopunahou]

On the subject of Iolani’s presence in D1, will they now feel the need to field the types of teams that they did in the 90s?

[HS Football Fanatic]

My Saturday night predictions and the outcomes:
- Leilehua upset win over Waianae 21-13
- Waianae over Leilehua 47-6
- Kahuku over Farrington 42-7
- Kahuku over Farrington 75-6
- Castle upset over Roosevelt 28-21
- Castle over Roosevelt 18-14
- Keaau over Waiakea 49-10
- Keaau over Waiakea 20-17
- Kaiser over Waialua 21-15
- Kaiser over Waialua 31-7
- Pearl City over Radford 35-6
- Radford over Pearl City 39-21
- Nanakuli over Kalaheo 33-3
- Nanakuli over Kalaheo 49-0
- Waimea over Kauai 28-14
- Waimea over Kauai 30-13
- Baldwin over Kekaulike 35-14
- Baldwin over Kekaulike 22-0

7 out of 9 predicted right. Waimea and Kauai game closest to being predicted right with just 3 points off.
14 out of 18 winning team outcomes predicted right over the weekend about 78% right.
Great job to all teams that played last week, and good luck to this upcoming week. I’m bummed out for Leilehua, but it must have been good for the fans in Waianae finally being able to cheer in their stadium and capping it off with a victory in the end. This weekend the Mighty Mules play with who I think should win it all in the end- Kahuku. Going to have to play perfect to stand a chance against them.

HS Football Fanatic- to answer your question to why some people add the word Mighty before the word Mules for Leilehua, it’s because technically that’s the full name of their mascot. Mighty Mules is their name on Leilehua’s school emblem and the sign at the front of the school says Leilehua High School- Home of the Mighty Mules. So technically that’s why some people call the Leilehua Mules, the Mighty Mules. But no harm in just calling them the Mules. And no I only played on the Varsity for 2 years. I just meant that I played all 4 years in High School at Kamehameha. 2 in JV and 2 in Varsity.

@Jacob Makaiwi:

I don't know what happened to Leilehua; I mean, you said they have size on the line. Plus, they were ranked #8. You also said they don't really have a good QB, but then why were they ranked as high as #8? Well, anyway, Waianae literally blew-away that notion. I think we both know what's going to happen when Leilehua plays Kahuku: They are going to get their butts whooped. I mean, if Waianae blew them out, I'd hate to think what Kahuku will do to them. Might not be as bad as what Farrington endured, but I think the score will still be pretty ugly. I think given the personnel that Leilehua has this year, even if they play a "perfect" game, it's simply not going to be enough for them to stand a chance against Kahuku. As it is, I think Mililani will have to have a perfect game to stand a chance against Kahuku, and most polls have Mililani ranked right behind them.

I went to high school in the mid-'70s, and I'd never heard Leilehua High referred to as the Mighty Mules; it was always just Mules. I mean, what if every school did that? Then Kamehameha Schools, for example, would be the Mighty Warriors. Seems a bit much; I for one prefer Mules.

[HS Football Fanatic]

On the subject of Iolani’s presence in D1, will they now feel the need to field the types of teams that they did in the 90s?

@gopunahou:

I don't know, I think Iolani School has been extraordinarily lucky the past 15-20 years. I mean, they generally haven't had much physical size during those years, yet they've never sucked in football. They've often/usually been ILH champs in whichever division they happened to be in. And even right now, they're ILH (D1) champs again. Having said that, I don't think they "feel the need" to field outstanding teams the way, say, St Louis School does. I don't get the impression that Iolani alumni are as rabid about football excellence as St Louis alumni are; that's one thing.

