Roosevelt football

Lahainaluna 48, Roosevelt 10, FINAL ———- 6:48 p.m.: Special night for Lahainaluna, which notches three special teams TDs, becoming the first team in HHSAA play to do so. 6:46 p.m.: Unfortunate way for Roosevelt’s banner season to end. This shouldn’t take anything away from what was a fantastic year for the Rough Riders, who picked up their first OIA championship. 6:41 p.m.: Roosevelt punts again, but mercifully no Rickard this time. Lahainaluna looks to drain the remaining five minutes of […]

Twelve is such a beautiful number for Rough Rider nation. Roosevelt is an amazing 12-1 after a typical gut-check victory. A 20-7 decision over a gritty Pac-Five squad vaulted the Rough Riders into the semifinal round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II State Championships. “We knew it was going to be a hard, tough game for us. Pac-Five is a great team. They came to play,” Roosevelt coach Kui Kahooilihala said. The home team in red answered with another […]

Chayden Sasaki-Kalamau knew it would be just as tough the second time. The Roosevelt senior defensive lineman and his unit put their energy into film study, reviewing every possible new wrinkle they hadn’t see the first time the Rough Riders played Pac-Five. Their diligence was rewarded. Roosevelt used clutch defense, including five sacks by Sasaki-Kalamau, plus a steady ground attack to stave off ILH representative Pac-Five 20-7 on a breezy Saturday night at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium. Roosevelt (12-1) will visit […]

Timing can be everything. Kui Kahooilihala understands this well. The longtime assistant coach saw Roosevelt often overachieve to keep up with the massive powerhouse teams of the OIA East for years. By the time he was asked to apply for the head coaching position, Kahooilihala did it more out of compliance with his friends than anything. Three years since being hired to guide the program, Kahooilihala not only turned the program back into a winner, but Roosevelt (11-1) won the […]

Marcus Hee’s role in two takeaways on Friday doubled as a means of giving back. With Roosevelt trailing Kaimuki in the fourth quarter of Friday’s OIA Division II championship game, the Rough Rider defensive back forced a fumble that teammate Isaac Kaleikau returned for the go-ahead touchdown. Hee later returned an interception 75 yards for a score to seal a 28-18 win and Roosevelt’s first title since claiming three consecutive ILH crowns from 1955 to ’57. Roosevelt celebrates a 28-18 […]