Kahuku is ready to roll to a third straight state title game in 2017. Photo by Bruce Asato/Star-Advertiser. The keys to the Big Red machine are jangling, and the driver is grinning from ear to ear. It wasn’t hard at all for now-sophomore quarterback Sol-Jay Maiava to see what life on the other side of the playbook could be like. A year ago, the spotlight was bright, maybe occasionally blinding after he received a scholarship offer from Michigan before his high school career h

BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM Kahuku’s Wesley Maiava ran between Kamehameha defenders Kupono Blake (17) and Ezra Evaimalo (18) for a first down in a scrimmage on Thursday. The shifting winds of football talent are felt everywhere. Even at Kahuku. It wasn’t long ago when chatter about the possible departure of super-talented freshman quarterback Sol-Jay Maiava began to spread. Maiava, with a scholarship offer from Michigan in hand before his first season as a Red Rai

Elvis Vakapuna. Photo: Honolulu Star-Advertiser And the bias continues! I thought this ended years ago with the advent of state tournaments. Apparently NOT! This is the 3rd state tournament in this school year alone that Kahuku has been robbed of a true top seed. First it was our volleyball girls. Then it was our football team. Now it's our basketball boys. My understanding is that a number 1 seed earns the right, by it's regular season success and media influence, to have th

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM Kahuku running back Harmon Brown (8) soars over the goal line for a touchdown during the first half of an HHSAA Open Division semifinal football game between the Kahuku Red Raiders and the Kapolei Hurricanes on Friday, November 11, 2016 at Aloha Stadium in Halawa. Saint Louis and Kahuku will dance once again. A year after the Red Raiders thumped the Crusaders to win their eighth state football championship, the two teams will meet agai

Kahuku freshman QB Sol-Jay Maiava puts a stiff arm on a Kapolei defender on a rush attempt. Jim LeBeau | SL HALAWA — Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez perfectly summed up what happen to his team Friday night. "We ran into a freight train tonight, and that freight train was Kahuku," he said. Kahuku ended Kapolei's season for the third straight year with a 54-7 win in the semifinals of the inaugural Open Division football state tournament at Hawaiian Tel Federal Credit Union at Al

The elephant in the room — or the North Shore to be exact — is evolving. The mammoth-like, wildcat offense that Kahuku rode all the way to its 24th Oahu Interscholastic Association title and eight state championship a year ago was no where to be seen in the Red Raiders' latest victory. As effective as the formation was against opposing defenses, it was based purely on brute strength. Pound the rock and run it down the other team's throat. If you can't stop it, too bad. Last F

Kahuku RB Elvis Vakapuna looks back at a Leilehua before waltzing into the end zone on a 5-yard TD run. CJ Caraang | SL KAHUKU — Call it total domination. Top-ranked Kahuku scored in all three facets of the game to steamroll visiting Leilehua, 63-0 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I quarterfinal playoff game at Carleton E. Weimer Field Friday night. The Red Raiders (8-1), the defending Division I state and OIA champion, also punched their ticket into the inaugu