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Sawyer Rogoff

Island School soccer  •   #9    Senior

Sawyer Rogoff didn't have the type of senior season he had hoped for, but the way he finished it off might as well be a story-book ending. 

Rogoff, a senior striker for the Island School boys soccer team, was a key factor to the Voyagers' history-making performance at last week's Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Division II Boys State Championships at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex. 

The 6-foot-2 Rogoff scored a goal in each of his team's three victories en route to the very first state championship in any team sport for Island School, a small private school in Lihue on the island of Kauai. 

"We're just shy of 200 kids in high school, so for us it's a small school feel with a big school accomplishment," Voyagers co-head coach Sean Magoun said. 

Island School was seeded third in the eight-team bracket and recorded wins over Hawaii Prep, PAC-5 and finally, two-time defending state champion Kamehameha-Hawaii on its road to the state title. 

Rogoff accounted for the lone goal in the 1-0 win over HPA Thursday; He scored in the 35th minute. 

"In the first half I didn't have a lot of chances until that through ball came to me," Rogoff recalled. "It was bouncing so I had to shift my body to get the shot."

Magoun credited Rogoff for finding a way to get the ball in the back of the net. 

"I think it capitalizes on a forward's mentality of being an opportunist. Like I remind forwards all the time, a goal doesn't have to be pretty. It just needs to go past the line and into the net," he said. 

Rogoff opened the scoring in Friday's 3-1 win over second-seeded PAC-5 with his goal in the 14th minute. He noted that it was teammate Javin Hennessy's free kick from about 30 yards out that set-up the scoring opportunity. 

"He shot the ball with some power and the goalkeeper fumbled it a little bit. I didn't get the first touch, so it kind of bounced behind me so I turned around and I spun my body around and I just shot it as hard as I could and it went under the goalie's arm," Rogoff said. 

Finally, it was Rogoff's goal in the 59th minute in Saturday's 1-0 win over top-seed Kamehameha-Hawaii that proved to be the game-winner. After Titus Schweitzer sent a cross from the right side of the pitch into the box, Rogoff was able to settle the ball before he booted into the back of the net. 

"I think like many forwards, you have to be hungry, you have to be goal-hungry and want to go get the goals and he's always going full tilt, but the hard part about soccer is a miss is a miss, whether it's one inch or a mile, but if you get it on frame there's always a chance and that's the difference between a very calculated, methodical forward versus one just pulling the trigger because they can," Magoun said. 

Rogoff was one of seven Voyagers selected to the all-tournament team. He was joined by Hannessy, Schweitzer, William Buford, Ignacio Elzardia, Ikaika Havas and goalie Micah Lindman, who was tabbed as the tournament's most outstanding player. 

"It was a team effort, for sure," Rogoff said. "It's a team sport and every aspect of it was a team effort throughout the whole tournament."

While the ending was certainly a happy one, parts of the regular season were tough to endure for Rogoff, who scored a team-leading 16 goals as a junior last season. This year, however, was a different story as Rogoff was held to only three goals in Kauai Interscholastic Federation play. 

"He's had to overcome some personal challenges of confidence. Last year he had a coming out party and was one of the top players in the state, but this year everyone thoroughly clamped down on him in our local league, but when push came to shove, he scored a goal in every (state tournament) game and that consistency in the state tournament was huge. I think he's a good example of working hard, not complaining and doing what you need to do for the sake of the team" Magoun said. 

Magoun was appreciative of Rogoff's maturity by staying positive and finding other ways to continue to contribute to the team. 

"I think you're proud of your athletes when hey overcome adversity, period, but he came into the season of his senior year thinking one thing and it doesn't always work out the way you pictured it to be — the question is what do you do about it," Magoun said. "Sawyer re-evaluated his role in understanding that there's ebb and flow to the game — one minute you're on fire and you can't miss, next minute not so much — so how do you continue to be a contributor to the other 10 players on the field? I think Sawyer understood very well that we're a group and no one is ever in isolation with one individual carrying the team; He's been playing soccer a very long time and I think that's not lost on him."

Over his three years on the team, Rogoff has accounted for 27 goals. He received All-Hawaii Honorable Mention as a junior year and is one of nine seniors on this year's squad. 

"I think Sawyer brings a physical presence to the forward position that I think has many defenses very nervous. Being 6-2, he's formidable and he's also not very slow, so he's a threat physically because of his imposing size and his speed," Magoun said. 

In addition to soccer, Rogoff also plans to run track in the spring. His biggest passion, however, is surfing. 

"I love surfing during my free time," said Rogoff, who is enrolled in multiple Advanced Placement classes this year. 

He has been accepted to Stanford University and intends on majoring in mechanical engineering. 

Rogoff said a number of elementary school students congratulated him at school Monday morning. 

