Word of Life Academy, a small but rising downtown private school, will field the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's first new varsity football program since 1974 when it begins play this fall.

The Firebrands officially gained entry into the varsity level after a vote of ILH athletic directors last week, which was followed by final approval from league principals.

They become the ILH's first new program since Pac-Five joined the league in 1974, taking the place of the "HUMMERS," who joined the year before. The ILH's five other football programs are Damien, 'Iolani, Kamehameha, Punahou and Saint Louis.

Word of Life will join Damien, 'Iolani and Pac-Five in Division II.

"It's a good opportunity for the school to compete at the varsity level, and I think we're ready," said Firebrands athletic director Joe Onosai, who also will be Word of Life's first varsity football coach. "The timing is right."

The Firebrands fielded their own intermediate team three years ago, then joined with players from other Pac-Five schools the past two years while still playing under the Word of Life name and coaching staff.

Onosai said he expects to field a varsity roster of about 40 players, including four who played for Pac-Five's varsity last season.

"I call the ILH (varsity) the 'Land of the Giants;' it's a monstrous thing to take on," he said. "It'll be a huge challenge, but we're willing to take the risk. It's actually the perfect time to do it; if we don't do it now, I don't know if we ever will."

The formation of a varsity football program seems to have generated interest among students at Word of Life's campus in Kaka'ako, according to junior Kala'i Bustos.

"Ever since I played intermediate, I was hoping we would have our own varsity team," said Bustos, who played running back for Pac-Five's varsity last season. "We started talking about it at the beginning of this school year, and when we found out last week, the word just spread. I'm excited, everybody is excited."

Word of Life players had been playing for Pac-Five's varsity for the past eight seasons, with some of them earning All-State or ILH all-star honors. They included current University of Hawai'i linebacker Brashton Satele, University of California-bound defensive lineman Aaron Tipoti and ILH first-team all-star linebacker Adam Hom.

Nine Word of Life students played on Pac-Five's varsity team last season.

"They've always got rugged kids, so it's definitely going to affect our program," Wolfpack coach Kip Botelho said. "Some of our best athletes came from there, the type of athletes that was something different from what we normally have.

"But they had been talking about (their own team) for a while, so we saw the end coming. We just gotta move on."

The Firebrands do not have their own field, so they will practice at Sand Island just as the intermediate team does.

Word of Life won the ILH intermediate title last season.

With a coeducational enrollment of 300 in grades 9 through 12, Word of Life will be the ILH's smallest school, but Onosai said they "have a lot of good football players."

"I think we can pull this off," he said.

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Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.