Kinue Miller | SL

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Kinue Miller | SL

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Throughout the multitude of roles that Kolt Kahoohanohano fills for the Kamehameha-Maui football team, one that transcends them all is leader. 

Kahoohanohano, a senior and third-year varsity member for the Division II state champion Warriors, put together one of his best all-around performances in the final game of his prep career Friday night. 

In Kamehameha-Maui's 48-24 win over Waimea, Kahoohanohano tallied a game-high eight tackles, including seven solo stops and one tackle for loss. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound safety also came up with a pair of interceptions and two other pass break-ups. Additionally, he also forced a fumble while covering a kickoff on special teams. 

Although the Menehunes ended up with more total yards (288) than the Warriors (272), they turned it over five times — including three lost fumbles — which KS-Maui was able to parlay into 20 points. 

"One of the things that indicates whether you're going to win a football game is the turnover ratio," Warriors coach Ulima Afoa said. 

The takeaways by Afoa's squad were instrumental in overcoming a bit of a sluggish start defensively. The Menehunes — who did not attempt a single pass in their semifinal win over Roosevelt the week prior — caught KS-Maui off-guard with a couple of play-action passes for both of their first-half touchdowns. 

"In the first half they came at us with something we weren't expecting much of. Looking at them in the beginning of the week, we thought they would run the ball, so that definitely caught us off guard as a defense, myself included, but going into the half we just made simple adjustments, tightened up our coverage, just getting our trust back and after that we kind of just rolled from there, but we stuck with the game plan and it showed in the second half," Kahoohanohano said. 

Early in the second quarter, Kahoohanoahno dropped Waimea's Kaikea Miyashiro for a five-yard loss on a second-down run. The Menehunes were forced to punt away two plays later. 

A few minutes after that, however, Kahoohanohano made what appeared to be another crucial stop when he stopped Miyashiro on third down for a one-yard gain, six yards short of the line to gain. However, Kahoohanohano was flagged on the play for illegal helmet contact, which gave Waimea a fresh set of downs. On the very next play, quarterback Kolby Correa connected with Nash Schaefer for a 48-yard touchdown pass. 

"I don't want to say too much about the call — it was in the hands of the refs and their judgment. I wasn't too happy with the call but it happened, but it definitely didn't stop me from making plays. They scored right after that too, so it took more out of me, but like my coaches always tell me, ‘it's the next play that matters,' so I put it behind me and I didn't let those setbacks stop me from going out there and playing," Kahoohanohano said. 

Afoa lauded Kahoohanohano's maturity in being able to overcome the penalty and not allow it to deter him moving forward. 

"That's one of the nice things about Kolt and how he approaches the game. Nobody's perfect in this game, you're going to try to be as perfect as you can, but there's going to be mistakes along the way. You don't want one mistake to continue to stay around and lead you to make another mistake. You learn from it, get better and go on and that's his approach," Afoa said. 

It didn't take Kahoohanohano long to bounce back from the miscue. Three plays after his teammate Xander Pagan, returned a Waimea kickoff for a 92-yard touchdown, Kahoohanohano forced another punt after he tackled Miyashiro on third down, one yard shy of a first-down. 

The Warriors held a 20-12 lead at halftime. Two plays into the third quarter, Kahoohanohano picked off a deep pass over the middle by Correa to give his team possession. 

"We were just basically in zone coverage and it was a play-action (pass), so just reading it and it kind of just came to me. I was just playing over the top and it just came to me. It felt good after everything that happened in the first half and the touchdown passes they had on us; that first interception boosted the morale of me and my teammates," Kahoohanohano said. 

Late in the third quarter, KS-Maui held a 27-18 lead after a short touchdown pass from Kekoa Keau-Davis to Loea Asuega-Stark. On the ensuing kickoff, Kahoohanohano forced a fumble that Kayden Yap recovered for the Warriors. Four plays after the turnover, Pagan punched it into the end zone from nine yards out. 

"That gave us a lot of momentum because we just scored before that. Going into that kickoff, I wasn't expecting much, just doing what we normally did, but I saw him coming up, I was looking just to make a simple tackle and somehow forced the ball out and got the ball back to the offense. They added to our momentum, added a score and that pushed our lead even further," Kahoohanoo said. 

After KS-Maui stretched its lead to 41-18 in the final minutes, Kahoohanohano came up with his second pick of the night off of a deflected pass and returned it 39 yards, inside the red zone. Zedekaiah Campbell recycled the turnover into a 16-yard touchdown run on the very next play. 

"I think the second interception put the final nail in the coffin. They were trying to drive and score and being able to get that pick off of the guy's hands was a good way to end the game for us and secure the win," Kahoohanohano said. 

He noted that it was just his second multi-interception game. Kahoohanohano also registered a pair of picks in a win over Roosevelt in the semifinals of the 2024 state tournament. 

Kahoohanohano has played a number of different positions in his three seasons with the Warriors. As a sophomore he served as a backup quarterback and wide receiver. The following year, Kahoohanohano began the year at quarterback, but eventually found a home at defensive back, where he earned All-Hawaii First Team honors. Kahoohanohano has played both cornerback and safety over the years and also has a role on every special teams' unit, including kickoff, kick return, punt, punt return, PAT and PAT block. 

