Spring football begins with high numbers after most competitive MIL season in a decade

Septuagenarian Cal Lee, the winningest high school coach in state history, was in his element on Friday, teaching teenagers the intricacies of the game during spring practice at Maui High School.

He may be 78 years old, but Lee still enjoys teaching the game to young players.

“I feel so good about coming here and and working with kids that are anxious and they want to learn the game of football,” Lee said. “If I can help them, I feel really good about it.”

Lee, who guided Saint Louis School to 14 O‘ahu Prep Bowl championships and five state championships, was on Maui to help his nephew, Pohai Lee, who is the new head coach of Maui High after formerly coaching Baldwin High School.

Also new for the next Maui Interscholastic League football season: Baldwin and Maui high schools will be forced to play away from their home field for the entire 2025 season due to the scheduled year-long closure of War Memorial Stadium, which starts in June.

The changes are occurring after one of the most competitive football seasons in MIL history.

MIL Divisions I and II required winner-take-all championship playoff games to decide which teams would play in the 2024 state tournaments. It was the first time two league championship games were needed since 2015 and only the second time ever.

Lahainaluna beat Baldwin 7-3 for the Division I state berth, while Kamehameha Schools Maui defeated King Kekaulike 34-17 for the Division II state berth. 

The Kamehameha Warriors then won their school’s first state football championship, outscoring Roosevelt and Kaiser by a cumulative total of 97-40 in the Division II tournament.

Kamehameha Maui’s 6-foot-4, 295-pound offensive lineman Pa‘u Spencer, who will be a senior in the fall and already has a college scholarship offer from the University of Hawai‘i, smiled widely when asked about the 2024 championship season.

“I think we can repeat,” Spencer said. “I’m super grateful to be out here with these boys. I’m grateful that they came out even though it’s the last week of school — they don’t have to be here, but I’m grateful for each and every one of these boys for being here.”

The Warriors snapped Lahainaluna’s 46-game, seven-year MIL winning streak last season and the momentum they built from 2024 appears to have carried over into the spring with a solid turnout of about 60 players for the voluntary 10 days of workouts.

“It’s a real high number for spring drills because a lot of kids haven’t figured out the importance of spring,” Kamehameha Maui coach Ulima Afoa said. “They just think, ‘Ah, it’s just one more practice we gotta go to.’ But they end up figuring out that, ‘Hey, you come here because it’s an opportunity’ to start working your way into the summer.”

Other schools also are reporting over 50 players for the spring football workouts, numbers rarely seen on Maui.

As Spencer took a water break at practice Wednesday, he only had to look across the brand-new turf field at the Pukalani school to see what his future might look like.

Jordan Pu‘u-Robinson, the University of Hawai‘i defensive line coach, was starting his rounds of visiting as many Maui Interscholastic League spring practice sites as he could during a two-day trip to Maui. Due to his recent marriage, Pu‘u-Robinson has slimmed down to less than 230 pounds, giving away about 65 pounds to Spencer.

Pu‘u-Robinson attended Kamehameha Maui for three years and Baldwin for one before graduating in 2009 and then playing at Washington State and University of Hawai‘i as a defensive lineman in college. 

“I’ve been in these kids’ shoes,” Pu‘u-Robinson said. “And I remember what it was like when I was a teenager trying to play Division I football and trying to impress a coach. It’s a lot of pressure.”

Spencer appears to be the top prospect in the league at this time, but college coaches are not allowed to comment on players who have not yet signed.

The MIL schedule is being worked on by the league’s athletic directors and is expected to be released in July, according to football coordinator Jon Viela, the athletic director at Kamehameha Maui. It is taking some extra innovation this year with War Memorial Stadium not available.

The options include designating one stadium at King Kekaulike, Kamehameha Maui or Lahainaluna for the Bears’ four home games and another for the Sabers, or having the displaced schools playing two games at each of the stadiums available — and designating one of them to be a home game — to round out their necessary schedule.

The wild card is Kūlanihāko‘i High School, which will have seniors for the first time this fall. Last season, the Manta Rays competed in eight-player football with Lāna‘i, Seabury Hall and Hana. Moloka‘i, which upgraded to the traditional 11-player level in 2024, will return to the eight-player level in the fall. Kūlanihāko‘i must declare which level it will play at soon.

At the 11-player level, Baldwin, Lahainaluna and Maui are in Division I, while King Kekaulike and Kamehameha Maui are in Division II. If there are five teams at the 11-player level, Viela said the likely league schedule will be eight games per team with each team playing the other four twice.

KAMEHAMEHA MAUI

The Warriors stamped themselves as the class of the MIL last season as the only team to beat all five other teams in the league on the way to their state championship. The Warriors’ 9-3 overall record was a school record for wins.

Spencer will be opening holes for running backs Zedekiah Campbell and Kaikea Hueu, while the team is looking for a quarterback to replace Kolten Waikiki-Caldeira and Bransyn Hong, who both graduated.

Kamehameha Maui will play Damien on Aug. 8 and Radford Aug. 16 in the preseason, both at Kamehameha Maui.

LAHAINALUNA

The Lunas overcame a 20% drop in student population in the year after the deadly 2023 wildfire destroyed much of their town to win their 17th straight MIL division championship. 

