Hurricanes Cause Cancellations For Most Football Games
Among the prep football games cancelled last weekend because of Hurricanes Iselle and Julio were a couple of epic matchups featuring Mililani-Saint Louis and Leilehua-Punahou.
Whether those games will be rescheduled had not been revealed heading into press time, but there remains a possibility that Mililani and Saint Louis could play this weekend. Mililani’s remaining schedule has only one open date on the weekend of Sept. 5 and 6, but Saint Louis has an Interscholastic League of Honolulu game with Pac Five on that day. However, Saint Louis has an open date this weekend, and although Mililani is scheduled to play McKinley this weekend, that game may be cancelled because the Tigers don’t a large enough roster to compete, according to Mililani head coach Rod York.
“It’s not like baseball or basketball, where it is easy to reschedule. Our bye weeks usually don’t cross over,” he explained.
York said that if a game with Saint Louis were to take place this weekend, it would have to be called a “scrimmage.”
Even so, the Trojans would be happy just to be able to play against the Crusaders, said York.
“Any time we have an opportunity to play an ILH team, we’ll take it,” said York, who was a standout in the ILH at Iolani in his own prep days.
Game cancellations became inevitable late last week when the hurricanes prompted state Department of Education superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi to announce that all schools on Oahu and Kauai would be closed last Friday. (Classes already had been cancelled at schools on Maui and Hawaii island.)
Extracurricular activities, such as athletic events, are not able to be held on public school grounds until the schools reopen. All but one of the 20 prep football games in Hawaii (Kamehameha-Maui versus Iolani last Saturday at Aloha Stadium) were cancelled as of press time.
The Mililani-Saint Louis and Leilehua-Punahou encounters were to represent two of the more intriguing matchups. Punahou is the defending Division I state champion, while Leilehua entered 2014 fall camp looking to return to their winning ways after slipping to 4-6 last season.
Mililani comes into 2014 with high expectations once again after finishing last season as the Division I State Tournament runner-up and defending Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference champion. Last weekend’s game with Saint Louis also was to mark the return of coach Cal Lee, who returned to the program during the off-season.
jackster.1969@yahoo.com
