Red Raiders rise to
No. 5 in a national
football pollBut Kahuku has more important
business to deal with
Kahuku rose five spots this week to No. 5 in the Tony Poll national football rankings.
The Red Raiders (13-0) are coming off a 35-7 victory over Farrington and seek their third state championship in the last four years. They play Saint Louis (9-1) in the First Hawaiian Bank Division I state final Friday at 8 p.m. at Aloha Stadium.
"It means a lot for us to be recognized in a national poll, no matter what position we're at," Kahuku coach Siuaki Livai said. "It's even more special since we're from a very little community and that we're the only (Hawaii) public school to have cracked the (national) rankings."
In 2001, Kahuku finished No. 8 in the Tony Poll, while Saint Louis finished No. 8 in 1998 and No. 12 in '99.
The latest version of the poll was released Sunday and can be found at TonyBianco.com.
The Red Raiders are No. 47 in Prep Nation's latest Fab 50, but aren't in USA Today's poll.
The Crusaders' No. 2 ranking in the 1998 Dick Butkus Football Network poll is the highest a Hawaii team has finished nationally.
"To see just four schools ahead of us, that's really something," Livai said. "It puts Hawaii on the map and we're very proud of it. I hope everyone in Hawaii is proud of it, too."
But Livai isn't taking the ranking for more than it's worth.
"What counts is where we're at when the season ends," he said. "It can all be wiped out in one game. We've been working so hard and we can hopefully continue on to another unbeaten season."
The Red Raiders finished 14-0 in '01, their second straight state championship season.