Upsets shake up high school football
| • | Roosevelt uses tricks for treat |
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The inaugural HHSAA/First Hawaiian Bank Classic doubleheader on Sept. 21 promised to be a milestone event that would help put Hawai'i high school football on the national stage.
It did, drawing a crowd of 27,811 to Aloha Stadium and a regional television audience that saw perennial local powers Kahuku and St. Louis lose to nationally ranked Long Beach (Calif.) Poly and De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), respectively.
But last Friday's upsets of Kahuku and St. Louis by Roosevelt and Kamehameha, respectively, may have done more to shake the foundation of the Hawai'i high school gridiron scene.
That's because for the first time in at least five seasons, St. Louis and Kahuku are not automatically considered to be Hawai'i's top teams. Kamehameha, which stunned 16-time defending Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion St. Louis 41-20, is ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll and has cracked the Student Sports, Inc. national Fab 50 rankings for the first time.
Student Sports, a national magazine and Web site, has the Warriors (5-0 overall, 2-0 ILH) at No. 45 in the Fab 50 and No. 12 in the West Region rankings.
Roosevelt, at 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's Red Conference-East, is nowhere near a national ranking or even a spot in The Advertiser Top 10. But the Rough Riders' shocking 23-13 victory over Kahuku was a strong statement that some parity might have finally returned to the OIA, which was dominated by Kahuku for the previous four seasons.
"It's just like anybody can beat anybody now," said Mililani coach James Millwood, in his ninth season heading the Trojans' program. "It's good for the OIA, because it's bringing more interest from the fans. Even with Kamehameha beating St. Louis — it's made things more exciting."
Parity used to be the norm in the 1970s, when as many as nine or 10 schools — not just one or two — had top-notch programs. Kamehameha and Wai'anae were at the top of the list, with one or both schools appearing in each of the first seven Prep Bowls from 1973-79.
The Prep Bowl, which started in 1973, was recognized as the unofficial state championship game until 1998. In its first 11 years, the Prep Bowl also featured appearances by St. Louis, Leilehua, Radford, Punahou, Kaiser, Iolani, Pac-Five and Nanakuli.
In addition, programs like Kahuku, Waipahu, Castle, Kailua and Farrington were considered to be yearly playoff contenders and even schools such as Campbell and Roosevelt would occasionally field a team that would challenge for a title.
The unpredictability helped to heighten interest around the island. For example, the 1975 OIA championship game between Wai'anae and Kailua was played before 29,486 at Aloha Stadium.
In 1977, a crowd of 17,005 watched Kailua defeat Kaiser for the OIA East title, and the championship game between Kailua and Wai'anae drew 23,304.
As late as 1981, the OIA Western Division championship (matching Radford vs. Wai'anae) attracted a crowd of 23,275.
But in 1986, St. Louis began a string of 16 straight ILH championships, and thus, Prep Bowl and state title appearances. Kahuku, meanwhile, qualified for its first Prep Bowl in 1989 and proceeded to represent the OIA in the Prep Bowl or state championship game in six of the next 11 years.
Only Farrington (in 1990) and Wai'anae (1991-92, 1996-97) broke Kahuku's string.
In the meantime, attendance at high school games fell dramatically as the gap between the powerhouse programs and the also-rans widened. The 1996 Prep Bowl between St. Louis and Wai'anae, for example, drew only 16,094.
The disparity also led to the classification of the OIA into three power-based divisions in 1992.
Kahuku's strength climaxed in the past three years, during which the Red Raiders won 26 straight games.
But this year Kahuku clearly has lost its air of invincibility, and teams like Kailua (5-0), McKinley (4-1) and Campbell (4-1) are serious threats to win their first league titles in over a generation.
Parity also was evident in other scores last Friday: Punahou 7, Iolani 6; Wai'anae 7, Waipahu 6; Mililani 21, Leilehua 20; Radford 29, 'Aiea 26.
"Parity is always good, it's a better way to service our kids," Kamehameha coach Kanani Souza said. "It's healthy for everyone, because it gets the communities excited. I think it's wonderful."
And, do last Friday's biggest upsets signal a long-awaited changing of the guard?
"We're not sure," Souza said. "It might have just been one of those weekends."