"They were like, ‘Are you on the soccer team? Was that you who scored the winning goal? Good job, that's awesome; I want to be like you.' It's just so exciting," Rogoff exclaimed. 

Magoun said the reception for the team has been a warm one from the moment they returned to the Garden Isle. A large group of fans were on-hand at the Lihue airport Sunday for the team's arrival. 

"It's been amazing and overwhelming at the same time," said Magoun, who is Director of Admission at the school. 

"We had an all-school assembly where we celebrated not just the accomplishments of the soccer team, but also swimming — we have one young lady (Chloe Inouye) who has won the 100-meter breaststroke three years in a row — so there's some proud people to be acknowledging and our student-athletes have been working hard and the reception from the student body was a real nice one and it's gone over really well," Magoun said. 

The Voyagers completed the year with a 12-1-1 record. They are the second school from the KIF to claim a D2 state championship in boys soccer; Kapaa won the last of its three state crowns in 2019. 

BOYS BASKETBALL

Trotter Apo, Baldwin — Scored 23 points, including five 3-pointers, in a win over Maui 

Anthony Bautista, Pearl City — Scored 19 points in a loss to Farrington 

Blaise Brumaghim, Roosevelt — Scored 23 points in a loss to Nanakuli 

Janzon Butay, Waianae — Scored 19 points in a win over McKinley 

Kyran Canete, Pahoa — Scored 26 points in a win over Honokaa 

Jacques Djurberg, Lahainaluna — Scored 20 points in a loss to Kamehameha-Maui 

Roman Gabriel, Mililani — Scored 19 points in a win over Kalani 

Jaron Gilmore, Kalaheo — Scored 18 points in a loss to Leilehua 

Austin Green, Kapaa — Scored 19 points in a win over Waimea 

Kaleb Guerrero, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 18 points in a win over Hilo 

Miles Hornage, Campbell — Scored 20 points in a win over Moanalua, scored 15 points in a loss to Kailua 

Kawohi Huihui, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 18 points in a win over Waiakea and scored 25 points in a win over Hilo 

Keaka Kauhane, Kapaa — Scored 22 points in a win over Waimea and scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, in a win over Island School 

Layden Kauka, Kohala — Scored 20 points with six rebounds, six assists and three steals in a win over Hawaii Prep and scored 16 points with six steals, four rebounds, four assists and two blocks in a win over Pahoa 

Blaze Kaululaau, Nanakuli — Scored 19 points in a win over Kahuku 

Abraham Ogata, Konawaena — Scored 25 points in a loss to Hilo

Stefan Ognjanovic, Aiea — Scored 22 points in a win over Farrington 

Giovanni Olivia, Le Jardin — Scored 18  points in a win over University Lab 

Payton Pana, Hilo — Scored 25 points in a win over Konawaena and scored 21 points in a loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Maddox Pung, Kailua — Scored 22 points in a win over Campbell 

Dylan Schnitzer, Kamehameha-Maui — Scored 32 points, including six 3-pointers, in a win over Lahainaluna and scored 23 points in a loss to Baldwin 

Lucas Summerhays, Island School — Scored 23 points, including six 3-pointers, in a loss to Kauai 

Jackson Swirsky, Le Jardin — Scored 24 points in a win over University Lab 

Jeremiah White, Kaimuki — Scored 23 points in a win over Waianae 

Twain Wilson, Leilehua — Scored 18 points in a win over Kalaheo 

BOYS SOCCER

Isaac Ferayorni, Seabury Hall — Scored the lone goal in a win over Castle 

Lorenzo Gonzalez, Kekaulike — Scored two goals in a win over Pearl City 

Jedidiah Griffin, Punahou — Scored two goals in a win over Kailua 

Dani Habiak, Hawaii Prep — Scored two goals in a win over Castle 

William Henderson, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored two goals in a win over Seabury Hall 

Lucas Kay-Wong, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored two goals in a win over Leilehua 

Duke Kapuniai, Kealakehe — Scored three goals in a win over Kalani 

Micah Lindman, Island School — Made seven saves in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Brayden Obrero, Iolani — Made six saves in a win over Baldwin 

Aukele Paikuli-Campbell, Kealakehe — Scored two goals in a win over Kapolei 

Iopa Quintana, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored two goals in a win over Leilehua 

Justin Tilton, Mililani — Scored the lone goal in a win over Iolani 

Nihoa Dunn

Kamehameha basketball  •   #33  C  Sophomore

Nihoa Dunn isn't one to pound her chest or rile up the crowd with on-the-court antics. It's actually quite the opposite when it comes to the Kamehameha standout sophomore. 

Dunn, a 6-foot center and second-year starter for the Warriors, is one to let her play do the talking for her and what Dunn did over the course of the recently-completed girls basketball season spoke volumes about her. 

