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

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

The Red Raiders celebrate in the end zone after RB Enoch Nawahine scored a touchdown. CJ Caraang | SL KAHUKU — Enoch Nawahine rushed for 166 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries to help No. 1 Kahuku to a season-opening 24-0 win over No. 8 Leilehua Friday night. The Red Raiders (1-0) got four interceptions from their defense and limited the Mules (1-1 overall, 0-1 league) to 37 yards of total offense in their first game since losing to Saint Louis in last year's Open Division s

Kahuku’s defense reached for a the ball after Bishop Gorman quarterback Tate Martell fumbled during the second half of a high school football game in 2016. Bishop Gorman won 35-7. Photo by David Becker/Special to the Star-Advertiser. After listing both Saint Louis and Kahuku in its list of top 100 teams in the nation for the upcoming 2017 season, Max Preps released its preseason top 25 on Monday with one of the two schools making the cut. Kahuku, not defending Open Division s

2017 Hawaii Preseason Football Fab 5, presented by the Army National Guard 1. Kahuku 2016 record: 11-2 Head coach: Makoa Freitas The Red Raiders come in as the MaxPreps No. 25 preseason team with a highly touted sophomore quarterback and a new head coach. Makoa Freitas, a former NFL player who played for Dick Tomey and Tony Dungy, takes over the reins for Vavae Tate. Kahuku fell last season in the inaugural Open Division championship 30-14 to St. Louis. Sophomore Sol-J

Kesi Ah-Hoy helped Kahuku win state titles in football and basketball. Over the next 24 hours, Hawaii Prep World and the Star-Advertiser will release 12 small features on the 2017 inductees into the Hall of Honor ahead of Sunday’s ceremony. All Kesi Ah-Hoy does is deliver state championships. For all of his accolades in football, where the Oregon State commit’s future resides, Ah-Hoy’s varsity career began in basketball where he was Kahuku’s best defensive player as a freshma

Saint Louis won the first Open Division title in November. That didn’t sway MaxPreps.com from picking Kahuku as Hawaii’s top team entering the 2017 season. Bruce Asato / Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Kahuku is the top football team in Hawaii this preseason, according to MaxPreps.com. On Thursday, the website released its list of the No. 1 team in each state, and chose Kahuku with the following explanation: “The Red Raiders check in as the No. 1 team from the Aloha State largely b

Kahuku will be playing in Las Vegas for the second year in a row. On Sept. 9, the Red Raiders play Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) at Sam Boyd Stadium. Bruce Asato / Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The Kahuku football team will play in Las Vegas for the second year in a row, interim head coach Makoa Freitas said today. On Sept. 9, the Red Raiders will play Utah Division 5A state champion Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) in the inaugural Polynesian Football Classic as the second game of a

Makoa Freitas is looking forward to the challenge of being the head coach of the Kahuku Red Raiders. Bruce Asato / Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Makoa Freitas learned a lot from former coaches Dick Tomey at Arizona and Tony Dungy with the Indianapolis Colts. You could have worse mentors. A lot worse. Freitas said on Thursday that he will bring with him what he learned from those coaches and others to the Kahuku sidelines. Freitas was recently hired as the head coach of the Red Ra

The Vavae Tata era is over and the Makoa Freitas days have begun at Kahuku. A post on KahukuHigh.org on Sunday made it official. Freitas is the new football interim head coach, the Red Raiders’ fourth head man in the past five years. The switch from Tata to Freitas was first reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday. Neither Freitas nor the Kahuku administration could be reached Sunday, but two of Freitas’ colleagues in the Oahu coaching fraternity talked about many