[ChadFukuoka]

My Saturday night predictions and the outcomes:
- Leilehua upset win over Waianae 21-13
- Waianae over Leilehua 47-6
- Kahuku over Farrington 42-7
- Kahuku over Farrington 75-6
- Castle upset over Roosevelt 28-21
- Castle over Roosevelt 18-14
- Keaau over Waiakea 49-10
- Keaau over Waiakea 20-17
- Kaiser over Waialua 21-15
- Kaiser over Waialua 31-7
- Pearl City over Radford 35-6
- Radford over Pearl City 39-21
- Nanakuli over Kalaheo 33-3
- Nanakuli over Kalaheo 49-0
- Waimea over Kauai 28-14
- Waimea over Kauai 30-13
- Baldwin over Kekaulike 35-14
- Baldwin over Kekaulike 22-0

7 out of 9 predicted right. Waimea and Kauai game closest to being predicted right with just 3 points off.
14 out of 18 winning team outcomes predicted right over the weekend about 78% right.
Great job to all teams that played last week, and good luck to this upcoming week. I’m bummed out for Leilehua, but it must have been good for the fans in Waianae finally being able to cheer in their stadium and capping it off with a victory in the end. This weekend the Mighty Mules play with who I think should win it all in the end- Kahuku. Going to have to play perfect to stand a chance against them.

HS Football Fanatic- to answer your question to why some people add the word Mighty before the word Mules for Leilehua, it’s because technically that’s the full name of their mascot. Mighty Mules is their name on Leilehua’s school emblem and the sign at the front of the school says Leilehua High School- Home of the Mighty Mules. So technically that’s why some people call the Leilehua Mules, the Mighty Mules. But no harm in just calling them the Mules. And no I only played on the Varsity for 2 years. I just meant that I played all 4 years in High School at Kamehameha. 2 in JV and 2 in Varsity.

@Jacob Makaiwi:

I don't know what happened to Leilehua; I mean, you said they have size on the line. Plus, they were ranked #8. You also said they don't really have a good QB, but then why were they ranked as high as #8? Well, anyway, Waianae literally blew-away that notion. I think we both know what's going to happen when Leilehua plays Kahuku: They are going to get their butts whooped. I mean, if Waianae blew them out, I'd hate to think what Kahuku will do to them. Might not be as bad as what Farrington endured, but I think the score will still be pretty ugly. I think given the personnel that Leilehua has this year, even if they play a "perfect" game, it's simply not going to be enough for them to stand a chance against Kahuku. As it is, I think Mililani will have to have a perfect game to stand a chance against Kahuku, and most polls have Mililani ranked right behind them.

I went to high school in the mid-'70s, and I'd never heard Leilehua High referred to as the Mighty Mules; it was always just Mules. I mean, what if every school did that? Then Kamehameha Schools, for example, would be the Mighty Warriors. Seems a bit much; I for one prefer Mules.

I’ve been to a few Leilehua home games several years ago. The sign in their parking lot entrance does say Leilehua High School, Home of the Mighty Mules. I’m guessing it’s just another way for students and alumni to take pride and embrace their nickname.

[gopunahou]

On the subject of Iolani’s presence in D1, will they now feel the need to field the types of teams that they did in the 90s?

@gopunahou:

I don't know, I think Iolani School has been extraordinarily lucky the past 15-20 years. I mean, they generally haven't had much physical size during those years, yet they've never sucked in football. They've often/usually been ILH champs in whichever division they happened to be in. And even right now, they're ILH (D1) champs again. Having said that, I don't think they "feel the need" to field outstanding teams the way, say, St Louis School does. I don't get the impression that Iolani alumni are as rabid about football excellence as St Louis alumni are; that's one thing.

They were much bigger than Damien and Pac-Five in the 90s.

[HS Football Fanatic]

@ChadFukuoka:

I think you're right. I doubt that "Mighty Mules" is the school's official nickname; I think it's just, "Mules". I recall attending a Moanalua football game back in the late-'80s, and I heard the cheerleaders shout, "Go Mighty Menes!" ("Menes" is short for, "Menehunes". The school didn't officially change its nickname to "Na Menehune" until about 2006. Of course the nickname didn't really "change"; they just made it correctly Hawaiian.)