The Lunas wrapped up spring drills with 35 players at practice on Thursday.

“This is the most we’ve had this whole week, I’m kind of pleased,” coach Dean Rickard said. “We know about 15, 20 players that are MIA that we know are going to be coming back.”

Two of the team leaders epitomize the Lunas’ traditional plan of attack. Senior-to-be Joseph Arcangel, a 5-4, 145-pound running back, will return to scamper behind David Kauvaka, a 6-3, 270-pound rising junior two-way lineman, who already has a scholarship offer from the University of Idaho. 

”It’s only spring ball,” Kauvaka said. “And we still have two more months to build.”

Arcangel also is an accomplished kicker and kick returner, who likely will see time at defensive back. 

“If everyone just does what they can, show up, give all their effort, we’re going to be a really great team, maybe even win it all this year,” Arcangel said.

Kyle Thomas also will be a key cog on both sides of the ball. The Lunas won four straight Division II state titles from 2016-19 before moving to Division I in 2021. They have always found ways to make the most of sometimes very small rosters, including using several players on both sides of the ball.

“If our numbers remain at this level we’ll have to go back to ironman football,” Rickard said.

The Lunas’ 2024 season ended with a 6-5 record after a 40-13 loss to Leilehua in the Division I state tournament.

“Every year we’ll shoot for the championship, but at the same time, we just want to make sure that we can remain competitive,” Rickard said. “And I think what we’re finding out is that everybody in the MIL is competitive.”

The Lunas will play Wai‘anae and Kapolei in the preseason, both on O‘ahu, on the weekends of Aug. 8-9 and Aug. 15-16.

BALDWIN

The Bears broke through with a 6-3 season in 2024 after going a combined 0-17 the two previous seasons. Baldwin does not have a preseason game currently scheduled after one with Castle fell through.

The Bears were within two yards of the winning touchdown in their 7-3 loss to Lahainaluna in the MIL Division I championship game. But a fumble ended their chances in the final minute of the game.

About 40 players have been out for the Bears’ first week of spring practice.

“We think that’s pretty good, but there’s still some of the other guys that we’re trying to get out here to start getting ready for the season,” Baldwin coach Cody Nakamura said. “We’re hoping to get that number up to 50 by the end of spring ball.”

Nakamura said it’s an “open quarterback competition” right now, but mentioned linebacker Akela Bacos, running back Max Kushi, and defensive backs Sam Koshi and Leroy Kahalewai as players the team will be counting on in the fall.

MAUI HIGH

Pohai Lee was far from the most experienced coach with the last name Lee on the Sabers’ practice field on Friday. His father Tommy Lee and uncles Ron Lee and Cal Lee all had him beat.

“They were my first recruits,” Pohai Lee said of his family coaching tree members.

Cal Lee, who is also a former associate head coach at the University of Hawai‘i, retired from the high school ranks with a 241-32-5 record.

Kahlen Boteilho-Dougherty, a rising senior quarterback, said the vibe on the Kahului campus is upbeat right now, especially with more than a century of coaching experience among the Lee brothers.

“I love it. I love the confidence it is giving us on offense, the competitiveness they are bringing to the team and the wisdom and knowledge that they’ve brought from all their coaching experience,” Boteilho-Dougherty said. “There’s always something to work on, but I love how far we’ve come so far.”

Reno Vaka, a rising sophomore, was the junior varsity quarterback for the Sabers last year. His older brother Rodney Vaka is a recent graduate of the school.

“It’s great. I feel like we’re learning a lot,” Reno Vaka said.

The Sabers had about 60 players turned out on Friday, an encouraging number for a team that was 2-6 in 2024.

“The attitude’s been great,” Pohai Lee said. “The hustle, the work ethic, the enthusiasm. It’s all been really good.”

Maui High will host Kealakehe on the weekend of Aug. 8 and 9 and travel to O‘ahu to play ‘Iolani on Aug. 15 or 16.

KING KEKAULIKE

Na Ali‘i lead the MIL in an impressive year league-wide for spring football turnout, with about 70 players, according to coach Tyson Valle.

While the team was young last season, it still forced an MIL Division II championship game with a 16-14 win over Kamehameha Maui in the final week of the regular season.

The last eight state championship games have featured the MIL D-II champion, including Lahainaluna winning the title four years in a row from 2016-19. King Kekaulike was in the state championship game in 2022, while Kamehameha Maui was in it 2021, 2023 and last year.

The Upcountry, across-the-street, public-private school rivalry appears to drive turnout for King Kekaulike.

“We started with a young team last year,” Valle said. “With a young team, having those guys back, I mean, it really does help push the numbers up a little bit.”

Valle said he is excited for the return of quarterback Kingston Goliday and wide receiver Cason Brooke, who both will be juniors in the fall.

Valle said of the rivalry: “It’s real. … We know kids from both sides, our side and Kamehameha, and they always talk about the rivalry between our two schools. It’s definitely becoming a beast and a monster, and it’s definitely driving our numbers.”

King Kekaulike has a preseason game at Honoka‘a on Aug. 9 and will host Morro Bay, Calif., coached by former Maui High coach Robert Dougherty, on Aug. 16 at King Kekaulike Stadium.