"First of all, in order for him to play multiple positions you have to be a pretty good athlete. You have to be flexible and you've also got to be good to play all those positions and he's definitely one of our better athletes. I think what he brings to the table is presence. He will come downhill on you, he'll lay the wood on you — he's not contact-shy — you may catch the ball, but you're going to feel heavy pressure after catching it," Afoa said. 

No matter where Kahoohanohano is aligned, as a team captain he ultimately provides leadership for the rest of his teammates. 

"On this team I definitely see myself as a leader on the defensive side, especially being a senior, I've got to set an example for the younger guys and make sure I lead by example so that they can follow in the right footsteps," Kahoohanohano said. 

Kahoohanohano is one of 19 departing seniors on the team, including 11 starters. 

"I'm privileged to have great young men like Kolt be a part of this program. From my perspective, we're in the business of molding these gentlemen through the game of football, through a game that we all love and I've been blessed to be around some great individuals and Kolt is one of them," Afoa said. 

Even though he did not play much as a sophomore, Kahoohanohano recalls the heartbreak of losing to Waimea in the D2 state final quite vividly, which allows him to appreciate the two state championships in his junior and senior seasons that much more. 

"Going from the heartbreak of losing that championship, then being able to come back next year as a starter and being able to go out there and help the team win was great. Then this year getting that ‘get-back' this year and being able to do that while going back-to-back as well was definitely a great moment because of the team that we beat and being able to get our back-to-back championship," said Kahoohanohano, who will join the KS-Maui boys basketball team in the winter before he closes out his prep career with the track and field team in the spring season. 

The Warriors finished the year with an 11-1 record and are the first team from the Maui Interscholastic League to repeat as state champions since Lahainaluna won four straight D2 crowns from 2016-'19. 

FOOTBALL

Yair Antonio, Kapaa — Kicked field goals of 26, 35 and 22 yards in a loss to Kailua 

Zedekaiah Campbell, Kamehameha-Maui — Ran 25 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass in a win over Waimea 

Keoki Cypriano, Kailua — Made seven tackles and recorded game-sealing interception in the closing seconds of a win over Kapaa 

Shaison Hosino-Marquez, Kailua — Made nine tackles, including one for a loss, in a win over Kapaa 

Xander Pagan, Kamehameha-Maui — Ran for two touchdowns and scored on a 91-yard kickoff return for touchdown in a win over Waimea 

Nash Schaefer, Waimea — Caught four passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Kamehameha-Maui 

Micah Sua, Kailua — Scored on a 95-yard kickoff return for touchdown in a win over Kapaa 

BOYS BASKETBALL

Joseph Bieniek, Kailua — Scored 22 points in a win over Mid-Pacific 

Terrance Buckhalter, Radford — Scored 20 points in a loss to Kaiser 

Darius Chizer, Mid-Pacific — Scored 29 points in a loss to Kailua 

Levi Damo-Agcaoili, Damien — Scored 22 points in a win over Roosevelt and scored 22 points in a win over Kalani 

Hilton Edward, Kaimuki — Scored 21 points in a win over Kapolei 

Saumahe Haney-Tongotea, Castle — Scored 20 points in a loss to Hawaii Baptist 

Nainoa Hirasuma-Kenny, Kailua — Scored 24 points in a win over Mid-Pacific 

Kawohi Huihui, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 24 points in a loss to Punahou and scored 21 points in a loss to Saint Louis 

Laakea Kamahele, Le Jardin — Scored 21 points in a loss to Leilehua 

Dylan Kuia, Baldwin — Scored 23 points in a win over Kekaulike 

Sebastian Ledda, Kailua — Scored 26 points in a win over Baldwin 

Keanu Meacham, Saint Louis — Scored 20 points in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii

Ronin Naihe, Kahuku — Scored 22 points in a loss to Punahou 

Sebastian Peterson, Seabury Hall — Scored 31 points in a win over Maui 

Maddox Pung, Kailua — Scored 22 points in a win over Mid-Pacific 

Elijah Stanley, Campbell — Scored 22 points in a win over Roosevelt 

Avari Zion-Branch, University Lab — Scored 20 points in a win over Campbell 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Breyanna Alfonso, Island School — Scored 25 points in a win over Hilo 

Khloe Bicoy, Molokai — Scored 15 points in a win over Kulanihakoi and scored 23 points in a win over Kulanihakoi 

Harley Cabreros, Waiakea — Scored 12 points with 12 rebounds in a win over Island School 

Arieana Doran, Waiakea — Scored 30 points in a win over Hawaii Prep, scored 15 points with 10 rebounds in a win over Kapaa, scored 15 points in a win over Keaau and scored 26 points with nine rebounds in a win over Island School 

Jayla Kamelamela, Leilehua — Scored 15 points in a win over Iolani II 

Mikela Salazar Harrell, Konawaena — Scored 19 points in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Riya Tobosa, Pearl City — Scored 22 points in a win over Island Pacific, scored 18 points in a loss to Sacred Hearts and scored 23 points in a loss to University Lab 

Ava Yoshimura, Iolani II — Scored 21 points in a win over Kailua and scored 18 points in a loss to Leilehua