The first time I ever heard about the Kahuku football team was soon after I moved to Hawaii from Massachusetts in 1989.
It was in a conversation with Darryl Chin, who grew up on Oahu but was the sports editor at The Garden Island newspaper on Kauai at the time. He was telling me about how powerful that school was in football.
A few days later, I mentioned something back to him about the Red Raiders, calling the school “Kahaku” or some other mispronunciation common from outsiders.
Darryl laughed.
That November, I went to my first football game in the 50th state. It was Maui vs. Kapaa at Vidinha Stadium in the now-defunct Neighbor Islands Football Championship. The Sabers had a pretty good running quarterback and the Warriors had Kendall Goo on the offensive line. Within a year or two, Goo was starting for the University of Hawaii and a part of the Rainbow Warriors’ Holiday Bowl winning team in 1992.
When I started in The Garden Island sports department in 1991, a very interesting football season was about to brew. Bill Arakaki, now a district superintendent in the Department of Education, was the coach at Kauai High and I remember going to his office to hear about his team for a preseason story.
Dennis Fujimoto, a photographer at the paper, was telling me that the Kauai Red Raiders were sort of like the third wheel in the KIF and hadn’t won a title in ages, but that they had a ton of really good athletes on the roster.
I recall Arakaki going down his list of starters and hearing the names Sterling and Stewart Carvalho — twins — for the first time. Nowadays, Sterling is the head football coach at Kahuku and Stewart is one of his assistants.
And during that season, I got to know their father, Steven “Hawk” Carvalho, who was a color commentator for the radio broadcasts.
There was a super special player on that team by the name of Taylor Shigemoto. This kid could run like the wind and make people miss like no other high school player I’ve seen before or since. Shigemoto — all 5 foot, 7 inches (at the most) — got statewide recognition when he was named to the Hawaii High School Hall of Honor, Class of 1992.
Taylor is a successful body builder these days.
But I digress. It’s custom here at Bedrock Sports Hawaii to take you through the back story, perhaps a part of a story that seems like it has little to do with the main subject. Eh, it’s a way to build interest for the eventual payoff, but only if (and this is a big if) the reader has the time and patience to stick around.
So, where were we?
OK. Kauai High in the 1990s. That team wound up winning the KIF title, a rarity, and it would take them quite a while to win another. The Carvalhos and Shigemoto were juniors and poised to take it again as seniors, too.
But that’s when Hurricane Iniki got in the way — Sept. 11, 1991. Boom. A big whammy to the island. If you haven’t heard about it, look it up. In the satellite picture, you will see a massive, tightly wound GIGANTIC BOWLING BOWL of a storm appearing to swallow up the whole island.
The football season was supposed to start the next day.
Somehow, the powers that be eventually pulled it off and got a season going. Instead of the regular six-game schedule, the three teams only played four.
Sterling Carvalho, the Kauai quarterback, told me recently that he and his teammates were busier helping family, friends and neighbors rebuilding homes and lives than they were practicing football.
It wound up being a close football season finish, but Waimea squeaked past the Red Raiders for the title.
Aside from his smooth handling of the option offense, it was evident that perhaps Sterling’s best trait was leadership. He skillfully had that offense moving in unison.
Twin brother Stewart was a fast, sure-handed wide receiver and he was also a decorated KIF track star.
After that period of time, many years went by before I heard the name of Sterling Carvalho again. It was when a co-worker of mine in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser sports department, Dave Reardon, wrote a 2004 story about the Waialua track and field team of which Carvalho was the coach.
Then, years later, I heard Carvalho was an assistant football coach under Reggie Torres at Kahuku. I made sure to say hello to him at a game at Aloha Stadium.
Fast forward to 2018, when Carvalho was named Kahuku head coach and I put in a call to him for comment while breaking the story.
Little did any of us know that soon Carvalho would be bringing his team through the trials brought about by COVID-19. Well, that Hurricane Iniki experience surely helped. He knew that family and health and safety and well-being is more important than football, and that the bonds of a small community can overcome a lot.
In Carvalho’s first two seasons as the Red Raiders coach, you could see that he wanted to bring in a passing attack, something Kahuku never really had much success in doing. Running and defense was always the mantra.
So there were doubters, even though the Rebel Squad pylon football (a touch football passing game) team made up of many Kahuku players brought home national hardware. Pylon football success does not always translate to real, 11-on-11 tackle football.
But in this case, it did help quite a bit. You could tell when the Red Raiders began the 2021 season that the passing routes were sharper and more intricate than in the past and, more importantly, the execution was way better.
But how far could a Kahuku passing team get? What if there was a team with a great defense that could stop that aerial attack and, possibly, stop the Red Raiders cold?
