Last week, we reported Kyan Miyasato of Hilo reached a total of 33 touchdown passes for the season, which was believed to be a single-season record in the BIIF.
It isn’t. We apologize for the error and will strive to be better.
In 2012, Kahoali‘i “Li‘i” Karratti, then a junior at D-II Konawaena, threw 42 touchdown passes with just eight interceptions.
In Karratti’s junior year (2012), the BIIF still played a round-robin schedule. D-I and D-II teams played together in a combined schedule. This year’s BIIF slate separated D-I from D-II. Former D-II powerhouse Konawaena moved up to D-I this fall. D-I teams, including defending champion Hilo, played each other twice in the regular season.
Miyasato’s total could grow. He’s got a regular-season finale against Konawaena tonight, then the BIIF playoffs next week. If the unbeaten Vikings prevail, they will advance to the state tournament and play at least one more game, possibly two or three.
Karratti’s football story was unusual. He played linebacker as a freshman, then switched to quarterback as a sophomore. As a junior, Konawaena’s offense caught fire under head coach Cliff Walters and then-offensive coordinator Brad Uemoto.
Karratti’s football life was interesting enough, to be sure. Things got wonky when the Wildcats hosted Nanakuli in the first round of the state tournament. The game was tied at 23, Konawaena ball at its 20 in the closing minutes. Karratti was chased back to his end zone, threw a pass from the goal line and was flagged for intentional grounding. By rule, a pass from the end zone ruled intentional grounding is a safety, and Nanakuli was awarded two points.
Video showed that the ball was over and probably beyond the goal line as Karratti released it on his follow-through, and that there was a receiver targeted by Karratti. It could have been ruled an incompletion. Instead, Nanakuli flew back to Oahu with a 25-23 win. Karratti was 9-for-25 with 295 yards, one TD and one pick in his final game as a Wildcat. He finished the 2012 season with 2,945 yards, 42 TDs and eight interceptions.
For all that success for Konawaena and Karratti, it ended with a sour note. Karratti had a falling out with Walters, according to Uemoto. Or vice-versa. It was about the Nanakuli game. Irreconcilable? Apparently.
The next season, Karratti played his senior year at Kaiser, where he passed for 1,469 yards and 12 touchdowns with eight picks. Kaiser went 13-1, including two forfeit wins. The Cougars routed Konawaena 59-6 in the first round of the state tourney. Karratti was 10-for-15 for 108 yards, two TD’s and one INT against his former team.
Kaiser then defeated Lahainaluna, 20-9, and Kauai, 17-7, to win the D-II state championship. Miano stepped down in the offseason.
Karratti committed to Southern Utah in 2014, recruited by then-head coach Ed Lamb. Karratti eventually returned home after Lamb moved on to become an assistant coach at BYU in 2016.
“I enjoyed coaching him,” Uemoto said. “He was a good kid. He was competitive.”
Lamb will be at the Hilo-Konawaena game tonight, according to Uemoto.
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