After biding his time, Kaeo Bush is making the most of his opportunities this fall. 

The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Bush has quarterbacked the Roosevelt football team to a league championship as a senior and has the Rough Riders in position to make history if things go their way this weekend. 

Roosevelt, which shares the state's longest current win streak with Konawaena at 10 games, sits at 11-1 overall after running the table through the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Division II ranks. Bush's play at quarterback has certainly played a large role in the Rough Riders' success in 2025.

Bush ranks second statewide and leads all Division II quarterbacks with 28 passing touchdowns. He has thrown for 1,883 yards while completing nearly 58 percent of his passes and has been intercepted only seven times. Bush is coming off a career-best 309 passing yards in Friday's 42-7 win over Pearl City in the first round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA D2 State Championships. 

True to the leader — and captain — that he is, Bush deferred credit for his performance to the laser focused preparation of his teammates leading up to the Rough Riders' third meeting against the Chargers this season. 

"The whole week at practice everybody had the same mindset of not taking anything for granted. Everybody knew they had just to do their job, we didn't need anybody doing anything else or anything more, just do their jobs," said Bush, who completed 18 of his 27 pass attempts. 

He threw five touchdown passes, ran for another score and was not intercepted. The 35-point rout came just eight days after Roosevelt beat Pearl City by a score of 31-14 in the OIA title game. The regular season meeting back on Sept. 26 also went the way of the Rough Riders by a 28-10 margin. 

Not that any of that meant anything to Bush and company going into the third matchup. 

"We understood that the states' game was bigger than the OIA championship because win or lose, we were both in states, but this game it was lose and go home. We had a great week of practice last week; it was all about being prepared for this game and being on the same page, everybody understood that's what is most important," Bush said. 

Bush connected with Kai Kobayashi on an 11-yard TD pass to open the scoring less than four minutes into the game. A few minutes later he doubled up the lead with a 4-yard TD run. It was just his second rushing touchdown of the year. 

The Rough Riders added insurance scores after halftime with Bush's 79-yard TD pass to Beal at the 7:50 mark of the third quarter and his 27-yard TD connection with Kobayashi just before the start of the fourth. 

Roosevelt coach Kui Kahooilihala describes Bush as "mild mannered."

"He's not a flashy guy, but he gets the job done. He knows the offense — he'll make his reads and he knows wherever everybody belongs — and he's critical of himself. He gets on himself, sometimes a little too hard, but the guy is a leader. He leads by example and he just makes sure that everybody does their part," Kahooilihala said. 

Bush led the Rough Riders on two more scoring drives before halftime. Nine seconds into the second quarter, Bush tossed a 54-yard TD pass to Riley Beal and with seven ticks left until the intermission, he hooked up with Ioane Kamanao for a 25-yard scoring strike. 

Kamanao was previously QB1 for the Rough Riders most of his junior season a year ago, but moved from the offensive backfield to wide receiver this fall, which opened the door for Bush to assume the reins at quarterback. 

The change occurred not long after Roosevelt's final game of the 2024 season, when it lost to eventual-state champion Kamehameha-Maui in the semifinal round of states. Despite the lopsided 60-26 loss to the Warriors, Bush performed admirably to the tune of 306 yards and three touchdowns through the air on 29-of-43 passing. He was intercepted twice. 

"We knew Kaeo was an athlete and Kaeo had to be on the field somewhere. He finished the season strong and he did a great job against Kamehameha so we wanted to give him a shot at quarterback and we figured that Ioane needs to be on the field as well so we moved him to wide receiver and the kid can play anywhere. We can use him at wide receiver, slot, free safety — he can catch at throw — so using him at wide receiver and Kaeo at quarterback kind of gives us a one-two punch as far as giving defensive guys headaches," Kahooilihala said. 

For their parts, it was a decision that both Bush and Kamanao welcomed. 

"Ioane always wanted to be a receiver since his freshman year, but he moved to the quarterback position because they had nobody else. We talked for about an class and he said he wanted me to be the starting quarterback for this team and he wanted to play receiver and we both thought that we could do something special and it's worked out perfectly for us. He pretty much passed it down to me," Bush said. 

Bush transferred to Roosevelt from Damien after his sophomore season, when he backed up AJ Tuifua and saw limited action. A year ago, Bush accumulated 772 passing yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions with a 66.3 completion percentage. 

After a bit of a slow start to the year, Bush has picked up his production over the course of the season. In a season-opening win over Aiea, Bush threw for 161 yards, two TDs and two interceptions on 15-of-32 passing. Two weeks later, in a loss to his former school, Bush went 15-of-28 passing for 156 yards, one TD and one pick. 

