Posted on: Tuesday, August 28, 2001

Kamehameha dividing squad for Big Island trip

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kamehameha Schools football coach Kanani Souza will split his 100-player squad when the Warriors travel to the Big Island on Saturday, playing two games on the same day.

Kamehameha is scheduled to play at Konawaena High and at Kohala High, with both games kicking off at 1:30 p.m.

"We're going to send 50 one way and 50 the other way," said Souza, who said that while he considers both varsity games, he will take Kamehameha's top players with him to Konawaena in Kealakekua.

He said offensive line coach Mel Andres, formerly head coach at Damien, probably will lead the other team to Kohala, which is 67 miles north in Kapa'au.

Pac-Five coach Don Botelho, the dean of Hawai'i high school coaches in his 37th year, said, "I can't remember any precedent" for the split squad.

Kamehameha's varsity roster has been running at about 100 since the private school Interscholastic League of Honolulu discontinued junior varsity football two years ago. This year the ILH will limit varsity teams to suiting up 65 players for league games.

"This way everybody gets a chance to be on film and to play a lot," Souza said. "There are some seniors who might not get a chance to suit up during the 65-man rule thing and some juniors can show us what they can do."

Though splitting his team next week, Souza said he is opposed to a plan proposed by St. Louis coach Cal Lee last spring to have two levels of ILH varsity football with St. Louis and Kamehameha fielding teams in each division. ILH athletic directors rejected that idea and instead adopted a schedule that sees smaller schools playing big ones once instead of twice as in the past.

"This fits our needs and those of Konawaena and Kohala for one game, but it's not feasible to have two varsity football teams (for the season)," Souza said. "That would require some hellacious decisions I'm not willing to get involved with."

The ILH season opens Sept. 7.