The OIA semifinals are set with Waianae’s thrilling win over Mililani.
With the HHSAA’s new open division tournament, the games won’t mean quite as much as they have in the past but they will still be the only road to an OIA title. All four teams are already locked into state tournament slots.
Kahuku is the favorite to repeat as public school champion, but will have to turn back Waianae to earn the right. The Red Raiders beat the Seariders 28-0 on the North Shore back in August.
Kahuku is looking for its 26th appearance in the OIA championship, more than any other school. Waianae is right behind them with 24 OIA title game appearances, and only one of them will get there this year. The last four times Waianae made it, they lost to Kahuku in the championship.
Kapolei and Farrington meet in the other semifinal, the Hurricanes beat the Governors 28-7 on Sept. 23. It will be the first time for a postseason stadium game for the Hurricanes.
The Governors will be looking to earn their eighth appearance in the OIA final, but they have lost all but one of them (1990). Kapolei has never been in a top tier OIA championship game, but lost to Aiea in the 2003 OIA White championship.
Only half of the four seeded teams advanced to the final four, with division champs Kapolei and Kahuku getting it done. Campbell and Mililani fell short and will vie for the state Division I championship.
Those two teams will get a chance to get better on Friday, when they play a doubleheader at Mililani. Campbell will play Moanalua at 5 p.m. with Leilehua and Mililani to follow. It will be televised.
Outright Kahuku and Waianae should have exclusive rights to play in the first game at Aloha Stadium on Saturday/22nd and definitely the same time on Saturday/28th for Kahuku. RR4L
I remember back in the day when Larry Ginoza and the Waianae Seariders ruled the OIA. It all ended in a late November night in the 1980 Prep Bowl when Iolani pushed Waianae all over the field, both sides of the lines of scrimmage. That’s when the Waianae football dynasty came crashing down. From that point on, no other team feared Waianae as they did before. Never again would Waianae come in favored in a state championship football game. In the 1980s, you could see Kahuku getitng better and better. They took control of the OIA from Waianae in the late 1980s.
@papercrane, do you mean second game? i agree they need to be in the night cap.
The last 4 times Waianae made the OIA title game they lost to Leilehua ’07 in one of them and, Kahuku ’06, 00 and ’98. In ’07 Leilehua had a sophomore named Andrew Manley and a stiff defense. In ’06 that game between Waianae and Kahuku was a defensive battle.
Gandhi who won that game and what was the score?
Chloropicrin the advantage of being #1 is getting to play the early game. That way after you win you get to scout your opponent for the following week. Uhhh duhhh
But Kahuku is the supreme team, they don’t have to scout, right? Cause in their online forum fans minds they’ll roll through everyone.
Even God set one day aside to rest.
Wow ghandi stop reaching! Check your stats again boy! Waianae has 18 oia titles last one was is 97! When matsumoto took over searider football died.
88, final score in 1980 Prep Bowl, 7-7 tie. Anyone who attended that game would have seen Waianae get blown out by Iolani. Score should have been 28-0. Iolani had 2 length of the field drives in the 4th quarter, but got no points out of it. Waianae couldn’t have had more than 3 first downs the entire game. They hit 2 big passes right before the end of the first half, the only plays all game long that went over 3 yards. That got them inside Iolani’s 10, but even then, it took Waianae 8 plays to finally score on a 4th down pass. The Waianae QB would have been buried a millisecond later. He barely gets the pass off in time. Check out the highlights on YouTube.
I just watched the highlights. Iolani scored on one long pass. Waianae drove the feild for their score and had more than 3 first downs. I saw both teams playing a good defensive game evident by the fumbles and interceptions by both teams. I think your mind is playing tricks on you freind. The only guy getting pushed around is the Iolani player being pushed by the medics off the feild
Mililani should have won or at least tie they had the opportunity but a botched play after a fumble recovery they couldn’t get it done. The last minutes of the game they should have kept it on the ground. Dillion Gabriel isn’t the most consistent and they had the time
Gandhi, don’t you ever get tired of saying the same damn thing on every story HPW writes about Waianae? You’re always bringing up the 1980 prep bowl and how “Waianae football was never the same since that game”. Waianae won 9 more OIA titles after the ’80 season and would’ve won a few more prep bowls if it wasn’t for Cal Lee and his all-star recruits. Like oia#1 said, it wasn’t until Matsumoto took over that Waianae football really went on the decline.
RidgeRunner, that was my team, my beloved Waianae Seariders of the 1970s. I seen them whip Punahou in the 1977 Prep Bowl. I seen them beat Kamehameha the next year in all Black uniforms. Great players. I remember the 1979 defense. Best ever in the OIA. Had Max Maneafaiga, Bob Sylva, Jerrry Faagai, Elgin Awong, Watson Mahaulu, Frank Damas, Joe Masaniai (lifer), Fred Toilolo.
Well the bad thing about being on top is that it hurt alot when you fall!!. This is the bests of the bests in the playoffs and all 4 teams no matter how that got here! Theirs the best in the oia. And on Any given game day any team can win, its who wants it more that nite!!. And all you shit talkers downing other team. saying your team is going to win, well just a reminder when your team took another team lightly!!!( kahuku vs bishop gorman, waianae vs cambell, kapolei vs waianae, govs vs millilani). So all you sideline coaches, rude fans, and think there better then there coaches!! Just remember that our kids are playing the game not you!!.. So just injoy the game cause no matter what…it is just a game…GOOD LUCK BOYS# kahuku- waianae- kapolei- farrington.
Anyone else happy that the semis is on Saturday? Glad it is, more people from the north shore and westside can plan to go.
Don’t understand why Mililani vs.Leileihua and Campbell vs.Moanalua??? Why not go into the D1 States healthy? Will it determine Seed. Sheesh this HHSAA wing it tournament is screwy. Alot of the D1 teams should have turned in their pads this week.
Yeah I think it will determine seed. With all these extra games, the statistics / records are at stake to be broken. I mean back then if you lost, that’s it. Now you could be playing legitimately for another 4-6 weeks.
Paper Crane: You would think that the officials would use some common sense and schedule the Kahuku/Waianae game at 5:30 because of having the longest journey back to their hometown. Traveling late at night on the highway back to the Northshore or Waianae is not the safest, especially at that time of the night….fatigue, DUI, speeding and getting home late. But again, it’s all about drawing the largest crowd for the second game and making more money.
Does the OIA get any kickbacks from OC16 for televising the games? I mean the schools do lose revenue at the gate. You would not see the NFL allow the networks to televise the game without guaranteed money. IM not saying I don’t appreciate what OC does, but the have a lot of sponsors, to help pay for productions do some of those monies go to the host school? Gone are the days of large attendance regular season l and playoff game. Just my thoughts on drawing more crowd to the game.
Northshore you right about the drive either homeward bound by windward or leeward route like they got them hellacious turns and long straight away highways that have claimed many young lives but anyway god bless with safe driving home win or lose; still my pick for this Saturday whereas Kahuku 39 and Waianae 10.
RR4L