The Honolulu Star-Advertiser will begin its annual preseason countdown of its top 10 high school football teams next Tuesday.
Defending Open Division state champion Saint Louis and 2015 Division I state champion Kahuku, which have met in the last two state finals, figure to again be at the top of the list when the final team is released one day prior to the start of the 2017 season on Aug. 4.
High School Football America released its preseason national top 100 on Monday listing teams from 27 states.
Only one made it from Hawaii and it’s not the defending champs.
Kahuku just barely squeezed into the rankings at No. 99. The Red Raiders have lost only two games over the last two years (a 30-14 loss to Saint Louis in the state final and a 35-7 loss to Bishop Gorman, the eventual national champion, last season).
Bishop Gorman will begin the year at No. 4 with a pair of California teams, St. John Bosco and Mater Dei, holding the top two spots.
Narbonne (Calif.), ranked No. 28, will visit the islands Sept. 23 for a game against Saint Louis at Aloha Stadium.
Mission Viejo (Calif.), ranked No. 47, will head to Maui on Aug. 19 to play Baldwin at War Memorial Stadium.
The Red Raiders will get a chance to knock off elite mainland competition when they square off against No. 65 Bingham (Utah) in the second game of the Polynesian Football Classic at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Sept. 9.
A week prior to that game on Sept. 2, Punahou will play No. 77 Serra (Calif.) in San Diego.
Interesting to see that Narbonne is ranked above Mission Viejo and Long Beach Poly.
Just as interesting is to see Liberty of NV ranked above Bingham,
Go Big Red!!!
or interest kahuku above stlous, only matter post ranking not prerank
Interesting to see St. Louis post Tua. Should make for a close ILH season.
Whhy – STL run and shoot offense is a machine, next man up. They will never have a shortage of Quality QB’s because the best up and coming QBs are lining up to take the reigns even if they got to wait their SR year. The real question is if STL can reload in all the other positions. I think in 2015 they were weak in the RB position which revealed itself in the lost to Kahuku for the title. Cant wait to see the top teams play, most of us FB gurus can tell by mid season which teams are the real deal.
Yes it is next man up at the Lou. But Tua is no ordinary shoe to fill. Arguably best qb in Hawaii high school history, Elite 11 winner, and a top prospect in the country. With that said, yes, interesting to see St Lou and the ILH season unfold. Good luck to them all. I can smell FOOTBALL SEASON IN THE AIR!!
There is no next man up. TuaMan was everything for the Crusaders. Now that he is gone Punahou will take the ILH for the next 4 years, AGAIN.
The Open last year should have an asterisk being it was a HHSAA set up. Also asterisk next to Mililani because it said 2016 Division 1 Champs.