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Warriors look to cap breakthrough year with D-II state championship

By Robert Collias 5 min read

PUKALANI -- Ulima Afoa is big on noting benchmarks for his Kamehameha Schools Maui football program.

The largest benchmark in the program's 27-year history arrives tonight when the Warriors face Kapaa for the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II state championship.

"Oh, it's very cool, but it's just a result of these kids' hard work and the amount of work that they've put into the season," Afoa said prior to practice on Tuesday at Kanaiaupuni Stadium. "Trying to take care of themselves, obviously, with this COVID thing going on -- we didn't have a whole bunch of kids miss any game this season.

"We're happy we're here. Now, it's about trying to finish off, you know, trying to get it done. You and I, when we always talk we talk about benchmarks. This is kind of another benchmark that we've reached in our program and again, hopefully, we can build on it."

Afoa is immensely proud of his team, especially considering all of the COVID-19 issues it has collectively overcome this season -- from the six-week pause to start the Maui Interscholastic League season to allow everyone involved to get vaccinated, to the school's decision to combine the junior varsity program with the varsity group due to small numbers, to going through all the protocols called for by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association during the state tournament.

The Warriors traveled with 43 players last week for their 48-24 win over Kaiser in the semifinals and plan to have 39 players travel for the championship game that kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight at Skippa Diaz Stadium on the Farrington High School campus.

"However the game comes out, I'm proud of these kids for the amount of work that they've put in and the effort that they've put in," Afoa said. "But now don't get me wrong, we're going there to win the game."

The Warriors come into the game with one of the top passing attacks in the state -- sophomore quarterback Makana Kakaka-Brayce has thrown for 1,739 yards and 20 touchdowns against just four interceptions in seven games.

He was at his best against Kaiser, completing 20 of 29 passes for a career-high 369 yards, four touchdown passes to three different receivers with no interceptions -- he also ran for the final Warriors' TD of the night.

Kamaka-Brayce knows Kapaa will be tough. The Kauai Interscholastic Federation champs rolled past Hawaii Prep 51-0 last week in the HHSAA semifinals -- Kapaa has lost three of the last four D-II state finals to Lahainaluna, which has moved up and lost the D-I state final last week to Iolani.

"They're big, strong and physical," Kamaka-Brayce said. "They're big up front and they have a big second level."

Kamaka-Brayce hit three different receivers last week for at least 98 air yards -- Po'okela Aiu caught eight passes for 127 yards and a TD, Kahoa Abreu had six catches for 109 yards and a score, and Ho'ohenomauloa Stone-Han, usually a running back, had four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

"It's fun," Kamaka-Brayce said. "If I'm off on a throw, they just make plays for me. They're super athletic and talented and they just make plays."

Kamaka-Brayce agreed that last week was the best game of the year for him in his first varsity season, but he said he could've felt better.

"To be honest, I wasn't 100 percent, my back was still pretty messed up, so we kind of made the game plan where I wasn't running, I was just trying to stay in the pocket, get the ball to my athletes," he said.

He said having receivers like he has -- Abreu led the MIL with 26 catches and Aiu was second with 25 -- makes his job easy.

"I don't have to worry too much about making plays outside of the pocket," he said. "I just kind of stay in there and trust them to make plays."

He added the reality of being in the state title game has arrived.

"I'm super excited, I'm trying not to show it too much," Kamaka-Brayce said. "We still have got a game to play."

Two-way lineman Kale Spencer is the team captain, the student body president and the lone starter from 2019 who returned after COVID-19 concerns wiped out the 2020 season -- he is also excited.

"I'm super excited, very excited to show what we've got from Maui," he said. "I know Lahaina did a great job in their games over on Oahu, so we want to replicate that and show what we got.

"I think everyone's excited for us, excited to watch us do our best and show what we got."

Aiu said that he and the entire Kamehameha Maui family cannot wait for the chance that arrives tonight.

"You know, nobody expected us to be here, so we just want to go out there and prove everybody wrong," Aiu said. "We've been underdogs this whole season and we've got our whole Maui family behind us. We've got to go out there and represent for Maui. ... We're going to go out there, take care of business and get this win."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championships

DIVISION II

Today's Game • Championship

No. 1 Kapaa vs. No. 3 Kamehameha Maui at Farrington, 7 p.m. (OC16)

Starting at /week.