Since key renovations were made to its home at Carleton E Weimer Field, which included a new turf playing surface, Kahuku has hosted a national high school powerhouse in its backyard every year since 2022. In 2022, the Red Raiders barely lost to St. Frances of Maryland, 22-15, then ranked No. 3 in the country at the time. In 2023, Kahuku shocked 2022 national champion St. John Bosco of California, 30-23. All the latest sports news from Hawaii's sports station On Saturday night, the Red Raiders were handled by national No. 1 Mater Dei, 38-7. Up 17-0 at halftime, the Monarchs pulled away in the third quarter before inserting their backups in the fourth quarter. A spirited Kahuku defense held its own against Mater Dei in the first half, but unlike the St. Frances or Bosco games, could not force an early turnover to swing the tide of the game. Unlike their home matchups against national powers in 2022 and 2023, the Red Raiders weren't able to put together four competitive quarters on Saturday. Still, head coach Sterling Carvalho believes his team will come away better from the experience. “It was good. There’s no place like home. We played our best but this team, they just have a lot of speed. Where we thought we could execute, they were just too fast. That’s why they’re the No. 1 team," Carvalho said. "We couldn’t pick on anybody in this game. They just have dudes all over the place." Saturday's game for Kahuku also served as the season debut for Mana Carvalho, the reigning Cover2 Defensive Player of the Year, as well as the top player on offense for the Red Raiders as a receiver, hauling in 11 passes for 79 yards against the Monarchs. Mana Carvalho had previously missed Kahuku's first four games after suffering an injury in the preseason. With the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, Carvalho was sidelined for the remainder of the game. “It was great, especially the first game being Mater Dei. Last year, we lost pretty bad to them, so I wanted us to come out here and make a statement, pick up the boys on our team," Mana Carvalho said. “We had them for sure. Just some mistakes here and there. We were just inconsistent. Just staying consistent and making plays after plays will set us up to win the state championship again. “I feel good. I wish I could have taken more hits but all the coaches were saying just be smart, go down if you have to, so just saving my body throughout the whole season instead of just this game.” After the game, both teams gathered at midfield for a cultural exchange of sorts. Mater Dei did its decades-long pride drill in front of Kahuku, followed by the Red Raiders performing their original Kaipahua Kura haka in front of the Monarchs. “One thing I was telling the kids is, “Did you see how sharp they were doing the haka?’ When we do our pride drill, we need to have that pride and we need to have that sharpness because a lot of alumni really honor that pride drill," first-year Mater Dei head coach Raul Lara said. "That’s something are kids are trying to learn and hopefully they get a little better at it.” Lara was the head coach at Long Beach Poly when he took his team to play Kahuku at the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Football Classic in 2002, a doubleheader at Aloha Stadium that featured a clash between De La Salle and Saint Louis in the nightcap. Lara noted that Long Beach Poly's trip in 2002 was fully funded, while Mater Dei had to fundraise in order to stay on the North Shore. In all, he believes his team benefitted from playing a team cut from Kahuku's cloth. “We played a team that plays hard, and we knew that," Lara said. "The Kahuku kids, especially defensively, they were playing hard. We needed to match their intensity and they kind of controlled the line of scrimmage in the beginning with us. “Great community, I can see how much they love their school and the kids here, and it was cool to see.” As for the future of marquee games on the North Shore, Sterling Carvalho says he fully intends to continue scheduling games like Saturday's moving forward. “We want to just play the best. Teams like Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman, other teams around the nation don’t want to play them. We look forward to it," Carvalho said. "Even though it seems like we’re outmatched, we always learn something from it. That’s why we play these games. It’s not about the wins and losses, it’s about the experience and the opportunity that we provide our program and our players. It will make us better in the long run. That’s why year after year, we look forward to these games.”