"There are a lot of things that make her special," Kamehameha coach Pua Straight said of Dunn, who averaged 14.9 points per game this season. 

Dunn was both the leading scorer for the Warriors and amongst all Division I players in the ultra-competitive Interscholastic League of Honolulu. 

"I think she's a really talented post player. When she's in a good mindset, the game really flows through her," Straight added. 

Although she was prolific on the court, Dunn didn't do it by taking a bunch of shots. 

"She doesn't take a lot of bad shots, so her teammates don't mind pounding it back in to her because they know if the double-team is coming that they'll get the ball back out, so she reads the game really well," Straight said. "We try to move her around and give some better looks for other girls, so her teammates love playing with her. Last year she was probably surprised that she had such a good freshman year and this year she developed more perimeter skills and things like that."

As a freshman last season, Dunn introduced herself to the rest of the state by averaging 11.9 points per game, which led the Warriors. She tallied 21 points in a preseason meeting against Konawaena and recorded a season-high 22 points against Damien. 

Dunn earned All-ILH First Team honors and All-Hawaii Second Team recognition. 

"She has great touch around the basket and great footwork. On a normal night she finishes super well around the rim, whether it's lobs over the top, or event one-on-one post-ups and even through contact. This year, I think she's learned to battle a lot more down low and really post up a lot stronger," Straight said. 

One area of significant improvement for Dunn this season was her instinct to re-post inside after kicking the ball back out. 

"We always look inside to her and when we'd go inside, she'd send it back out but wouldn't re-seal and post back up, but this year she did that, which was big for us because we got a decent amount of points on going inside, out and back in, I think that's one thing she added to her game this year," Straight described. 

Dunn's maturation is evident by the numbers. She posted 20-points games on back-to-back nights against Maui and Mililani in preseason games back in November. She racked up a career-high 30 points in a win over Kahuku as part of December's Iolani Classic. Dunn scored in double figures in seven of nine games during ILH play this season. 

It wasn't just that Dunn took her production to another level; She did the same with the rest of her game as well, including the mental aspect. Straight said that Dunn's improvements have been steady since she joined the intermediate program as a seventh grader. 

"All of her intangibles have come a long way. She's really bought into working hard and the process of getting better," Straight said. 

To Straight's point, Dunn was among a group of players back in the weight room Monday afternoon — just three days after the Warriors fell to Iolani, 39-38, in the D1 state title game Friday night. 

"She's learned to really work hard and there's confidence that comes with it when she works hard at it. She's really embraced that and all the running that we do in practices," Straight said. 

The regular season, however, was anything but smooth sailing for Dunn and the Warriors. They went 4-6 in the ILH, including five losses to top-ranked Iolani. 

"Going into it I was not a fan of the ILH schedule this year with just three teams playing each other four or five times, but after the fact, definitely the level of play in the ILH prepare you going into the state tournament," Straight said. 

Straight was concerned about her team's level of confidence going into match-ups against the likes of league champions Kahuku and Konawaena. 

"They're just so confident because they're so used to winning so many games and we lost a lot of league games, so I wasn't sure how it would affect us mentally," Straight said. 

Right off the bat, however, Straight's squad showed that it did not lack for confidence. 

Kamehameha opened the state tournament with a 75-18 throttling of Kailua last Monday. Dunn scored a game-high 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting in just 11 minutes of action. 

In the quarterfinal round Wednesday, Dunn was held to seven points, but grabbed 16 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass, to lead her team to a 47-31 win over Kahuku. The Warriors out-rebounded the Red Raiders by a margin of 47 to 28. 

"We had a hard time getting her the ball against Kahuku's extended zone, so we weren't able to get a lot of looks for her, but she was huge for us with her rebounding in that game," Straight said. 

Dunn followed that up with a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds in a convincing 52-35 win over Konawaena in Thursday's semifinal round. She did it while largely matched up against the Wildcats' own 6-foot big in Tavina Harris, who finished with 13 points and nine boards. 

"She did an amazing job, she played with a ton of confidence and I think with (Konawaena) being the team that we lost to last year, that the girls were hungry. Our guards got her some good passes and with her long arms — she used to be a goalie in soccer — our guards dropped some dimes to her and she just snatched it out of the air with her hands and was able to go up and finish," Straight described. 

In the final game of the season Friday night, Dunn recorded another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but Kamehameha came up one point short against Iolani, which claimed its fifth consecutive state title with the win. 

"She did a great job. It was her first time in a big game like that and her progression in high school has been quick that sometimes she doesn't realize how good she is, but I think she's done an amazing job considering Iolani rotates their two post players — two of the best in the state in (Callie) Pieper and (Mele) Sake — just to keep them fresh to defend her. I'm proud that she fought back and really battled back on the side and came up with some big rebounds, so I'm super proud of our young sophomore," Straight said. 

