Football powers may play here
Advertiser Staff
A football doubleheader between the best high school teams on O'ahu and two of the best on the Mainland at Aloha Stadium in 2002 is the goal of current negotiations.
Keith Amemiya, executive director of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association, said yesterday he has been involved in discussions since late last year that "have been encouraging."
"If there is a ladder of 10 rungs to climb to get it done, we are on the fifth or sixth rung," Amemiya said yesterday.
He said the games would be played Saturday, Sept. 21, 2002.
The Mainland teams would be De La Salle of Concord, Calif., which has won a national high school record 113 straight games, and long-time Southern California power Mater Dei of Santa Ana.
The Hawai'i teams would be this fall's champions of O'ahu's two leagues, the public-school O'ahu Interscholastic Association and private-school Interscholastic League of Honolulu. The past three years those teams have been Kahuku and St. Louis.
De La Salle was ranked No. 1 in the nation last season by USA Today. Mater Dei won the large-school championship of California's Southern section, one of the nation's strongest, five times in the 1990s and was the USA Today national champion in 1994 and '96.
"I've been in discussion with both the California schools, and with both Hawai'i leagues," Amemiya said. "Everybody has been receptive to the idea and willing to discuss it further."
Amemiya said there are many logistical hurdles to surmount, including an OIA rule that does not allow non-league games after the OIA season starts in August. "We would ask for a one-time exception to that," Amemiya said.
Mater Dei and De La Salle play the fourth year of a home-and-home series in the third week of September this year and both would be available if they do not renew. De La Salle kept its winning streak alive last season when Mater Dei missed a last-minute field goal.
"The people of Hawai'i have wanted to see a game like this for years," Amemiya said. "We've all been curious to see how Hawai'i teams match up with Mainland powers."
