Events at Aloha Stadium have been entertaining us for 33 years, but you'd be hard-pressed to find two more remarkable ones than what played out this past weekend, and not just for the touchdowns and big plays.

Between Leilehua's upset of Saint Louis in the Division I championship game of the First Hawaiian Bank Hawai'i High School Athletic Association state championship and the University of Hawai'i's completion of a magical unbeaten regular season against Washington, football did much more than excite and please this season; it also united us.

Beyond a Bowl Championship Series berth and all the rest, that might have been the real wonder of the weekend. Football brought us together in ways and numbers never seen here before. It joined disparate groups and ages with a resiliency of purpose and power of shared passion, giving us something to not only cheer for but rally around en masse.

And when it came to the Sugar Bowl-bound Warriors, the din could be heard far and wide. Neighborhoods — some with signs saying "hana hou Warriors" — echoed with cheers and went eerily silent with UH setbacks. Fireworks announced touchdowns almost as fast as ESPN could.

At Honolulu International Airport, a man about to board his Mainland-bound plane Saturday night let out a terminal-wide yell when his wife relayed, via cell phone, that the Warriors had won. Only the tourists and uninitiated found such behavior odd.

To anyone else who has followed the Warriors, anything else would have been considered curious.

Even people whose idea of sport was more attuned to forms other than football found themselves increasingly drawn to the drama of the Warriors. Never mind that they might have more of a knowledge of, say, rugby, the unfolding spectacle of these Warriors attracted and compelled them.

Years from now people will remember where they were when the Warriors won it all. They'll recall the anxiety of the Huskies' last pass into the end zone and the joy of seeing UH defensive back Ryan Mouton running it back out after it was deflected off the receiver. They'll treasure quarterback Colt Brennan's last appearance and near-perfect passing precision while he makes his name and fortune in the NFL.

Mostly, though, the Warriors dared us to share in their expanding dream of an unbeaten season and all that came with it. They welcomed us to ride along though the harrowing and get fired up at the ha'a. And, as more than one grateful fan has remarked, they taught us to believe as they did. Many, many have.

Including, you had to think, many out Wahiawa way, where the Mules of Leilehua gained their own true believers in a storybook season. And not just because the army of signs they carried proclaimed them as such.

On a Friday night in the rain, they packed what sure seemed like half of Wahiawa into one side of the stadium stands. This when the town was having its own annual Christmas parade.

Maybe it was because the Mules hadn't been to a major final — state championship or O'ahu Prep Bowl — in football since 1984, and it could be who knows how long until they get back for another one. But it blended local and military from an area where the pressing concerns have usually extended far beyond touchdowns. The amazing Mules, a team that finished in a three-way tie for fourth in its division, required a fortuitous tie-breaker merely to gain entry to the playoffs. But once they found themselves in it, they went the distance with the opportunity, taking a prideful community along for one heckuva ride.

That they found themselves up against mighty Saint Louis, a perennial power with practically a championship game birthright, when they got there deterred them not a bit. That they trailed the Crusaders and struggled to move the ball for three quarters didn't faze them.

Signs waved wildly from the stands told the players and all who watched that the faithful were "believers."

Indeed, the 2007 football season in Hawai'i is memorable for not just what was accomplished, but for everyone it managed to draw together.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.