Kahuku Red Raider football player Robert Sauvao unleash a pass to teammate Lokana Enos against the Saint Louis Crusaders in a game Friday night at Aloha Stadium. George Lee / Star-Advertiser Most football teams have off years. Kahuku, usually, is not one of them. But this year, despite the fact that the Red Raiders made the final four of the Open Division, will go down as an off year. They finished 7-5 and ended it by getting beaten by rival Saint Louis 49-22 in the Open Divi

For the 11th consecutive season, and 15th time in the last 16 years, the OIA top-tier football championship will go to either Kahuku or Mililani. If last year’s tussle is any indication, the game might go down to the wire. If it does, it will be a rarity. The big game in the public schools had been largely decided in blowouts since 2010, with the closest margin of victory being 13 twice before last year’s 35-31 Kahuku victory. Before that, the game was almost always a down-to

What is that adage? "The only constant in life is change." Kahuku football has experienced that several times in the past few years in regards to its head football coach. Actually since 2013 the Kahuku varsity football team has had 5 different head coaches. For almost any other program in the state and maybe even the nation that kind of uncertainty would definitely undermine the success of the program. @ Kahuku . . . not so much. After losing @ home for the first time in near

STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER New Kahuku head coach Sterling Carvalho provided instructions during a scrimmage against Waipahu. So far, Sterling Carvalho is showing what he is made of as an enthusiastic leader. And the fun is just beginning. Not that being the head coach of the Kahuku football team is all fun and games. There’s high pressure — and headaches — involved in carrying the banner for the heralded program. But Carvalho doing his thing is something to

COURTESY PHOTO Sterling Carvalho: Takes over the varsity after coaching JV last season The years of grooming to be a varsity football head coach are over for Sterling Carvalho, who took the job at Kahuku on Thursday. Carvalho, 42, who spent the past three seasons as the Red Raiders’ junior varsity head man, beat out the other finalist for the position, Makoa Freitas, who was the school’s interim head coach for the 2017 season that ended with an 11-2 record and a spot in the O

Kahuku has hired its fifth different head football coach in six seasons. Bruce Asato / Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Kahuku announced the hiring of Sterling Carvalho as its head varsity football coach today. Carvalho had coached the junior varsity team for the past three seasons. He replaces interim coach Makoa Freitas, who went 11-2 this past season, won an OIA title, and advanced to the state title game in the Open Division. Carvalho, a Kauai High graduate and former quarterbac

The hiring process for the vacant football head coaching position at Kahuku is well underway. Bruce Asato / Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Makoa Freitas, Reggie Torres and Siuaki Livai are among the applicants and interviewees for the open Kahuku football coaching job, according to sources. At least 16 people applied for the job, a list that also includes Kahuku junior varsity head coach Sterling Carvalho, Red Raiders assistant David Te’o and former Kahuku assistant Marvin Cravens

Kahuku head coach Makoa Freitas coached up running back Enoch Nawahine during a game against Campbell. Photo by Jamm Aquino/Star-Advertiser. In Tuesday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Paul Honda wrote about the top 10 prep stories of 2017. You can read it here. Here’s a deeper look at one of the 10 stories. 2. Kahuku coaching carousel continues Some call it a coaching carousel, but it’s more like basic protocol these days for that famous athletic program on the North Shore. Perha

Check out our 2017 Division I ALL HAWAII team selections as determined by ScoringLive: 1st Team 2nd Team Micah Mariteragi OL Sr. Duke Heffernan UT So. Fatu Atuaia LB Sr. Jared "Nalu" Emerson DB Jr. Honorable Mention Sol-Jay Maiava QB So. Toalei Lefau RB Jr. Cire Loo OL Sr. Thorton Alapa UT Jr. Samson Kapule-Si'ilata DL Sr. Alex Fonoimoana-Vaomu DB So. Lauina Falatea UT Sr. Kaonohi Kaniho Rtnr So. Makoa Freitas Coach See the re

BRUCE ASATO / JULY 27 Makoa Freitas was Kahuku’s interim coach last season. The school announced that the position is now vacant. Unless Makoa Freitas reapplies for the job, Kahuku will have its fifth head football coach in six seasons next year. Red Raiders athletic director Gillian Yamagata sent an email to media members late Monday night announcing the school is accepting applications for the now vacant head football coaching job. Kahuku finished 11-2 and advanced to the s

LAIE, Hawaii — Take a drive around the paradise that is the North Shore and prepare to be captivated by the lush, green vegetation and ocean views that are stunningly gorgeous. The North Shore on the Hawaiian island of Oahu is home to some of the world’s most famous surfing spots, like Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline, and it’s home to one of the Aloha State’s most popular tourist attractions, the Polynesian Cultural Center. It’s also home to one of the nation’s top high scho

The appetizer was so very good that it seemed quite possible that the main course would turn out to be bland. But instead, the third game of Saturday’s tripleheader at Aloha Stadium was a crazy-good show-stopper for football connoisseurs and an incredible capper for Hawaii’s football-hungry fans, who got an extra-sweet treat in the first game of the day — Lahainaluna’s 75-69 seven-overtime win over Konawaena in the D-II championship game. With a kickoff at 9:58 p.m. Saturday,

STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER Saint Louis receiver Jonah Panoke made the game-winning 53-yard touchdown catch by pulling the ball from Kahuku defensive back Alex Fonoimoana-Vaomu during the final seconds of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Open Division State Championship game at Aloha Stadium. It was 1:04 a.m. Sunday at Aloha Stadium and not a single person out of the 22,436 in attendance sounded tired. Whether it was the euphoric jubilation from the Saint Louis

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM Kahuku and Saint Louis at Aloha Stadium for the 2016 HHSAA Open Division State Championship. Tonight, they face off again. No two programs have brought stone-walling defense to the title game over the decades quite like them. There is no tale of Kahuku’s rise to prominence in recent years simply because the Red Raiders have seemingly never left the mountain top. Saint Louis? There has been success and dips, not quite like the dynasty u

Kahuku head coach Makoa Freitas coached up running back Enoch Nawahine during a game against Campbell. Photo by Jamm Aquino/Star-Advertiser. Kahuku football coach Makoa Freitas is busy in the morning, busy in the afternoon, busy at night. He does all he can, and that means time is precious. Two days before the showdown — the rematch — with defending state champion Saint Louis, he chatted with Hawaii Prep World about being a first-year head coach facing veteran Cal Lee and Sai