Football

When he’s not busy grinding away on his homework — and a 3.5 grade-point average — Liona Lefau is at track practice. Lefau runs the 100-meter dash and 4×100 relay. “I don’t even know what my fastest time is,” said Lefau, who last ran track two years ago, pre-pandemic, as a freshman. He is also making time for his brothers in Rebel Squad, the national championship team in Pylon that stepped into prominence in 2021. That same squad took the […]

Long before Kawika Rogers was blowing up defenders at the Division II state championships, he was on the radar of a few FBS football programs. Arizona State, Fresno State and UNLV took a liking to Kapaa’s 6-foot-6, 310-pound tackle. Later, Boise State and a green-tinted university in Eugene, Ore., also came forward with interest in the two-sport scholar-athlete. Oregon was on Rogers immediately after Kapaa overpowered Kamehameha-Maui in the D-II state final. “The coach from UH, coach (A’Lique) Terry, he […]

It didn’t take long for a Pac-12 Conference football program to notice Solomone Malafu. Arizona State is the first FBS program to make a scholarship offer to the 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker/running back from Kapaa. Malafu has a 3.6 grade-point average and was voted to the Star-Advertiser All-State first team by coaches and media after a scintillating performance at the Division II state championships. “Just after the last game, sending out my film to all these coaches. They saw mine and […]