Monday Morning MIL: Kamehameha Maui runs away from Baldwin to open second round of football season

Kamehameha Schools Maui’s rise to the top of the mountain in Maui Interscholastic League football has been methodical and convincing. 

The Warriors took another impressive step towards showing everyone who’s boss in Maui high school football with a 49-28 win over Baldwin on Friday night at Kanai‘aupuni Stadium.

The game was a battle of the two first-round division winners in the MIL — Division II Kamehameha Maui is now 5-0 in the MIL overall, 1-0 in the second round with three games to play in the regular season. Division I Baldwin is 2-3, 0-1 in league play.

Every other team in the MIL has at least two league losses.

“It’s just a blessing, man. I attribute it to our coaches, them keeping us accountable and us trying to keep the standard for ourselves from years past,” said senior left offensive tackle Pa‘u Spencer, who has a scholarship offer to the University of Hawai‘i and is being recruited by several other NCAA Division I schools.

The Warriors have been in three of the last four First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II state championship games, winning their first title last year 37-14 over Kaiser in the state final.

Since the beginning of the 2024 season, Kamehameha Maui is 15-4 overall, 12-1 vs. MIL opponents. In that time period, they’ve also dominated historic powerhouse Lahainaluna, holding them scoreless in two contests and snapping the Lunas’ record 46-game MIL winning streak. Before that, Lahainaluna had won 35 of the first 36 games between the schools in history and won four D-II state titles in a row from 2016-19.

Kamehameha Maui’s other three losses have all come to teams from California or higher divisions in Hawai‘i.

Spoencer said, at times, it “feels like we can do whatever we want.”

On Friday, the numbers were eye-popping — Kamehameha Maui had 367 yards rushing, 521 yards of total offense and broke three runs of 65 yards or more for touchdowns.

The game was tied 21-21 midway through the third quarter after Baldwin linebacker Jackson Sebastian recovered a Kamehameha Maui fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. From there, the Warriors outscored the Bears 28-7 and seemed to wear down the Baldwin defense.

“Our kids are in pretty good shape,” Kamehameha Maui coach Ulima Afoa said. “We push them to the edge a little bit. We test them. They responded well in the second half.”

Zedekaiah Campbell, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior running back, pushed his Kamehameha Maui career school rushing record to 2,026 yards with 174 yards on 17 carries Friday night. He also had four rushing touchdowns, three from 1 yard and one 65-yard rumble in the second quarter to give the Warriors a 14-7 lead.

Campbell has scored 14 touchdowns this season in just five games played, including one via reception and one on a 95-yard kickoff return. His 12 rushing touchdowns and 666 yards rushing both lead the state overall this season, according to scoringlive.com.

Campbell is on pace to break his own school single-season rushing record of 991 yards set last season.

“Our running backs make us right every time, no matter how we block,” Spencer said. “If we miss a block, they make us right.”

Baldwin coach Cody Nakamura put it simply when asked about how good Campbell is: “Oh, my goodness. He’s got everything you could dream of for a running back. He’s got speed, he’s got power. He runs the ball hard. He runs downhill, breaks tackles. He’s an absolute beast.”

Campbell paid the respect right back to his line: “They’re the best line in the league, maybe — nah, not even maybe — I’ll say they’re the best line in the state in Division II, honestly. I’m just lucky to have them blocking for me.”

On Saturday night at King Kekaulike Stadium, King Kekaulike beat Maui High 28-6. Kanoa Kuailani opened the scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for Na Ali‘i and Cason Brooke returned the opening kickoff of the second half 75 yards to push the lead to 14-0.

Micah Barut scored the Sabers’ touchdown on a 1-yard run midway through the third quarter, while Wayne Kahula and Kuali‘i Kimokeo added short scoring runs for Na Ali‘i to finish the scoring.

The MIL second-round standings in Division I have Baldwin and Maui High both at 0-1, while Lahainaluna has yet to play a game. In Division II, Kamehameha Maui and King Kekaulike are both 1-0.

The Warriors and Bears have guaranteed themselves a playoff game for the MIL single state berth in each division. If another team besides Kamehameha Maui or Baldwin wins the D-I or D-II second-round title, there would be playoff games for the single state berths on Nov. 7-8.

Kamehameha Maui did not punt in Friday’s win. Sophomore quarterback Kekoa Keau-Davis was 8-for-11 passing for 146 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 98 yards on five carries, including a 71-yard touchdown.

“He’s a guy who can run the offense, understands the offense, can basically collaborate with our coordinator as far as knowing what to do,” Kamehameha Maui head coach Ulima Afoa said. “And our coordinator does a good job of teaching him. He wants to be good. We’re lucky to have found him this year, plus he’s young.”

Baldwin was led by senior quarterback Jordan Carbonell, who passed for 131 yards and ran for 83 yards. Hiilawe Han had seven catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bears were outgained by 222 yards by the Warriors, but are currently in the MIL driver’s seat to reach the Division I state tournament for the first time since 2019.

“Very highly disciplined team and they took advantage of some of our mistakes,” Nakamura said of the Warriors. “So, we got a lot of cleanup work to do, but the good thing is we’ve got a few more games to figure it out.”

“Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.