You see it at every level, from the NFL on down. A team’s quarterback goes down and its fortunes go down with him. The new guy is capable, but understandably just a little bit behind on the reads, and his throws don’t look the same to the receivers. Not at Aiea. Jordan Liilii went down with a broken foot early in the second game of the season, forcing veteran coach Wendell Say to turn to linebacker Mana Kaahanui to run […]
Off to a busy start in Aiea, where Na Alii got a 50-plus-yard interception return for a touchdown by Francisco Jajo on Waianae’s opening possession. The Surfriders got a tremendous kick return by Trensten Spragling, plus a 15-yard penalty on Aiea, to set up a field goal by Pookela Noa-Nakamoto to cut the lead to 7-3 early on. 7:42 p.m. Fullback Mahvan Tau scores on a blast up the left side to give Waianae a 9-7 lead with less than […]
There will certainly be no secrets when No. 5 Waianae visits fellow unbeaten Aiea on Saturday night. The game features two coaches who have been going at it ever since Danny Matsumoto took over at Waianae in 2000. Wendell Say has been at Aiea since 1991. Despite Waianae’s reputation as a perennial power, Say has always had his team prepared for the tough-running bunch. Matsumoto holds the career edge 7-5 and has won in each of the past two years […]
So far, Aiea is making good on its season-opening four-game homestand. Under clear skies, Na Alii dispatched Pac-Five 33-8 on Friday night, their second straight win on their own field to open the season following last week’s 35-0 pasting of Kailua. As there was no JV game (Pac-Five doesn’t have a JV team) the elevated terrain really shined in daylight during tipoff with Pearl Harbor as the backdrop. Aiea’s next two outings at home, though, figure not to be so […]
Nothing stays on TV for 25 years without a little star power, and OC 16 has had more than enough to keep it going. The cable station, which began as KBLE-17, will begin its 25th year of broadcasting high school sports on Thursday when Punahou visits Mililani. Nobody knows which names will be remembered 25 years from now, just as nobody knew that one of the most recognizable names from that first game was Aiea’s little quarterback. Current Leilehua coach […]
These are your daddy’s preseason games. So often high school coaches approach preseason games the same way NFL coaches do, getting their starters in for a series or two and settling back to watch everyone else get a chance after that. But in the first week of 2013, it seemed everyone was going for the throat. Sure, Mililani used both its quarterbacks when coach Rod York has pledged that he will choose one to be the starter when games start […]
Tour stop: Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013 It’s that time of year again. Or as Nanakuli football coach Keala Watson dubs it, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Prep football media/fiends/fanatics relish this early season stretch. We get to travel a bit around the island, see old faces and new. It started a week ago with Leilehua and resumes each day. Today, six schools are slated for photographs, but I will only get to see three because of time conflicts. […]