Kahuku, Mililani and Kamehameha will test themselves against some of the best football programs

For the second time in three weeks, three schools from Oahu are on the mainland this weekend to play football games.

Unlike Farrington, Aiea and Radford, which used their games as part of a college tour to get a sample of what life will be like in the coming years, the priority for Kamehameha, Mililani and Kahuku over the next 48 hours is different.

“We’re not coming up here to go to Knott’s Berry Farm or Disneyland,” Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho said. “The mindset is we’re coming up here to play a game. As soon as we landed we visited UCLA and then we went to the hotel. Now it’s all about football. No distractions.”

The reigning Open Division state champion in Hawaii, Kahuku has been ranked No. 1 in the Star-Advertiser Football Top 10 from the beginning of the season.

The Red Raiders (5-0) will put their 15-game winning streak on the line against the No. 1-ranked team in the country on Saturday night when they oppose St. John Bosco as part of the third annual Trinity League vs. The USA Showcase.

The two-day event will open tonight with defending High School Football America national champion Mater Dei, ranked No. 2 in the country by MaxPreps, playing Mililani, ranked No. 3 in this week’s Star-Advertiser Top 10.

The Red Raiders will then play the Braves, who won a national championship in 2019, a day later on the same field.

The game will be televised on Bally Sports Regional Network (Ch. 1228 on Spectrum).

“It’s an opportunity for our program to say we are going to go play the No. 1 team in the nation. It’s an opportunity you don’t get very often,” Carvalho said. “We’ve definitely been looking forward to the game. It’s something we’ve used all summer to motivate our players to come out and work and do all of the hard preparation for the season to get to the point we need to be in order to play a team like Bosco.”

Last season was one of Kahuku’s most dominant runs on the way to a ninth state championship since the first one was held in Hawaii in 1999.

With the amount of returnees coming back and a few mainland transfers adding to the talent level already there, Kahuku felt this was the year to take its shot against the best teams in the country.

Two weeks from today, the Red Raiders will host Saint Francis Academy from Baltimore, Md., which is ranked No. 3 in the nation.

“We realized last year the amount of talent that would be on (this year’s) team for a public school would be generational,” Carvalho said. “We don’t have these kinds of players on both sides of the ball often.”

That’s certainly saying something for a school that currently has 11 graduates listed on Division I football rosters.

Six of its expected starters on defense for Saturday’s game hold Division I offers, including the top senior recruit in the state in linebacker Liona Lefau, the reigning Star-Advertiser defensive player of the year who has committed to Texas.

Fellow linebacker Leonard Ah You holds 11 Division I offers and safety Brock Fonoimoana, who has played both ways as a receiver this season, committed to Utah from an offer sheet of 10 schools.

Carvalho says the team is relatively healthy with one major exception for the weekend.

Reigning Star-Advertiser offensive player of the year Kainoa Carvalho, who scored three touchdowns in the season opener against Kamehameha before suffering an ankle injury that has kept him out of action since, won’t play.

Kainoa Carvalho is a Utah commit and one of 14 total Red Raiders already holding Division I offers.

“Obviously, Kaikai, but I mean, we’re good,” Sterling Carvalho said of the injuries. “Right now we’re winning and we’re doing the things that we need to do to win and I’m grateful for the next two days to get ready to get that mindset that we need for this game.

“We’ve had adversity and we’ve battled through it and now we’re batting the No. 1 in the team so first and foremost, our mindset has to be right.”

The Braves have won their first three games by a combined score of 143-21.

Senior edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei is a five-star recruit ranked in the top 30 overall in the country for the senior class. Seniors DeAndre Moore Jr. (WR), Pierce Clarkson (QB) and Aaron Williams (CB) are all four-star recruits committed to Louisville.

Junior Peyton Woodyard is a five-star safety recruit who has committed to Notre Dame as the No. 24 overall prospect in the junior class.

Mililani (4-1), which lost to Mission Viejo (Calif.) earlier this season on the islands, hosted St. John Bosco in 2019 and lost 42-10. They also traveled to St. John Bosco in 2018 with current Oklahoma starter Dillon Gabriel at quarterback and lost 52-14.

Coach Rod York, who earned his 100th career victory last month in his 12th season in charge of the program, has not shied away from playing mainland competition. This is the Trojans’ seventh game against a team from the mainland since 2015. Mililani is 2-4 with wins against Liberty (Nev.) at home and at Clayton Valley (Calif.).

Kamehameha (0-2-1) is playing Liberty (Nev.) tonight in the final game of the Polynesian Football Classic in Nevada.