Frankly speaking, Abreus are coming up big for Warriors | News, Sports, Jobs

Frank Keola Abreu (from left), an assistant coach for the Kamehameha Schools Maui football team, poses with sons Frank Kapahi Abreu, 10, senior wide receiver Frank Kahoa Abreu, 18, and freshman wide receiver Frank Kapohai Abreu, 14, during the Warriors’ practice Wednesday at Kanaiaupuni Stadium ahead of their Division II championship game against Waimea on Saturday at Mililani. The Maui News / ROBERT COLLIAS photo

PUKALANI — Quite frankly, the Abreu family has smiles on their faces for a very good reason this week.

There are two Frank Abreus on the Kamehameha Schools Maui football team that will face Waimea for the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II state title on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Mililani High School.

Senior wide receiver Frank Kahoa Abreu has verbally committed to play on scholarship next season at the University of Hawaii and freshman Frank Kapohai Abreu stepped up big when it mattered most in a 42-14 win over King Kekaulike on Oct. 27.

After Kahoa Abreu, 18, left the game with a knee injury — and a 5-yard touchdown reception that gave his team a 7-0 lead at halftime — Kapohai Abreu, 14, caught two touchdown passes in the second half to help put the game out of reach.

Kahoa Abreu will be a game-time decision to play on Saturday in the final game of his high school career as he is still rehabbing from a knee injury suffered in the King Kekaulike game. He was dressed, but sat out the Warriors’ 31-10 semifinal win over Pac-5 last Saturday.

Kamehameha Maui’s Frank Kahoa Abreu catches a pass during the Warriors’ win over King Kekaulike on Sept. 15. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“I feel pretty good, honestly my rehab has been going well and we’ve kind of just got to see,” Kahoa Abreu said. “It is God’s plan for me — if he wants me to play, then I will play, but I will listen to my body. It’s a very important game and I really want to play.

“I partially tore my PCL in the King K game, so it just makes my knee weak, so I can’t really put pressure on it.”

Kahoa Abreu lights up when asked about his freshman brother stepping to the forefront to take up the slack in the win over King Kekaulike.

“Oh, I’m so proud, I’ve been teaching him everything I know, from my dad to me and from me to him,” Kahoa Abreu said. “And it’s just so good because I’m always hard on him at practice, just to make him better because I will be gone next year. I just want to give him a taste of what it’s like to play with an older brother.”

Kahoa Abreu is KSM’s all-time leading receiver with more than 2,000 receiving yards in his three-season career. The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder has 26 catches for 463 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Kamehameha Maui’s Frank Kapohai Abreu breaks loose from King Kekaulike’s Ikea Sumibcay after a catch during the Warriors’ win on Oct. 27. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Their younger brother, 10-year-old Frank Kapahi Abreu, watches games from the stands as their father Frank Keola Abreu helps coach the Warriors from the sidelines.

Kapahi Abreu is in the fifth grade at Kula Elementary School, but he is regularly at Kamehameha football practice and plans to follow in his older brothers’ footsteps.

“It’s pretty cool,” Kapahi Abreu said. “Very proud because my older brother committed to UH. I’m very much looking forward to watching those games.”

Mom Rochelle and sister Kamea, 15, enjoy watching all the Franks do their thing, but the name Frank is not limited to the immediate family.

Keola Abreu has three brothers, all named Frank, and that trio are the fathers of seven sons, all with the first name Frank, bringing the total to 10 Franks at this level of the family tree.

“It’s just a tradition that started from my grandpa — he named my dad and his three brothers all Frank and then my auntie, my dad’s sister, was Francine,” Keola Abreu said. “My oldest cousin, he named his son Frank and then it was kind of the same as my dad had my oldest brother and said, ‘Well, if you’re naming him after our dad I’m naming mine after our dad, also.’

“Then it was just an unwritten rule after that. … No one wants to break the tradition.”

Kapohai Abreu stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 185 pounds. He will miss his older brother when he returns for the Warriors next season, but he could be a major part of the offense if his older brother can’t go on Saturday.

“He’s been the biggest inspiration in my life, actually,” Kapohai Abreu said of his older brother. “I look up to him in everything that I do and he actually helps me a lot. Not only at practice — because practice is one thing. I’ve got to do stuff after practice, so we catch balls a lot. He just helps me fix every little minor thing.

“Like, if I don’t run a route correctly, I turn my head the wrong way, he helps me — ‘Hey, you’ve got to turn your head this way. Hey, you’ve got to run this route correctly, you can’t half-(expletive) it. You have to run everything 100 percent and you have to do it right because if you don’t do it right, well, that’s going to mess up a lot of stuff.’ He’s just prepping me for the future and I really appreciate what he does for me.”

Keola Abreu was beaming with pride on Wednesday at practice on the Kanaiaupuni Stadium turf, with all three of his sons in attendance.

“It’s the greatest,” Keola Abreu said. “As a parent, it’s the greatest feeling. As a coach, it’s even better. It’s one of those things that money can’t buy happiness, and this is one of those moments where watching your kids succeed, but also the team, watching the team succeed.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

Football State Championships

DIVISION II

Saturday’s Game • Championship

No. 2 Kamehameha Maui vs. No. 1 Waimea at Mililani, 4 p.m. (OC16)

DIVISION I

Saturday’s Game • Championship

No. 1 Konawaena vs. No. 2 Waipahu at Mililani, 7:30 p.m. (OC16)

OPEN DIVISION

Friday’s Game • Championship

No. 1 Mililani vs. Kahuku at Clarence T.C. Ching Complex, 7 p.m. (PPV)

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