SHOJI DOMINATES LAHAINALUNA

(May 16): It was a night to forget for MIL teams. Both of the league's seeded teams were eliminated from title contention in their opening matches.

Seabury Hall, the second seed in Division-II, suffered its first loss of the season in a 26-24, 25-23 upset against Hawaii Prep. Fourth-seeded Kamehameha-Maui lost 25-18, 25-21 to Roosevelt in the D-I quarterfinals.

And led by an unforgettable performance by Erik Shoji, top-seeded Punahou routed Lahainaluna 25-3, 25-15.

After Punahou took a 1-0 lead, Shoji took over the game. The 6-1 senior scored 14 straight service points. There's more: Nine of those points came on aces, including seven in a row.

And his coach, former UH player Rick Tune, says Shoji is playing out of position.

Tune describes Shoji as a world-class libero.

He also predicts Shoji will start as freshman at Stanford next season and establish himself as the best college player at that position in the country. High praise, indeed.

Punahou will face ILH rival Kamehameha in tonight's 7 o'clock semifinal at King Kekaulike. The Warriors of Kapalama advanced by beating the Warriors of the Big Island 25-15, 25-21.

In the other semi, Iolani will face Roosevelt, also at 7, at Kamehameha-Maui, Iolani advanced with a 25-18, 25-20 win over third-seeded Waianae. In consolation action, Lahainaluna and Kamehameha-Maui will meet in a 5:30 match at Kekaulike.

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LUNAS FACES POWERFUL PUNAHOU

(May 15): If you get the impression that Punahou is absolutely dominant in Hawaii prep sports, the numbers overwhelmingly bear out this feeling.

Yesterday's team championship in boy's golf was the seventh state title out of a possible eight so far this spring for Punahou. And the Buffanblu finished second to Pearl City in girls' judo.

Based on its top seed, Punahou is favored to win an eighth title during the boy's Division I state volleyball tournament taking place on the Valley Isle this week.

Standing in the way of the Punahou steamroller in a 5:30 match at Kekaulike is Lahainaluna, which treated a strong turnout of fans with the most dramatic win in yesterday's opening round of the tournament.

Lahainaluna had the worst record among the 12 qualifiers, at 5-5. But the Lunas jumped out to a 25-18 lead against Kalaheo, dropped the second game 20-25 and then had the crowd on its feet en route to a clinching 25-23 victory in the decisive third game.

But the biggest challenge comes tonight against a Punahou program bidding for its fourth straight state volleyball title and its 27th in the 39-year history of the event.

In the nightcap at Kekaulike, fourth-seeded Kamehameha-Maui faces Roosevelt at 7. The Rough Riders suffered their only loss of the regular-season to Waianae in the OIA title match, but rebounded with an opening sweep of Waiakea.

In other quarterfinal action today: Kamehameha-Oahu meets second-seeded Kamehameha-Hawaii at, fittingly, the Kamehameha-Maui gym at 5::30. Third-seeded Waianae faces Iolani at 7.

KEILEY SHINES: Baldwin sophomore Justin Keiley finished in a three-way for second place in the individual competition and led the Bears to a second-place finish in the state high school golf championships held at Wailua Muni on Kauai.

Keiley followed up his opening-round 71 with a 77 yesterday, finishing at 148, three strokes back of Punahou's Alex Ching.

The Buffanblu eased to their sixth state title, finishing with a team score of 589 – 33 strokes ahead of runner-up Baldwin and 45 shots better than third-place Kamehameha-Oahu.

Keiley's brother, Johnathan, finished eighth, five strokes back. St. Anthony's Taeksoo Kim tied for ninth and Maui High's Ken Takushi tied for 14th.

LUNAS LOSE: Things didn't go as well for the Lunas the state softball tournament.

In a first-round D-I match-up, Lahainaluna let get away a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning and suffered a 7-6 loss to Maryknoll on an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh.

The Lunas were relegated to the consolation bracket, playing Kailua this morning.

The two MIL champs will open their bids with quarterfinal games today.

In D-I, third-seeded Baldwin meets Campbell at 5 p.m. in a game that will be televised on OC 16. In D-II, fourth-seeded Lanai faces Kaiser at 7 p.m.

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KEKAHUNA MAKES HER MARK AT CAL

(May 14): While her former teammates at Baldwin are seeking to defend the state championship she played such a major role in winning last year, Sanoe Kekahuna has helped lead another pack of Bears to a berth in the NCAA softball tournament.

Kekahuna has started 53 of 54 games for Pac-10 power Cal as a freshman, with a team-best batting average of .324 to go with 59 hits, 8 homers, 46 RBI and 32 runs.

Kekahuna turned down several scholarship offers and opted to walk-on at Cal – partly because her cousin, Kaleo Eldgredge, also made the Bears-to-Bears transition, playing in four NCAA finals and coming away with one championship ring.

Cal is making its 23rd straight NCAA tournament appearance, taking 40-24 record into Friday's opener against San Diego State in the Fresno Regional. Sacramento State and Fresno State round out that bracket.

Just about everyone, including head coach Bob Coolen, figured the Rainbow Wahine's season was over following an early exit from the WAC tournament last week.

And when LaTech pulled off a major upset to capture the tourney and the league's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, UH really appeared done with.

But in a stunning turn of events, the WAC received an unprecedented three at-large bids, allowing Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii to join LaTech in the 64-team field.

Hawaii has been assigned to play in Tempe, Ariz., and will open its bid on Friday against Mississippi State. UH is 38-18 and the Lady Bulldogs of the powerful SEC are 40-10. Stony Brook and host Arizona State round out the bracket.

