Kahuku senior wide receiver Kuuliko Carvalho, who suffered a severe head injury in the Red Raiders' 28-7 loss to Campbell Saturday, is improving, according to his coach, Reggie Torres.

"It's been a tough day, but he's doing better," Torres said by phone Sunday night. "There's not much he can do, but he's getting better."

Carvalho ran a route over the middle of the field and as he attempted to pull down a pass, he received a jarring hit from a Campbell defender. Television replays showed the back of Carvalho's head slamming into the turf after the initial hit. Athletic trainers from both teams tended to him until paramedics arrived and took him via ambulance to the Queen's Medical Center, where he remains. As he was carted into the ambulance, Carvalho managed to give a thumbs-up to his Kahuku teamates and fans.

"He got knocked out, lost conciousness," Torres said. "He got hit hard and he passed out and he can't remember any of it."

Torres said Carvalho, who is 5-feet, 9 inches tall and weights 148 pounds, lost four teeth and suffered nerve damage as a result.

"They could fix three of the teeth — the fourth they couldn't — they have to do a root canal to fix it because it broke in half," Torres said. "He had an MRI today to determine what they can do for the nerve damage, but we haven't heard how the test results came out."

The Kahuku coaching staff visited Carvalho late Saturday night after the game. Sunday, Carvalho's teammates as well as several Campbell players went to see him. It is unclear when he will be released.