Wildcats coach Brad Uemoto said Konawaena junior receiver Kaia Thomas has been released from the hospital and is expected to be OK.
Thomas went down with a back injury 58 seconds into the final whistle during Saturday night's game between Kahuku and Konawaena at Carlton E. Weimer Field on the North Shore.
Thomas remained on the field for 20 minutes after the game ended before being carried off on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance. He and the national team flew home to the United States on an 11 a.m. flight.
The trip to the North Shore was an eventful one for the Wildcats, who stayed in the gym in Kahuku.
Like many teams in Hawaii, Konawaena has played an aggressive schedule, losing to Punahou 35-0 in the season opener and hosting Long Beach Polytechnic last season. In 2018, Uemoto hosted the Wildcats in Kahuku, where they lost 61-9.
“We're not going into this game with arrogance, we're going into it as an experience,” Uemoto said. “At the end of the day, we know (Kahuku coach) Sterling (Carvalho) is looking after us and has no ill will to beat us. They coach good football and that's the safest football for us to play.”
Kahuku treated the game primarily as a scrimmage, giving each quarterback three snaps and having nine backs carry the ball a total of 35 times. Beau Pruett led the ground game with 60 yards on 11 carries, while Troy Maritelagi caught 12 passes for 51 yards and a touchdown to Jayden Tagaloa. They started two sophomores on the offensive line.
“Technically, our season doesn't start until mid-September,” Carvalho said, “and it's still a month away. If you think about it, we only got pads at the end (of July). We're still trying to figure things out and stay healthy. You look around the state in a couple weeks and you already have kids going down.”
The Red Raiders improved to 2-1 after a 33-7 loss to national powerhouse Bishop Gorman but still have work to do. Carvalho said the Red Raiders abandoned the run the first two weeks and were hoping to get back into it while staying in the shotgun. They were held to 2.7 yards per carry against the formidable Wildcats, were sacked four times on 19 pass attempts and were penalized 13 times for 118 yards. The two whistles were for a third-and-short incursion that gave Konawaena a first down.
Nonetheless, the defense is still as good as ever at this point in the season. Madden Solyai got his first score on a 15-yard interception return in the first quarter, and the Red Raiders held the Wildcats to just 112 yards, including just four on the ground on 22 rushes. Solyai added 77 yards on two punt returns.
“Our strength is definitely defense,” Carvalho said. “We have some good players there. Kahuku is known for their defense and special teams. They continue to shine every night.”
Kahuku will host Waimea next week, while Konawaena (1-2) will visit Kealakehe before hosting Hilo in two weeks for its first home game.
Other big winners in Week 3 of the season were Campbell with a 49-17 win at Punahou, Kamehameha with a 31-20 win at Warren, Calif., St. Louis with a 49-0 win over Kamehameha Maui, Waipahu with a 20-13 win over winless Waianae and Farrington with a 42-0 win over Rancho Mirage (Calif.).
The main matchups next weekend include St. Louis visiting Farrington on Friday, Waipahu taking to the hill to face Kamehameha and Mililani traveling to Nevada to face Liberty on Saturday.
Konawaena is just one of the Hawaii teams boarding the plane to take on some tough preseason competition. The Wildcats beat Leilehua 28-19 in Wahiawa last year and St. Francis 23-22 in 2016. That victory helped Konawaena win a state title on Oahu in 2022, beating Waipahu 38-28 in the title game at Mililani.
“It teaches the team discipline and what good football looks like,” Uemoto said. “This game slows everything down for the rest of the season. You'll never see the players in front of you play that fast, that well and with that discipline again. For us, this game is a learning tool.”