Kahuku, Saint Louis advance to HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Open Division State Championship

MILILANI – And then there were two. 

For the 16th time in 45 years, the Kahuku Red Raiders and Saint Louis Crusaders will face off with a Hawai’i High School football state championship trophy on the line. The two programs have combined to win all seven of the state championships in the Open Division since the classification was created ahead of the 2016 season. 

Top-seeded Kahuku used an elite defensive performance and a miracle-man play by Aiden Manutai to clip Mililani in the first of two semifinal games on Friday night, 8-6. Second-seeded Saint Louis used University of Hawai’i football commit Titan Lacaden’s 216 rushing yards and three touchdowns to come back from a double-digit halftime deficit in the second semifinal and defeat the Campbell Sabers, 27-24. 

The Red Raiders and Crusaders will meet in two weeks on November 29 at Clarence T.C. Ching Complex, the home field of the University of Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors, for the 2024 HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Open Division Championship. The two teams opened the season for the Open Division, facing off in the first game of the preseason on August 10. 

Manutai mastery moves Kahuku past Mililani for 5th straight state title appearance 

Kahuku (9-4) inched by Mililani (9-3) in the HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Open Division semifinals, 8-6, seeing Cal-commit Aiden Manutai’s 70-yard field goal block, recovery and return and a 2-point conversion by Utah-commit Mana Carvalho give the defense the needed cushion to sink the Trojans. The Red Raiders’ defense held strong all night, keeping Mililani to five total conversions on third and fourth down in 18 combined chances. 

The Red Raiders’ offense struggled throughout the night themselves but dominated the time of possession, controlling the rock for over 27 minutes of game action. Kahuku quarterback Matai Fuiava completed 15-of-20 pass attempts for 107 yards and an interception in the win while Mana Carvalho chipped in 77 total yards (39 rushing, 38 receiving) on 10 touches for the Red Raiders. 

Kini McMillan completed 19-of-40 passes for 185 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his final high school football game. The senior quarterback will head to Washington following his final year of high school, one of a large number of Hawai’i high school football players continuing their football careers at the college level after graduation. 

The teams traded defensive stops throughout much of the first half, seeing the scoreless tie finally broken with just under two minutes to play in the second quarter when Kahuku safety Aiden Manutai blocked a 31-yard field goal attempt by Mililani’s Pookela Tom Makues, scooped up the loose ball and returned it 70 yards for a score. University of Utah-commit Mana Carvalho got creative to convert on the 2-point conversion attempt and gave Kahuku an 8-0 lead with 1:57 left before halftime. 

That score would hold until the game’s final minute as McMillan found Jonah Togafau-Tavui for a nine-yard touchdown with 25 seconds to play, but the 2-point conversion by Mililani fell to the turf as Kahuku held on to advance in the state tournament. 

The victory sends the Red Raiders to the HHSAA Open Division state championship game for the fifth consecutive season as the three-time defending champions attempt to complete the state’s second four-peat since the creation of the Open Division (Saint Louis, 2016-19). Mililani and Punahou are the only other two programs to appear in the Open Division state title game outside of Kahuku and Saint Louis. 

Lacaden’s legs lift Saint Louis over Campbell to return to state title game 

Saint Louis (8-3) overcame a double-digit halftime deficit to rally from behind and beat the Campbell Sabers (9-2) in the HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Open Division semifinals, 27-24. University of Hawai’i-commit Titan Lacaden carried the ball 27 times for 216 yards and three touchdowns, two of which came in the fourth quarter, to punch the Crusaders’ ticket to Open Division state championship game against Kahuku on November 29. 

Campbell jumped out to an early 14-0 lead behind a pair of Brystin Sansano touchdown runs in the opening frame, seeing star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele complete five of his first six throws for 98 yards through the air while adding another 24 on the ground. Lacaden got Saint Louis on the board midway through the second quarter, rumbling his way into the end zone from six yards out to make it an eight-point game, 14-6. 

The Sabers added on a state tournament-record 48-yard field goal by Jadyn Parker as the first half clock expired to take a 17-6 lead into the break, but Sagapolutele took another hit just before Campbell settled for the kick that would hold him out of the second half against Saint Louis. 

The Crusaders struck quickly out of the halftime break, going 80 yards in 94 seconds for a touchdown as sophomore QB Nainoa Lopes found Hashley-Kingston Siliado on a 28-yard pass to bring Saint Louis back within a possession, 17-12. With Sagapolutele sidelined, star receiver Rusten Abang-Perez provided Campbell with a jolt of energy by returning the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown and pushing the Sabers back ahead by double digits less than 20 seconds later, 24-12. 

It was the last time Campbell would score as Saint Louis went to the ground game to take control, using Lacaden in wildcat packages and trick plays along with his normal use running and receiving for the Crusaders. The senior brought Saint Louis within five, 24-19, as he recorded his second TD of the night to begin the fourth quarter and pushed the Crusaders in front for good two and a half minutes later with another score after the Saint Louis defense forced Campbell backup QB Brayden Medeiros to fumble deep inside Sabers’ territory. 

Campbell starter Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele ended his final high school game completing 10-of-17 passes for 168 yards as he watched from the sidelines in discomfort throughout much of the second half. The Sabers struggled to get much of a running game going against the Crusaders’ defense, totaling just 31 yards on the ground as a team in the loss. 

Saint Louis will look to return to Open Division glory and snap the Kahuku dynasty streak, seeing the season extend as long as possible under first-year head coach Tupu Alualu’s watch. It will be the 16th time the two programs have met with a state football championship on the line. 

The HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Open Division Championship will be played on Friday, November 29 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex on the campus of the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.