It's far too early to call Baldwin and King Kekaulike rivals. Baldwin, Kekaulike
collide in MIL struggleBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comMaui High remains Baldwin's chief nemesis on the Valley Isle and 6-year-old King Kekaulike simply hasn't been around long enough to establish a true rivalry with anyone.
But when the teams meet tomorrow night in a Maui Interscholastic League football battle, the intensity figures to make it one of the state's fiercest contests this season.
"I'm fired up over here, I'm ready to roll," Baldwin coach Chad Kauhaahaa said. "I wish I could strap on some pads."
The game between Baldwin, an established power from central Maui, and King Kekaulike, the upstart from up-country, will determine the second-round champion in the MIL.
Baldwin (6-0, 2-0 in the second round) won the first round and can wrap up the league championship and the MIL's state tournament berth with a win over Na Alii. King Kekaulike (5-2, 3-0 second round) can claim the second-round title and force a decisive title game by beating the Bears.
"The public and the league didn't expect too much out of us this year, but we are having a good year, so we're going to ride with it," King Kekaulike coach Dennis Dias said.
"The boys are excited about this opportunity. They know if we win we continue, if we lose we go home and we wait for next year."
In the teams' first-round meeting, Baldwin squandered a 19-0 lead and had to rally to pull out a 27-21 victory on Sept. 20 at War Memorial Stadium.
Baldwin quarterback Michael Donahoo completed 12 of 18 passes for 242 yards against Na Alii and hit Akamu Aki with a 15-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to give the Bears the win.
The outcome brought relief to the Baldwin sideline and awakened a competitive spirit in King Kekaulike that hadn't existed in the program's brief history.
"Losing to Baldwin in the first round is probably the best thing that could have happened to us," Dias said.
"The kids needed to learn how to lose and feel how it is to lose. In the past we'd play games and we'd lose a close game, but they were happy. They were satisfied with playing a good game. After the Baldwin game we saw they were actually upset."
The second meeting will take place in the crisp air of King Kekaulike's campus stadium near Kula and will feature two widely divergent offensive philosophies.
Baldwin has swept through the MIL with a run-and-shoot attack. Donahoo missed on just four throws in passing for 260 yards and five touchdowns in a 40-0 win over Lahainaluna last week. Aki caught 10 balls for 165 yards and a score.
"I'm really happy about Mike's performance last week," Kauhaahaa said. "He did a good job spreading the ball around, made the right reads and was hitting the right receivers."
King Kekaulike's offense might be its best defense against the Bears, as Na Alii will try to control the clock with its running game. King Kekaulike ran for more than 300 yards last week in a 34-22 win over St. Anthony, with Ikaika Mawae and Daniel Scott combining for 123 yards on 30 carries.
Not only does tomorrow's game have championship implications, it's also King Kekaulike's homecoming game and Dias said the team's success has reverberated throughout the campus this fall.
"You can see the atmosphere in school has changed where the kids are proud to have a winning team," Dias said. "I'm an educator first and I feel we can help out the climate of the school to move in the right direction, to be positive."
State spots filling up: Waimea was the first team to earn an invitation to the state tournament with its 20-7 win over Kauai last week to clinch the Kauai Interscholastic Federation championship.
The Oahu Interscholastic Association's four representatives will be decided this week with the quarterfinals of the league playoffs.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation's playoffs are down to the semifinal round, with Hilo, Hawaii Prep, Konawaena and Kealakehe still battling for a berth.
Nationally ranked Kamehameha leads the Interscholastic League of Honolulu race with two weeks left and closes the regular-season against 16-time ILH champion St. Louis next week.
Schedule
Today
OIA playoffs
At Aloha Stadium
Kahuku vs. Farrington, 5:05 p.m.
Campbell vs. Castle, 7:35 p.m.
Tomorrow
OIA Playoffs
At Aloha Stadium
Waianae vs. McKinley, 5:05 p.m.
Kailua vs. Mililani, 7:35 p.m.BIIF Playoffs
Hawaii Prep vs. Hilo, at Wong Stadium, 7 p.m.
