MIL Division II football preview: Can King Kekaulike overtake rival Kamehameha Schools Maui, the defending state champs?

After playing for Hawaiʻi State Division II titles in 2021 and 2023 and coming up short, Kamehameha Schools Maui entered last year’s state tournament as the No. 1 seed.

They rolled past Roosevelt 60-26 in the semifinals and 37-14 over Kaiser in the final to capture their first football state title in school history. 

But that was last year.

“We don’t concentrate on trying to do it again,” Warriors head coach Ulima Afoa said. “We just concentrate on our process. What is ahead of you is there, but what you need to concern yourself with is what you’re doing at this very moment.”

Just a mile away is the other Division II team in the Maui Interscholastic League that is trying to knock them off their pedestal this year: King Kekaulike.

“The rivalry is definitely real,” King Kekaulike head coach Tyson Valle said. “We got our eyes on them and they got their eyes on us.”

In 2022, King Kekaulike won the MIL Division II title over Kamehameha Maui and advanced to the state championship game, before losing to Waimea. Last season, Na Aliʻi were the only Maui team to beat Kamehameha Maui, 16-14, on Oct. 25, forcing a winner-take-all playoff game between the two teams that the Warriors won eight days later, 34-17.

During the non-league preseason, Na Aliʻi were the only MIL team to win both of their games: 9-7 over Honokaʻa on Aug. 9 on Hawaiʻi island and 68-41 over Morro Bay, Calif., on Saturday at King Kekaulike Stadium.

The Warriors finished 1-1 in non-league preseason play. They lost at home to Damien of Oʻahu, 33-17 on Aug. 8, and thumped Radford, also of Oʻahu, 53-14 at home Saturday night at Kanaʻiaupuni Stadium.

Now, things start to count in the five-team Maui Interscholastic League standings. King Kekaulike opens Friday at home against Maui High while Kamehameha Maui hosts Baldwin on Saturday.

The Maui Interscholastic League’s Division I is made up of Baldwin, Lahainaluna and Maui high schools.

A team with the Maui Interscholastic League has advanced to the Division II Hawaiʻi State football championship game eight straight times, winning five state championships since 2016.

The MIL plays an eight-game double round-robin schedule where all the teams play each other twice. 

All of the games count in the standings that are broken into two rounds of play. If there are different round champions in either division, those teams play off for the single division spot to their respective state tournaments.

Afoa said he is not concerned about the across-the-highway rivalry brewing Upcountry.

“That’s all nice, but that’s just part of the window dressing,” Afoa said. “Let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this deal. Your job is to work every day so that regardless of who shows up on the opposite side, your intent is to dominate the game.”

Kamehameha Maui played both its preseason games without last season’s starting running backs — Kaikea Hueu (injury) and Zedekaiah Campbell (personal) — but got strong play from replacements Xander Pagan and Nakoa Pau.

Pagan had touchdown runs of 77 and 74 yards in the win over Radford, while also having an 85-yard scoring run called back by penalty. Pagan was playing with a heavy heart. Maui police officer Suzanne O, who was shot and killed in the line of duty Friday night, was Pagan’s stepmother.

“She was a wonderful woman, she always wants what’s best for me,” Pagan said Saturday night after the game. “I was just with her last game and I love her. … I didn’t really get to hang out with her that much, but I know that she’d be happy to see what I’ve done tonight and happy to see how I played tonight.”

Pagan, a 5-foot-9, 155-pound sophomore, added, “I’ve dedicated this game to her and I’m going to dedicate this whole season to her.”

With the two starting running backs on the sidelines — Campbell is expected back this week when the Warriors open Maui Interscholastic League by hosting Baldwin — Pagan said: “I took it as an opportunity to put myself out there on this island. I just wanted the coaches to know who I am.”

Pagan said he knows a few Na Aliʻi players after competing with them on Wailuku Rainbows youth teams in Pop Warner under-12 and under-14 divisions. He said the rivalry between the two teams is growing season by season.

“(The rivalry) means a lot,” Pagan said. “It’s an opportunity to get ourselves out there as a team and represent what we have as a team.”  

Nakoa Pau, a 5-7, 185-pound junior, also had two touchdown runs of 10 and 37 yards in the Warriors’ win on Saturday.

Pau was impressed with how Pagan was able to focus just 24 hours after his stepmom was shot and killed. Pagan’s 77-yard run put the Warriors ahead of Radford 6-0 in the first quarter.

“It was definitely hard,” Pau said. “It definitely hurt him the most. We started off the game with him. He was able to bring us all the way to the house for an opening touchdown.”

Pau said the rivalry that awards the Poi Pounder Trophy annually to the team that claims the season series is fun to be part of.

“It’s the battle for the King of the Hill,” Pau said. “It’s just a very intense rivalry because of the culture that both teams bring. It brings all that energy to the field.”

King Kekaulike rang up 487 yards of offense in their 68-41 win over Morro Bay, finding the throttle to an offense that managed just 9 points the week before. Na Aliʻi rode a school-record rushing mark of 268 yards by Wayne Kahula to the outburst.

To overcome the defending state champions, King Kekaulike quarterback Kingston Goliday said, “Definitely, we need to stay as a family, stay together on many hard work days in practice and just be a family.”

While Kahula and company were running wild, Goliday was 5-for-8 passing for 74 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown to Cason Brooke. Nainoa Mata added 118 yards rushing for Na Aliʻi, including a 76-yard touchdown run to end the scoring in the highest point total game ever played on Maui.

“When you let us click together like that, nobody can beat us,” Goliday said.