Well, it nearly happened in the OIA championship game, when Kahuku fought back to win 21-14. In that game, the Kahuku defense holding Mililani down was the most important aspect.
Then, in the state semifinals against Campbell, the Sabers slowed down the Red Raiders’ passing game, but not enough in a 21-0 loss.
Perhaps ILH champion Saint Louis could do it, some people (not Kahuku fans, of course) wondered.
And on that particular night of the state championship game, a 49-14 flattening of the four-time defending state Open champion Crusaders, there was NO CHANCE of that.
Kahuku’s passing offense was on fire. One of the players, Kainoa Carvalho, Stewart’s son, danced around defenders and found soft spots in Saint Louis’ armor time and time again to catch passes from quarterback Jason Mariteragi. The kid known as Kai-Kai is only a junior and his “make ’em miss” ability reminds me a little bit of Taylor Shigemoto from the 1990s.
And Kahuku’s defense was never in question. Although they let up more points and yards than the 2015 Kahuku state championship defense under then-coach Vavae Tata, this unit was every bit as capable.
The list of Red Raiders’ 2021 defensive difference-makers goes on and on — Leonard Ah You, Liona Lefau, Malosi Lefau, Horyzen Farley, Chansen Garcia, Brock Fonoimoana, Kruze Keanu, Isaiah Tuliloa, Stansyn Pula.
And Kahuku even had the answer for those who were thinking that its running game had gone soft in 2021.
Simply put, while that passing game was thriving, the bruising running game was just not needed nearly as much as usual.
But in the second half of that title game, Kahuku not only showed that it still had its legendary bread and butter, it also showed that this particular brand of bread and butter was tasting mighty good. The offensive line continuously blew open holes for running back Kau Lana Kaluna, who was devastatingly effective hitting those holes and pounding for more yardage during his 138-yard rushing night,
That offensive line deserves a ton of recognition, too. Every Red Raider I spoke to after the game (Sterling, Kai Kai, Kau Lana, Liona) pointed to the offensive line as a major difference in the outcome. And Kaluna made sure to bring the whole unit with him to a postgame interview with OC 16.
And so, without further ado, Kahuku’s starting offensive linemen in that championship game were:
>> 71. Judah Kaio
>> 55. Semisi Sinapopo
>> 75. Brayden Mailo
>> 70. Sione Heimuli
>> 59. Manuel Marquardsen
Kahuku’s Kau Lana Kaluna got interviewed by OC-16’s Jimmy Bender after winning the state Open title. Kaluna insisted that his offensive linemen accompany him.
On Oct. 18, a comment to Bedrock Sports Hawaii came in from Hina Elkington, a Kahuku fan. It was three days after the Red Raiders played their first game:
“Pay attention to Kahuku this year because if their offense has any kind of a passing game which will balance their running game, they will be hard to stop. Their defense will always be strong enough to bend and not break. Their special teams are always underrated, which makes them dangerous.”
And my response: “I totally agree. Kahuku is ALWAYS really good. My guess is Sterling is saving his best running backs for when he really needs them. It certainly helps to have a passing attack.”
At that time, I admit, I had NO IDEA just how good the Kahuku passing game was going to be.
I also had no idea that Carvalho would wait until mop-up time in the second half of the top-tier state championship game to show that Kahuku always had that particular “weapon of mass destruction” — the good ole’ ground and pound — in their back pocket for when they might have really needed it.
It’s telling, and a scary thing for opponents in the next few seasons, that the Red Raiders never had to adjust the knob to “10” on the all-out, take-no-prisoners running assault.
The passing game put them in position to win and the running game “finished it.” That’s how coach Carvalho pretty much phrased it while being interviewed by Bedrock Sports Hawaii after the final whistle.
And it’s fitting that we end this tale with three videos. The first is Kahuku doing an inspirational haka after the Dec. 23 state championship victory.
The second is a YouTube clip of the Red Raiders bringing home the trophy after the game. Take particular note of how much love and respect and care is poured out to the players for their accomplishment from that small tight-knit community on the North Shore.
The third video is right here at this link — Kahuku Victory Parade. It was copied from Evan Moe’s Facebook post of a Sione Heimuli video of the team’s victory parade, where you see thousands of well-wishers showing their pride from Kahuku to Laie to Punaluu to Kaaawa to Waikane to Kahaluu.
Oh, and check out the rainbow of light that appears to be coming from the sky and reaching the player in front, offensive lineman, No. 51 Ajae Tofa, in that haka video.
Here is a still frame of that:
—–
Click below for Bedrock’s Kahuku Football Team Page.