ILH
Damien at Iolani, 3:15 p.m.
Pac-Five vs. St. Louis, at Kaiser, 7 p.m.KIF
Waimea vs. Kapaa, Vidinha Stadium, 5 p.m.
MIL
Baldwin at King Kekaulike, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
BIIF Playoffs
Konawaena vs. Kealakehe, at Old Kona Airport Field, 7 p.m.
ILH
Punahou at Kamehameha, 3 p.m.
MIL
Maui vs. Lahainaluna, at War Memorial Stadium, 7:30 p.m.
Standings & statistics
ILH
DIVISION I W L T PF PA Kamehameha 5 0 0 188 47 St.Louis 4 1 0 166 53 Punahou 2 3 0 75 139 DIVISION II W L T PF PA Iolani 3 2 0 89 104 Pac-Five 1 4 0 96 129 Damien 0 5 0 26 168
OFFENSE G Rush Pass Total Avg Kamehameha 5 837 1264 2101 420.2 St.Louis 5 819 797 1616 323.2 Iolani 5 792 592 1384 276.8 Punahou 5 531 793 1324 264.8 Pac-Five 5 426 875 1301 260.2 Damien 4 307 187 494 123.5 DEFENSE G Rush Pass Total Avg St.Louis 5 242 645 887 177.4 Kamehameha 4 234 620 854 213.5 Iolani 5 765 699 1464 292.8 Damien 5 711 801 1512 302.4 Pac-Five 5 950 786 1736 347.2 Punahou 5 880 936 1816 363.2 RUSHING G Att Yds TD YPC YPG Stowers IOL 5 90 700 4 7.8 140.0 Batts STL 5 44 379 5 8.6 75.8 Cabansag STL 5 59 362 7 6.1 72.4 Beyer KS 3 39 246 3 6.3 82.0 Monahan PUN 4 46 236 1 5.1 59.0 Mullen DAM 4 55 226 0 4.1 56.5 Santos KS 4 23 211 1 9.2 52.8 C.Spencer KS 4 24 204 1 8.5 51.0 PASSING G Comp Att Pct. Yds TD INT C.Spencer KS 5 44 88 0.50 895 10 1 Dator P5 5 66 172 0.38 875 3 9 Monahan PUN 5 61 112 0.54 773 4 8 George STL 5 59 103 0.57 761 7 3 Mageo IOL 4 49 104 0.47 510 5 4 RECEIVING G Rec Yds TD YPC YPG Vierra KS 5 23 475 9 20.7 95.0 Ruth KS 5 14 321 4 22.9 64.2 Duncan PUN 4 22 308 1 14.0 77.0 Butcher STL 5 17 252 1 14.8 50.4 Urabe P5 4 14 246 0 17.6 61.5 Amano STL 5 14 239 3 17.1 47.8 Tyler P5 5 20 226 1 11.3 45.2 Fisher PUN 4 14 226 2 16.1 56.5 SCORING G TD FG 2pt. PAT TOT AVG Vierra KS 5 9 0 0 0 54 10.8 Cabansag STL 5 7 0 0 0 42 8.4 Batts STL 5 6 0 0 0 36 7.2 Ruth KS 5 5 0 0 0 30 6.0 Stowers IOL 5 4 0 0 0 24 4.8 Leong P5 5 4 0 0 0 24 4.8 Dator P5 5 4 0 0 0 24 4.8
KIF
W L T PF PA Waimea 5 0 0 145 40 Kauai 2 3 0 62 88 Kapaa 0 4 0 60 119
MIL
W L T PF PA x-Baldwin 6 0 0 200 75 King Kekaulike 5 2 0 195 114 Maui 3 3 0 88 117 St. Anthony 2 5 0 142 161 Lahainaluna 0 6 0 77 195 x-first-half champion
BIIF
PlayoffsLast week's results
Hilo 43, Kohala 0
Konawaena 18, Keaau 0
Hawaii Prep 13, Honokaa 0
Kealakehe 46, Waiakea 15
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