There's a hurricane warning posted for the Oahu Interscholastic Association. ’Canes make run for JV title
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comIn just their second year of existence, the Kapolei Hurricanes are making a run at the OIA White Conference junior varsity championship.
The Hurricanes, led by former Campbell head coach Darren Hernandez, are 6-0 heading into Friday's showdown with Nanakuli (5-0). Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Nanakuli.
"We're playing well, but we will be tested," Hernandez said. "Nanakuli always has a good JV team and we lost to them, 48-0, last year."
But the Hurricanes of 2001 bear little resemblance to last year's squad.
After enduring a 3-4-1 inaugural campaign last season, Kapolei has beaten its opponents by an average score of 42-7 this year and the offense has generated close to 400 yards per game.
Former University of Hawaii quarterback Michael Carter is Kapolei's offensive coordinator and oversees the Hurricanes' spread-option attack. Running back John Delarama has 10 touchdowns this season while quarterback Kaipo Kaheaku-Enhada reached the end zone 12 times.
"The success has been even more than I could have hoped for," Hernandez said.
"What has happened is the level of maturity from one year to the next is really pronounced."
Kapolei, which has 65 players on its roster, enters the OIA White on the varsity level next year and Hernandez plans to have his staff coach both the JV and varsity teams.
The Hurricanes have played all of their games on the road the past two years, but Hernandez hopes the school will build a stadium in two years, when this year's sophomores are seniors. The team can't practice field goals or extra points because the school field doesn't have goal posts and the players use an empty shipping container for a locker room.
"We actually bought home jerseys, but we never get to wear them," Hernandez said. "We just wear the same white jerseys every week.
"It would be really nice if they could get their own stadium. It's been a lot of adversity, but their attitude has been really positive."
ILH volleyball: The Iolani girls volleyball team can clinch its first state tournament berth since the mid-1980s this week.
The Raiders entered the week at 9-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and in position to win the first-round title. Iolani hosted Hawaii Baptist last night and close the first round with a match at 5 p.m. today at St. Andrew's.
Punahou is a game behind at 9-1 and closed its first-round schedule yesterday against St. Andrew's.
Iolani could capture the title and one of the league's two state tournament spots with two wins. If there is a tie for first, there would be a playoff tomorrow.
"(The players) are pretty focused," Iolani coach Ann Kang said, "because (the state tournament) was a goal and we're right where we want to be."
On the boys side, four teams are battling to continue their season in the second round.
Damien plays Lutheran at 4:30 p.m. and Maryknoll faces Hawaii Baptist at 6 p.m. in the semifinals of the fifth-place tournament Friday at Damien's gym.
The winners meet at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at Kamehameha.
The tournament winner will join first-round champion Kamehameha, Punahou, St. Louis and Iolani in the second round. Kamehameha finished the round-robin at 11-0 to secure one of the league's berths in the state tournament.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Boys >>Lole Laolagi, Aiea football: Threw five touchdown passes in Na Alii's 35-22 win over Nanakuli last week. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes in Aiea's last two games.
Girls
>>Crystal Cuadra, Pac-Five cross country: Set a meet record en route to winning the varsity girls race at last weekend's Kamehameha Invitational. She ran the 3.1 mile course in 18 minutes, 18.1 seconds.
HONOR ROLL Air riflery >> Draysen Tsuha, St. Louis: Recorded a score of 268 in the Crusaders' win over Kamehameha last week.
>> Shannon Li, Sacred Hearts: Shot a 261 in the Lancers' match with Kamehameha.
Bowling
>> Troy Takahashi, McKinley: Rolled a 286 game in last week's match against Kailua.>> Jarret Mizo, Roosevelt: Posted a high series of 637 in the Rough Riders' win over Moanalua.
>> Michael Saiki, Pearl City: Bowled a 268 game to lead the Chargers to a win over Waianae.
>> Lorali Esperancilla, Farrington: Led the Governors to a win over Castle last week with a 227 game.
Cross Country
>> Todd Iacovelli, Punahou: Won the varsity boys race at the Honolulu Invitational with a time of 18 minutes, 27 seconds.>> Jeff Lim, Mililani: Finished first in the boys race at the Mililani Invitational with a time of 15:49.4.
>> Sheena Thin, McKinley: Captured the girls title at the Mililani Invitational, edging Kalani's Nicole Woitovich by less than a second.
Football
>> Shauncey Saito, Campbell: Rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns in the Sabers' win over Kaimuki.>> Chris Antonio, Aiea: Averaged more than 29 yards per catch against Nanakuli. He finished with 117 yards and two touchdowns.
>> Paulo Aga, Waipahu: Threw three touchdown passes, including the game winner with 28 seconds left, as the Marauders rallied past Roosevelt.
>> James Strombach, Moanalua: Caught six passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Radford.
>> Brenton Harbottle, Kailua: Rushed for 141 yards and the winning touchdown in the Surfriders' win over McKinley.
>> Kelena Ho'okano, Kamehameha: Carried the ball 17 times for 200 yards and three touchdowns in one half of action in the Warriors' win over Pac-Five.
>> Tolifili Liufau, St. Louis: Recorded three sacks and hurried the quarterback nine times in the Crusaders' win over Iolani.
>> Blake Wong, Iolani: Intercepted two passes and caused a fumble against St. Louis.
>> Joel Botelho, Castle: Passed for 342 yards and five touchdowns in the Knights' win over Farrington.
Girls Volleyball
>> Michelle Look, Punahou: Pounded 20 kills in the Buffanblu's win over St. Francis last week. She hit .519 in three matches last week and had 18 digs.>> Puna Richardson, Punahou: Hit .667 with 22 kills over three matches for the Buffanblu. She also had four blocks and four aces.
Now You Know
>> Leilehua, under coach Ralph McMurtry, won the first Oahu Interscholastic Association football title in 1940. It was the first championship awarded by the league. The Mules have since won two more OIA crowns in football, in 1974 and 1984.
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