Post-game interviews with WR Keanu Momoa, SB Isain Wong, QB Kale Kanehailua, OL/DL Lyle Tuiloma and head coach Keala Watson. Nanakuli rallied to edge Pearl City 37-36 in overtime for the OIA Division II championship.
It’s been a weekend (or two) chock full of prep football. Doubleheaders are nice, but great twinbills are unbeatable. The OIA title games at Aloha Stadium on Friday began, for players, coaches, bus drivers, fans and media dweebs (myself included) with the awesomeness of being stuck in rainy pre-Halloween traffic. I was stuck for almost 2 hours getting from Kakaako to the stadium, but I should count my blessings. Billy “Bonecrusher” Hull was trapped among the four-wheeled sardine cans for […]
EPIC BATTLE. INSTANT CLASSIC. And yes, I wanted to see more. Nanakuli rallied from a 15-0 deficit for a stunning 37-36 overtime win over Pearl City in the OIA Division II championship game at Aloha Stadium. Friday, Oct. 31, 2014.
First quarter The 5:30 p.m. kickoff has been delayed for various reasons. It’s 5:41 and now here we go. Nanakuli’s community is here in FULL FORCE. Right on, Golden Hawks. Pooch kick by NAN on the opening kickoff and nobody for PC calls fair catch. They luck out and recover the bouncing ball. PC ball at its 44. PC series 1: First play from scrimmage, Jordan Taamu’s deep post pass is picked off by safety Randon Kahili-Frantela on a dive. […]
Protected by the Waianae mountain range on three sides and by the ocean on the other, Nanakuli Valley is a perfect place for a tribe to build a fortress. It’s where the undefeated Golden Hawks call home, and it’s a place that instills pride in the players and coaches on the football team. “Defend the valley,” a slogan on their fans’ and coaches’ T-shirts, is the call heard ’round these parts this year. But now bigger things are on the […]
Lyle Tuiloma stands tall in Nanakuli. If you gaze across the field during a Golden Hawks practice, game or postgame handshake, it’s doubtful that you’ll miss seeing the solidly built Tuiloma in jersey No. 74. That’s why it wasn’t a surprise to see Tuiloma, front and center, pointing toward his teammates and coaches in a celebration photo taken by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Bruce Asato moments after Nanakuli’s 28-21 comeback win over Pearl City on Sept. 26. It also wasn’t a […]
Nanakuli wrapped up an undefeated regular season on Friday night by holding off Kalani for a 48-35 victory at Kaiser Stadium. As the OIA Division II regular-season champs, the Golden Hawks (8-0) get a rematch with the Falcons (4-4), the playoffs’ No. 4 seed, in two weeks. It is Nanakuli’s first championship of any kind in high school football since 1983, when it won the OIA and lost to Saint Louis in the Prep Bowl. But the Golden Hawks want […]
Nanakuli overcame a slew of mistakes, including four errant snaps and a blocked punt early in the first half that set the Golden Hawks back a total of 97 yards coupled with 87 yards in penalties, but it was a miscue by Radford in the game’s final moments that provided the pride of the West side with a reprieve in a 27-26 win over the Rams. Ragged Nanakuli (7-0), which began the game with only 31 players in uniform, stopped […]