The Kapaa High School football team has made winning the Kauai Interscholastic Federation championship an annual routine.
The Warriors captured their second-consecutive KIF championship crown with a 31-19 victory over Waimea High School.
The 12-point victory wasn’t indicative of the challenge of the game.
The Warriors led the Menehune’s by a sizable margin for the majority of the game, leading by as much as 31-7, but on this island, as Phillip Rapozo stated in a pre-game interview with The Garden Island, and reemphasize the fact, there are no guarantees when playing a KIF opponent.
Waimea High School Jason Caldeira was pleased with his team’s last-second effort to make the game not only respectable, but still, the Menehune’s pushed to win at the end of the game, a testament to the strength of the island opponents that should allow Kapaa to be ready to compete when they prepare to play off-island teams moving forward.
“They just kept fighting, and they just kept striving, and pushing for good things to happen, and played until the last second,” Caldeira said in a post-game interview.
Every KIF-sanctioned game is a battle, and though the KIF crown is wrapped up, KIF fans will get another opportunity to cheer on the Kapaa High School football team when they play Kauai High School at 2 p.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.
Kapaa quarterback Kahuna Davis and the rest of the team are using this KIF game to fine-tune some of their skills moving forward.
“It just feels great to capture the KIF crown, and our team put in the hard work to get here,” Davis said in a post-game interview after Saturday’s game. “Now, we will focus on our seeding, and taking a look at the other island and off-islands teams are moving forward.”
Menehune volleyball preps for tourney
During the regular season, there wasn’t another island team that overcame the on and off-the-field adversity as much as Waimea High School did during the regular season.
Undaunted by the distraction, the Menehune stayed consistent doing one thing regularly through round one and round two, and that is a win.
Because the Menehune volleyball team remained undefeated during the entire regular season, with a flawless 11-0 record, they earned a second-round bye in the upcoming bye in the New City Nissan Girls Volleyball Division II state championships Oct. 23-26 in Oahu in Farrington.
Unlike several other teams who will fight in this survive-advance dance starting Wednesday, the Menehune will get a break Wednesday, which will give Brandi Hori-Moises, and her coaching staff, extra day to evaluate their opponents.
The Menehune’s, who got a No. 2 seed in the playoffs, will await the winner of Molokai, and HPA.
The Menehune’s undefeated season catupulated them into the quarterfinal of the volleyball tournament.
Bowlers to meet in week six
The KIF bowlers will compete in week six of the competition at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Kauai Bowl.
This marks the final week of the regular season for all of the school bowlers before they transition, and prepare for the high school postseason play of the KIF bowling league.
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Jason Blasco, sports reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.
