Kahuku, Wai'anae open against Mainland football powers
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
State football champion Kahuku and perennial contender Wai'anae will open their 2001 seasons against Mainland state champions.
Wai'anae will play Alaska state champion A.J. Dimond High School of Anchorage at Wai'anae on Aug. 18, Searider athletic director Leo Taaca said.
A.J. Dimond was ranked 10th in the Western Region by USA Today last season.
Kahuku will play Utah state 5A champ Northridge in Layton, Utah, on Aug. 23, a Thursday, Kahuku athletic director Hartwell Lee Loy Jr. said.
The week before its game at Northridge, Kahuku will scrimmage against Skyline, the Utah state champion from 1995-'99 at Kahuku, Lee Loy said. Skyline edged Kahuku, 24-21, in Salt Lake City last August.
Kahuku has defeated Wai'anae for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship the last two years, and last December, Kahuku ended St. Louis' 15-year reign as official or poll-selected state champion.
Wai'anae's Taaca was especially pleased the game against Dimond will be played on Wai'anae's campus field, an idyllic setting with stunning sunsets as a backdrop for early evening games. "The sunset kind of softens the blow when our players lay in on people," Taaca joked.
VOLLEYBALL
• Coaches sought: Sacred Hearts Academy for girls has openings for junior varsity and intermediate level coaches. Send resumes to Sacred Hearts Academy, c/o Athletic Department, 3253 Wai'alae Ave., Honolulu, 96816. Phone 734-5058, ext. 251 to request an application.