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ST. ANTHONY SECOND IN D-II BASEBALL

(May 12): Four MIL teams qualified for this year's state baseball tournaments. Three reached the final four of their respective divisions. One made it to a championship game.

Not bad after a long spell of early exits by MIL entries in the tournament sponsored by Olowalu-born and raised Wally Yonamine and played, in part, at a park named after the late Paia-born and raised congresswoman Patsy Mink.

The best run belonged to St. Anthony, which suffered a 1-0 loss to top-seeded Kauai High in the title game of the inaugural Division-II event.

The Red Raiders scored a run with two outs in the first inning off St. Anthony ace Michael Jahns, and Kauai lefty Jordan Buster made it hold up with a masterful three-hit, one-walk performance.

The second-seeded Trojans opened with a 9-1 win over Maryknoll in the quarters and followed with an 11-5 romp past Kalaheo in the semis.

Molokai played for third in D-II, suffering a 4-2 loss to Kalaheo. The unseeded Farmers posted back-to-back wins of 9-6 over Radford and 11-3 over Honoka'a to reach the semis, where they were beaten, 8-0, by Kauai.

Maui High suffered a 6-0 loss to Pearl City in the D-I third-place game. The fourth-seeded Sabers were knocked out of contention with a 5-0 loss to top-ranked and eventual champion Punahou in the semis. Maui High opened with a 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Kamehameha-Hawaii.

Baldwin lost 7-0 to Saint Louis in the first round, beat Aiea 4-2 and were routed, 18-4, by Kailua in the consolation final.

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TRACK MARKS FALL IN MIL MEET

(May 5): Baldwin easily lived up to its role as favorite in the MIL track and field championships, winning the girls' team title for a ninth straight year while the boys dominated their division.

So it was an opportunity to focus on the individual events, and several athletes came up huge during Saturday's finals at War Memorial Stadium.

King Kekaulike's Bailey Massenburg was the belle of the meet, winning four gold medals. She swept the three longest races by capturing the 800, 1500 and 3000-meter events in addition to running a leg on Na Ali'i's victorious 1600 relay team.

Baldwin's Asia Okamura won three golds, taking the pole vault with a meet-record 9-9 and high hurdles, as well as running on the first-place 400 relay team.

Teammate Brittany Feteira won the 100 and anchored the 400 relay.

Seabury Hall freshman sensation Kailea Tracy-Visintainer took top honors in the 200 and 400, setting meet marks in both with times of 25.06 and 57.1.

The top performer among the boys was Baldwin's Sean Tesoro, who set records in the shot put and discus with distances of 52-4 and 174-1.

Teammate Joey Amescua won the 800 in a record 1:57.44 and anchored the winning 400 relay. Baldwin's Kalei Kamahele swept the sprints in times of 11.01 and 22.04.

Kekaulike's Red Hunter won the 1500 and 3000, while St. Anthony's Billy Pacheco won his second career golf in the pole vault by clearing 14 feet.

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FALCONS BEWARE: DON'T PUSH RYAN

(May 2): I'm far from convinced that Matt Ryan is a so-called franchise quarterback.

Hopefully, for the Atlanta Falcons, my assessment is totally off the mark.

But I will say this: The Falcons will be making a terrible mistake if they opt to force Ryan to start as a rookie, even if their alternatives are Chris Redman and Joe Harrington.

But I fear for Ryan that a franchise seeking to turn the page – borrowing an overused phrase employed by the TV draft analysts -- on the Michael Vick Era is bent on doing just that.

Ryan's face is plastered all over the team's website. Some will say that's good marketing. I say that's putting too much pressure on an untested player.

Or have we forgotten the case of the equally desperate Houston Texans in 2002.

Houston drafted David Carr out of Fresno State, marketed him as the face of their franchise and installed him as their starter because he had the physical tools, mental makeup and poise to do the job.

The poor guy got so beat up physically and so messed up mentally, that I truly believe it prevented him from becoming the QB he might have become.

Carr got sacked more times than any QB in NFL history as a rookie and things didn't get much better in the ensuing four years.

The shell-shocked Carr was released after the 2006 season, had a brief stay in Carolina and recently signed on as a backup to Eli Manning in New York.

Hopefully, Atlanta will learn from Houston's mistake. But I doubt it. The Falcons are too busy turning pages.

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FANS HAD RIGHT REGARDING COLT

(May 1): There's an interesting item in this morning's internet edition of the Advertiser.

It shows the results of a poll taken before last weekend's NFL draft asking the respondents to predict where they thought quarterback Colt Brennan would be chosen.

Demonstrating that Hawaii fans are more than mere homers, 30.4 percent of them correctly predicted the sixth round and another 20 percent said he wouldn't be drafted at all. A combined 40.7 percent had him going between the third and fifth rounds. And no one had him going on the first day.

The same newspaper ran a story earlier this week concluding that Brennan's decision to return to UH for his final season of eligibility cost him some big bucks.

Had Brennan gone in the second round last year, he would have earned about $2.7 million over a three-year period.

Instead, Brennan dropped to the sixth round, 186th overall, and is likely to earn about $1.25 million over the next three years if he stays healthy and on the Washington Redskins roster.

And remember a committee established by the NFL to advise juniors considering making the jump as to where they were likely to be picked in the draft?

According to insiders, the same group told Davone Bess he would be a second-round pick. Bess was not chosen at all.

He wasn't alone. None of Brennan's receivers were drafted, although did land free-agent deals. Bess signed with Miami, Jason Rivers with Tennessee and Ryan Grice-Mullins with Houston. Offensive lineman Hercules Satele signed with Arizona.

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