The Kaiser Cougars won their first three games in commanding fashion and continued the trend Saturday night.
While the Cougars’ offense has rotated through athletes both at running back and receiver, junior Ethan Lynch was the star of the show in a 42-0 shutout of McKinley at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.
In the previous three games, Lynch’s numbers were on par with many of the other running backs, recording eight carries for 58 yards and one TD as well as three receptions for 2 yards.
Although Lynch is listed as a receiver, junior Mason Yoshino and senior Dre Falls have seen more catches and TDs, so Lynch has become more of a dynamic athlete who can easily switch between the two positions.
His speed and agility has seen no better spotlight than his performance against the Tigers. He scored three of Kaiser’s six TDs and they all came on running plays.
His first rushing score occurred near the end of the first quarter on a 17-yard run, while his second from 1 yard out finished the first half.
Lynch’s third TD was Kaiser’s final score of the night — a 10-yard rush halfway through the third quarter for a 42-0 lead.
Notching nine carries for 60 yards and three scores, Lynch was undoubtedly one of the Cougars’ most multifaceted athletes alongside freshman QB Easton Yoshino, who went 13-for-19 for 134 yards and two TDs.
Kaiser’s 4-0 start is its best since the Prep Bowl-wining team in 1979 went undefeated through the season.
Kaiser 42, McKinley 0
At Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium
>> Kaiser (4-0, 2-0) 21 14 7 0 — 42
>> McKinley (0-4, 0-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Kaiser — Dre Falls 1 pass from Easton Yoshino (Kyler Halvorsen kick)
Kaiser — Mason Yoshino 15 pass from E. Yoshino (Halvorsen kick)
Kaiser — Ethan Lynch 17 run (Halvorsen kick)
Kaiser — Ethan Domen 2 run (Halvorsen kick)
Kaiser — Lynch 1 run (Halvorsen kick)
Kaiser — Lynch 10 run (Halia White kick)
RUSHING — Kaiser: Lynch 9-60, Hunter Phelps 3-15, Calvin Lim’e 1-12, Hopoate Aholelei 5-9, Brock Perreira 2-3, Domen 1-2, E. Yoshino 1-(minus 16). McKinley: Franklin Pham 9-20, Zion Williams 7-19, Khert Vincent-Saing 7-18, Tyler Sheidlin 2-12, Beneiah Togafau 1-1, Quincy Owens-Barnes 1-(minus 1), Alexandria Buchanan 2-(minus 10).
PASSING — Kaiser: E. Yoshino 13-19-0-134, Perreira 2-4-0-30. McKinley: Alexandria Buchanan 4-11-0-42.
RECEIVING — Kaiser: M. Yoshino 4-52, Falls 4-37, Xavier Kepa 2-27, Mason Sparrow 2-17, Lynch 1-13, Jesse Stroede 1-9, Kamakana Mahiko 1-9. McKinley: Aaron Velasco 1-14, Togafau 1-13, Keanu Pimental 1-10, Joab Cruz 1-5.
Aloha.
Dear Noelle, Nice story about the current Kaiser Cougar football team and their 4-0 record so far this season. What a start! It seems to me, if I remember correctly, there might have been an “undefeated” team at Kaiser High School under then head football coach Tony Gayer (Now a vice-principal who still coaches) and a great group of young assistant football coaches. Granted, the conferences/divisions back then were much different, still had the Prep Bowl and the schedule was different, as well.
Hmmm, Da kine – come to think of it, there year was 1996 and the Cougars of Kaiser high – led by QB Grant Sato and RB/WR Brett Kakuda started the OIA season with a record of 7-0! They went to the playoffs as the “Blue” Conference Champions (yep, they had a Red, a White, and a Blue division back den… for those who remember!) and they went upset a bigger team in Aiea HS in the playoffs (coached by Wendell Say) before losing in the 2nd round of the playoffs to eventual OIA Champ, Wai`anae HS (under then head football coach Leo Ta’aca).
Here’s one source to verify this 7-0 record:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/96/10/31/sports/story2.html
Maybe someone at the OIA headquarters can also verify this – or someone at the newspaper?
(not many 29-year old head football coaches these days in Hawai`i – whole coaching staff was 20-somethings in 1996!)
Thank goodness they hired Bill Von Arnswaldt as the Athletic Director!
[Sure, the 1979 Kaiser team recruited very hard to put together a “Prep-Bowl” champion under head coach Ron Lee, and Rich Miano was the head coach in 2013 when they won the Division 2 “State” championship. However, let’s not forget the very good 1996 football team of Kaiser High School – arguably one of the best teams in Kaiser Cougar football history.]
aloha
Update. Who knew that the 1996 Kaiser Cougar season (and all the seasons since Kaiser HS was built in 1972!) was in the archive section of this website?
https://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/kaiser-football/statistics/
Found this information – although I am not sure if “pre-season” games were “Officially counted” back then. (Although I do remember Brett Kakuda scoring six Touchdowns against Waialua! )
[Again… Back then, “Pre-season” games really did not count – they were more like today’s NFL “Pre-season” – they played the games to get ready for the Regular Season. Statistics were not officially kept back then. They were glorified scrimmages – so we never counted them. I guess the rules were different back then. Different time… O`ahu Prep Bowl instead of HHSAA First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championships. I remember when still had the NFL Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium (stadium still nice and new!)… Then again, we used to be able to go to the Airport gate and greet or send off ohana right at the gate, too. Ah, da good ole dayz! ]
My little sis was in that Kaiser class of 1997!
That class has some talented baseball players too.
I remember playing Pop Warner some of their older bros for the Hawai’i Kai Dolphins.
I didn’t end up attending Kaiser since I had to move to the mainland….Den my parents move back once I graduated LOL