Why hasn't a school on the west side of Oahu won a state football championship at the highest division?

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ChadFukuoka
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Why hasn't a school on the west side of Oahu won a state football championship at the highest division?

Post by ChadFukuoka »

I was just wondering this. Campbell, Waipahu, and Kapolei have 3 of the highest student enrollments in the state. But Waipahu is in D1, not Open, and Campbell and Kapolei are decent every year, but not quite at the level of Kahuku or Mililani.

There are a lot of good young football prospects in the West Oahu area. Do they just get recruited by private schools like St Louis or Punahou? Or do they transfer to Kahuku or Mililani instead of staying home? Is it coaching? I would have imagined that either Campbell or Kapolei, or even Waipahu would have won a state title at the top level before Mililani for example. It just seems like that part of the island is the fastest growing in terms of population. You'd think that would create a bigger talent pool for those schools to pick from.

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Re: Why hasn't a school on the west side of Oahu won a state football championship at the highest division?

Post by HS Football Fanatic »

ChadFukuoka wrote: Tue Feb 14, 2023 3:25 pm I was just wondering this. Campbell, Waipahu, and Kapolei have 3 of the highest student enrollments in the state. But Waipahu is in D1, not Open, and Campbell and Kapolei are decent every year, but not quite at the level of Kahuku or Mililani.

There are a lot of good young football prospects in the West Oahu area. Do they just get recruited by private schools like St Louis or Punahou? Or do they transfer to Kahuku or Mililani instead of staying home? Is it coaching? I would have imagined that either Campbell or Kapolei, or even Waipahu would have won a state title at the top level before Mililani for example. It just seems like that part of the island is the fastest growing in terms of population. You'd think that would create a bigger talent pool for those schools to pick from.
@ChadFukuoka:

Hi. I'd like to "come-out of retirement" again to offer my two cents worth.
1. I agree there are good football prospects in West Oahu. But, perhaps there isn't a "critical mass" of them at any ONE of the West schools, except Mililani. (Mililani High is considered a West school. It's in the Central District, and Central District and Leeward District schools are considered West schools.)
2. I suspect that private schools like St Louis and Punahou recruit island-wide. However, they don't seem to be concentrating on West Oahu. St Louis has been recruiting from MWH for decades, while Punahou has been raiding Kahuku for some eight years, at least?
3. I suspect the reason Mililani High has been so successful in football is that it has an HC (York) who recruits almost as heavily as Cal Lee had been recruiting for St Louis School for decades.
4. The HCs of Campbell, Waipahu and Kapolei don't heavily recruit, I suspect.
5. Your alma mater, Aiea High, made some waves this past season. They were quite successful; they had a pretty good season. And, if I'm not mistaken, their HC (Say) is currently the longest-serving vars football HC of any school on the island, public or private. I mean, he's been HC of Aiea's vars forever and a day. But, I don't think he recruits heavily.

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