Dunn, along with teammate Rylee Paranada, represented Kamehameha on the all-tournament team. 

"I think everybody's main game plan was to slow Nihoa down and you slow that whole team down and she definitely handled that well. I think as a freshman people were still getting used to her, but now she's the one that everybody was keying in on, but she was still able to average almost a double-double in the ILH against the best defenses in the state, which was huge for us," Straight said. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Pihaeu Akiona, Hanalani — Scored 14 points with 11 rebounds, five steals, one assist and a block in a win over McKinley 

Isabella Arrisgado, Maryknoll — Scored 16 points with five steals, three rebounds and an assist in a win over Farrington 

Aliyah Bantolina, Campbell — Scored 23 points with one rebound and one assist in a loss to Kahuku 

Shayniah Cabato-Machado, Farrington — Scored 11 points with 11 rebounds, five steals and three assists in a win over Kohala 

Juseana Rae Delatori, Lahainaluna — Scored 16 points with four rebounds and an assist in a loss to Iolani 

Tehani Docktor, Campbell — Scored eight points with 10 rebounds, three steals and an assist in a loss to Kahuku 

Lola Donez, Lahainaluna — Scored 41 points with five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in a win over Waiakea, scored 25 points with five rebounds, four steals and a block in a loss to Iolani and scored 19 points with four rebounds, four steals and three assists in a loss to Konawaena 

Skylyn Fagarang, Kapaa — Scored 19 points with three rebounds, three steals, one assist and a block in a win over Hawaii Baptist 

Matahikulangi Faleta, Lahainaluna — Scored 13 points with 14 rebounds and two assists in a win over Waiakea 

Hailey Fernandez, Iolani — Scored 16 points with three rebounds, three assists and one block in a win over Lahainaluna 

Mia Frye, Iolani — Scored 16 points with eight rebounds, one steal and a block in a win over Campbell 

Trinity Guillen, Kapaa — Scored eight points with 19 rebounds, two steals and an assist in a win over Hawaii Baptist 

Madison Guillermo, Maryknoll — Scored 17 points with four rebounds and one steal in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Tavina Harris, Konawaena — Scored nine points with 15 rebounds and two assists in a win over Lahainaluna 

Puaena Herrington, Waiakea — Scored 21 points with 18 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks in a win over Moanalua and scored 23 points with nine rebounds, four steals and two assists in a loss to Lahainaluna 

Maela Honma, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 23 points with 18 rebounds, two steals and one block in a win over Kapolei and scored 21 points with 10 rebounds, two steals, two blocks and one assist in a win over Kapaa 

Keanu Huihui, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 35 points with 10 rebounds, seven steals and one assist in a win over Kapolei and scored 21 points with eight rebounds, three assists and one steal in a win over Kapaa 

Veniza Jackson, Lanai — Scored 15 points with five steals and three rebounds in a loss to Hanalani 

Ellana Klemp, Hanalani — Scored 19 points with 14 rebounds, five assists and three steals in a win over Lanai, scored 28 points with 10 rebounds, five steals, one assist and a block in a win over McKinley and scored 26 points, including six 3-pointers, with 13 rebounds, four steals and three assists in a win over Kapaa 

Olivia Malafu, Kapaa — Scored 21 points with nine rebounds, five assists, five blocks and four steals in a win over Hawaii Baptist, scored 14 points with 17 rebounds, six blocks, four steals and three assists in a loss to Hanalani and scored 11 points with 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal and a block in a loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Jolie Mantz, Waiakea — Scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and two assists in a win over Moanalua and scored 18 points with four steals, three rebounds and one steal in a loss to Lahainaluna 

Taysia Molina-Schulte, Campbell — Scored 20 points, including five 3-pointers, with three assists, three steals and two rebounds in a win over Mililani

Rylee Paranada, Kamehameha — Scored 17 points with two rebounds and one steal in a win over Konawaena 

Leila Paraoan, Kapolei — Scored 16 points with nine rebounds, three steals and one block in a win over Molokai 

Grace Pham, McKinley — Scored 16 points with seven rebounds and a steal in a loss to Hanalani 

Taira Samiano, Kapaa — Scored 11 points with eight blocks, four rebounds and three steals in a loss to Hanalani 

Brooke Samura, Hawaii Prep — Scored 24 points with 13 rebounds, four steals, one assist and a block in a loss to Hawaii Baptist, scored 38 points with 14 rebounds, seven assists, seven steals and four blocks in a win over Lanai and scored 39 points in a win over Kohala 

Jaynalyn Sotelo, Campbell — Scored 15 points with four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block in a loss to Iolani 

Tailele Wily-Ava, Kahuku — Scored 17 points with four assists, one rebound and one steal in a win over Campbell