Thirty years after Kamehameha won its only Prep Bowl, the Warriors claimed their first state championship in 2004 behind running back Jayson Rego.
Rego, who was the offensive player of the year in both the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspapers, rushed for 212 yards on a staggering 39 carries in the state final to lead the Warriors over Leilehua and quarterback Bryant Moniz.
The Mules were a longshot to make the finals, but Nolan Tokuda locked up the coach of the year honors when his steam stunned top-seeded Kahuku in the state semifinals.
The newspapers differed on the defensive player of the year award. The Advertiser went with Kamehameha defensive tackle Mika Kane, who helped the Warriors allow just 20 total points over their last five games.
The Star-Bulletin chose Baldwin linebacker Kaluka Maiava as its defensive player of the year. Maiava remains the only player ever from the neighbor islands to earn one of the major state player of the year awards.
Moniz, who was a sophomore, was named to the second team by both newspapers. Mules receiver Chustin Senas was the only underclassman to make the Advertiser first team.
Kahuku junior defensive lineman Byron Beatty made the Star-Bulletin first team, as did ‘Iolani junior quarterback Kiran Kepo’o. The Advertiser chose Mililani’s Maka Kahoano as its quarterback on the first team.
For a listing of all prep football all-star teams over the years that have been posted, click here.
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Subscribers to the Star-Advertiser can search full-page archives going back two years for free (pages are not available on the archive for 30 days after publication) at Newspapers.com. To access digitized newspapers from farther back — all the way to 1840 — subscriptions to staradvertiser.newspapers.com are available for $7.95 per month or $29.95 for six months.
“Thirty years after Kamehameha won its only Prep Bowl…” Mr. Campany, better check the aforementioned statement for accuracy because, well, it’s incorrect.