Since then, however, he's tallied 25 touchdowns against four interceptions and completed 60.5 percent (109 of 180) of his passes. 

"I didn't have much experience of starting because I was a backup, but I think just surrounding myself with players around me and holding each other to that high standard we have at Roosevelt has helped me. I'm trying to make the most out of my opportunities and just have that mindset of once you get on the field, don't let a coach take you off the field. Don't do more than you're ask to do, just execute, enjoy the momentum, take it one game at a time and worry only about who the upcoming opponent is," Bush stated. 

Bush has seamlessly transition from a reserve role into arguably the most prominent role of them all in starting quarterback, but he has remained humble and a servant leader. 

"Our leadership sets the tone for this whole team and the main thing that comes with leadership is having a positive attitude and not blaming your teammates," Bush said. 

Kahooilihala said that Bush is part of a nucleus of seniors that have kept the Rough Riders driven since summer workouts. Along with Bush, Kamanao, Beal and running back Cameron Jackson have been key leaders on offense, while the foursome of Izaiah Nakamura, Kona Siamani, Victor Silva and Dayton Tilton have done the same for the defense. 

"This group is very special. Not only do they hold themselves accountable, everyone's vocal and they knew that in order to get back to states, we had to take care of our (league) first and it was one game a time, everybody knew that. They kept everybody focused, everybody locked in and on the same page. We always talk about ‘process' and all the little things that we need to do as a team and within the process, there's things they needed to do as far as responsibilities, rules, assignments, execution and then after that it's about knowing their why — why we do this," Kahooilihala shared. 

As a team, the Rough Riders share a collective set of goals. The checked off their first one of winning a third straight OIA D2 crown. Now they've turned their sights on getting Roosevelt to its very first state championship game. 

"We definitely want to be the first Roosevelt team to make history and get the job done and finish it. The goal, of course, is to win the state championship, but we know we have to take it one game at a time," Bush said. 

Standing in the way of the Rough Riders, who are seeded third in the six-team tournament, is No. 2 seed Waimea out of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation. The Menehune, who are coming off of a bye, won back-to-back D2 state championships in 2022 and 2023. 

"We know Waimea is going to bring it and it just means that we gotta prepare, practice hard and do our job. Our coaches always say that we have to practice like it's our last practice and to never take it for granted and that's on us as players; we are the ones that's gotta be ready, it's on no one else," Bush said. 

Roosevelt will fly into Lihue Saturday morning and return to Honolulu that same evening. 

Kickoff between the Rough Riders and Menehune is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Hanapepe Stadium. 

The winner will face either Kamehameha-Hawaii or defending champion Kamehameha-Maui for the D2 title on Nov. 28 at Mililani's John Kauinana Stadium. 

FOOTBALL

Riley Beal, Roosevelt — Caught six passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Pearl City 

Joziah Bertelmann, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored on an 82-yard interception return for touchdown in a win over PAC-5

Jordan Carbonell, Baldwin — Ran 16 times for 125 yards and a touchdown and threw for 125 yards and a touchdown on 13-of-20 passing without an interception in loss to Damien 

Elijah Connell-Chavez, PAC-5 — Ran eight times for 103 yards and a loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Dallas Enriquez, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Ran 22 times for 110 yards and two touchdowns in a win over PAC-5

Wyatt Ho-Williams, Damien — Caught seven passes for 170 yards and a touchdown in a win over Baldwin 

Ioane Kamanao, Roosevelt — Caught eight passes for 105 yards and a touchdown in a win over Pearl City 

Isaiah Keaunui-Demello, Kailua — Threw for 235 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-29 passing without an interception in a win over Aiea 

David Lee, PAC-5 — Made six tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble in a loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii 

Uriah Maiava, Damien — Recorded nine tackles, including three for losses and one sack, and broke up a pass in a win over Baldwin 

Bubba Omoso, Damien — Made 6 ½ tackles, including one sack, and intercepted a pass in a win over Baldwin 

Thomas James Smith, Kailua — Intercepted two passes in a win over Aiea 

Jonah Sua, Kailua — Made 2 ½ tackles, including a sack, and intercepted a pass in a win over Aiea 

Micah Sua, Kailua — Ran for three touchdowns and caught a touchdown in a win over Aiea 

AJ Tuifua, Damien — Threw for 265 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-31 passing without an interception and a ran for three touchdowns in a win over Baldwin 

Chaseten Wong, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Caught five passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns in a win over PAC-5