This will be a November to remember.

It always is. The Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s state football championships begin on Friday, a set of tourneys so good that even a hundred administrators have a hard time screwing it up. Aloha Stadium will be missed when they converge on John Kauinana Stadium at Mililani at the end of the month, but as always the kids will overcome and new legends will be born.

The state tournaments have been replayed over the clink of green bottles since Keith Amemiya unified the islands in 1999, and will be until the end of time. The only thing that is sure is that the top-tier title game will pit the best of the ILH — this year it’s Punahou — against an OIA power, as it has every year since the Prep Bowl was born in 1973.

Other than that mortal lock, surprises abound. For all of the greatness delivered by legends like Tua Tagovailoa, Joshua Tihada and Kalakaua Timoteo, it is moments by previously unsung heroes that get remembered most.

There have been 345 kids in state tournament history to catch more touchdowns than Kahuku’s Pele Soliai, who finished his HHSAA career with two catches for 50 yards. That is better than Kahuku legend Mulivai Pula’s two catches for 49 yards, but hardly spectacular.

Still, you remember Soliai. He hauled in a double pass from Shiloah Teo for a 43-yard score with five seconds left to beat Baldwin in the 2006 semifinals. How about Mililani freshman Palaie Gaoteote stripping Wayne Taulapapa in the 2014 final to preserve a victory over Punahou? Can anything beat Elijah Oliveira-Kalalau of Lahainaluna’s fumble recovery on the goal line in the seventh overtime of the epic victory over Konawaena in the 2017 D-II final?

Before COVID-19 stripped us of any fun in 2020, Keanu Keolanui of Hilo nailed a record 55-yard field goal off the crossbar with no time left to beat ‘Iolani in the 2019 Division I final.

There are a thousand more great moments, and more to come.

No matter how many times the state expands the field to give more kids a chance at immortality, some are sadly left out. This year it is the likes of Kaimuki running back Ofa Vehikite (Oahu’s lone 1,000-yard rusher), Waianae’s Jamal Plunkett, Kealii Ah Yat and the rest of Kamehameha’s seniors who turned in their pads without ever touching the ball in the state tournament.

Hawaii’s version of Ernie Banks and Dick Butkus are hardly alone as greats who never had a shot at the postseason.

Damien’s Kama Bailey skipped off to college in Idaho as Oahu’s third-leading career rusher behind Joe Igber and Mark Atuaia without ever strutting his stuff at states. Two years later, fellow all-time greats Shaydon Kehano of Castle, Taz Stevenson of Mililani and Pac-Five duo London Amorin and PJ Minaya turned in their pads for the last time without making their mark on Hawaii’s biggest stage. Mathias Tuitele-Iafeta of McKinley is another great player who never got a shot.

It’s too bad they never earned the chance. They probably would have shrugged off Mililani having the home-field advantage the same as it did against higher-seeded Farrington for the 2006 OIA playoffs because it was easier for television. It’s too bad Ching Complex didn’t work out this year. It would have been the first top-tier state championship at a truly neutral site. Maybe next year.

I am not going to let logistics get me down. There will be records broken this year. Losing the 2020 tournaments means that career achievements are probably out of reach, but single-game marks are always vulnerable.

Tihada holds the single-game rushing mark at 310 yards and shares the TD record with Hawaii Prep’s Michael Kopra at five, so those will be tough to beat, and his career mark of 176 carries (46 more than No. 2 Alfred Failauga of Waipahu) is unassailable for a while. Nobody is touching Timmy Chang’s eight touchdown passes against Waianae, right? Chevan Cordeiro’s 528 passing yards against Mililani seems untouchable, but so did Kenan Sadanaga’s 474 against Baldwin in 2010 until the Saint Louis slinger came along.

Records are supposed to seem unbreakable. But with talents like Punahou receiver Astin Hange and ace throwers like Easton Yoshino of Kaiser and Aiea’s Ezekiel Olie, just watch.

It is going to be quite a month. It always is.