For one set of brothers, Boise State’s game at Hawaii was four years in the making
Boise State nickel Kekaula Kaniho is no stranger to Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium.
The Hawaii native played there at least 15 times during his high school career, and he’s excited to take the field again Saturday (9 p.m. MT, CBSSN).
“It’s going to be a lot of the same vibes like we had in high school,” Kaniho said. “It is really nice when the sun starts going down and the lights are on. It’s the perfect temperature and the perfect environment to play some football.”
A Boise State spokesperson confirmed that the team was cleared to fly to Hawaii on Friday morning after receiving the results from its latest round of COVID-19 tests.
This will be Kaniho’s first time playing in Aloha Stadium since a state championship game his senior year at Kahuku High.
He won’t take the field in front of a raucous stadium like he did back then, though. Hawaii is not allowing fans to attend games, and COVID-19 protocols are so strict on the island, he isn’t even sure if he’ll get to see his family.
Even though the stadium will be a little quieter, it’s still a trip that he has spent the past four years looking forward to.
“It still feels like a homecoming even though there’s going to be nobody in the stadium,” Kaniho said. “It’s kind of surreal, looking back at the four years that I’ve been here. I’ve grown so much as a person and a player. … Going back home is returning back to the place that made me who I was until the point of getting to Boise.”
Kaniho joined the Broncos in 2017 as a three-star recruit and made an immediate impact, appearing in every game and starting five as a true freshman. The 5-foot-10, 183-pound senior has started 31 games during his college career and was a first-team All-Mountain West pick last season.
Boise State last traveled to Hawaii in 2016 — the year before Kaniho landed on campus. The conference rivals didn’t face one another in 2017 or 2018, but they played twice last fall in Albertsons Stadium: once in the regular season and again in the Mountain West championship game. The Broncos won both.
Even though it’s been years since he played there, Kaniho knows securing a win in Aloha Stadium will be anything but easy. The Rainbow Warriors take protecting their house as seriously as the Broncos take defending The Blue.
The Broncos are 14-3 all-time against Hawaii, but all three losses were suffered on the island — the most recent being a 39-27 setback in 2007.
“We’re very prideful people and proud of the place we come from,” Kaniho said. “I know exactly how they feel because that’s the same pride we took in high school with our home field and it’s the same pride we take now.”
This year — and Saturday’s road trip — are special for Kaniho because he’s once again sharing the field with his younger brother, Kaonohi.
Kaonohi, a freshman defensive back, joined the Broncos this season as a three-star recruit. He saw his first action in Boise State’s win at Air Force, finishing with two tackles on special teams.
The brothers haven’t played together since Kekaula was a senior in high school and Kaonohi was a freshman.
“This is something we didn’t really ever think we’d get again,” Kekaula Kaniho said. “We’re both a lot older and more mature than we were then, but it’s a lot of fun looking over and having that connection with him.”
Kaonohi has a young daughter in Hawaii that he may not get to see because of COVID-19 protocols. But even though it may not be the family reunion they were hoping for, the Kanihos relish the opportunity to take the field for their hometown fans.
“This is a game my family circled four years ago when they knew we were coming here my senior year,” Kaniho said. “It was basically going to be the whole island showing up to support us. Everybody will still be doing that from their living rooms and garages. We’re just excited to be back home, though.”
BOISE STATE AT HAWAII
When: 9 p.m. MT Saturday
Where: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu
TV: CBS Sports Network (John Sadak, Randy Cross). That’s channel 139 on Sparklight, 221 on DirecTV and 158 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 3-1, 3-0 Mountain West; Hawaii 2-2, 2-2.
Series: Boise State leads 14-3 (last meeting: Boise State won 31-10 in the 2019 Mountain West championship game in Boise)
Vegas line: Boise State by 14
Weather: 79 degrees at kickoff, 5% chance of rain, 22 mph wind
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 1:07 PM.
