What was supposed to be a night of celebrating the career of the Menehune seniors quickly turned bittersweet. 

Head Coach Vince Nihipali’s debut against this Kahuku team as the (2-5-1) Na Menehune entered the game ranked 14th against 1st (Open D1) and 26th nationally ranked Kahuku Red Raiders. 

The Red Raiders who had been handed their first defeats of the season against Mainland schools, enjoyed their first game back on the islands last Friday. Quickly capitalizing on their state-known flare. The Menehunes’ running game couldn’t gain traction, and their vertical attacks were quickly shut down by the Red Raider defense. 

In the 1st quarter opening the Moanalua were driven to their 6th, where they began to shuffle through the penalty against them at their 1st. The Menehunes tried to answer but were quickly overrun by a lob pass into the end zone conceding first on the third play of the game. Slowly leading up to a wall of red Kahuku would impose in their 60-7 win.

The Red Raiders scored back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter. 

Kahuku intercepted Tayden-Evan Kaawa throw off a deflection and lateraled it which resulted in a run of 43 yards for a 33-0 lead. Moanalua was trailing by 0-40 into the half.

Into the second half, the atmosphere was thrown into eruption as QB Cade Rodriguez threw a 15-yard pass to RB/LB Cameron Johnson to score Moanalua’s first TD of the game and first TD against Kahuku in all their matchups, bringing the band and cheerleaders to carry on as the late 4th quarter stunner rung through the bleachers. 

Kicker Andy Ngyuen expressed his excitement and thankfulness for this feat after the match, having scored the extra point. “We as a team gave it our all, the seniors led us through the match with our heads high.” Despite the lopsided score, the Na Menehune football team made it known that this night was truly shown by the hard efforts of its veteran players.

Congratulating (WR) Ezekiel Villegas, (WR) Gabe Wells, (RB/LB) Cameron Johnson, (WR) Kingston Ishimine, (DB) Joshua Acidera, (QB) Cade Rodriguez, (WR) Keenan Ulu, (DB) Kamakani Keliiheuola, (DL) Joshua Sanders, (LB) Judson Hashimoto, (LB/TE) Ruben Chavez, (DL) Deandre Lewis, (LB) Ryan Gibbs, (DL) Te Kanae Tyrell, (OL) Dawson Lafua, (DL) Hunter Eagen, (OL) Wyatt Imamoto, (OL) Cody Pak, (DL) Colby Casinas, (DB) Ranson Koide and (K) Michael Akahane in their successful careers of MOHS football.