Sports Update
Rainbows still have a shot at 7-5 record
There aren't a lot of attainable goals left for the University of Hawaii football team this season.The Rainbows aren't going to be in the postseason parade. They aren't going to take the Pacific Division title. And they aren't going to have a winning record in the Western Athletic Conference for the fifth consecutive season.
But what Hawaii can accomplish with a victory tonight against the Air Force Academy at Aloha Stadium is still have a chance for a winning record overall, something accomplished only twice by the Rainbows this decade.
Granted, they are going to have to run the table to finish 7-5 for the season, but in the minds of the seniors, that's not an impossibility.
"We've been so close the last two weeks, it let us know that we can compete with anybody left on our schedule," All-WAC safety Eddie Klaneski said. "If we play well, we should have a chance to win our last four games.
Halloween nightmare hits Farrington
The Farrington High Governors knew it was Halloween but they didn't know they'd be starring as the featured victims in a production of Nightmare in Halawa at Aloha Stadium.Farrington committed five fumbles between the second and third quarters and Leilehua converted on each one en route to a 44-15 thrashing of the Govs in an Oahu Interscholastic Association playoff quarterfinal before an audience of 3,206.
Cameron Watson scored three times to lead the Mules' assault.
Leilehua (6-1-1) will face defending league champion Waianae (7-1) on Friday 8:05 p.m. at the stadium in the semifinal.
''Nightmare, ya,'' said Farrington head coach Skippa Diaz. ''With all those mistakes you can't win a ballgame. But they created most of the fumbles that we made, so they're a good football team. They ran the ball well.''
In the other semifinal next Thursday Campbell (7-1), the Red Conference's top seed, will take on White Conference champion Kahuku (8-0).
CAMPBELL 14, McKINLEY 0: The Sabers (7-1) used a dozen sacks against the Tigers (6-2) and the accurate arm of Rodney Tavui to advance.
''I think our defense set the tone early and they knew that they weren't going to be pushed around,'' said Campbel
l head coach Darren Hernandez. ''Our defense has set the tone for us all season. If we're going to go anywhere, our defense has got to carry us.''
Hernandez took a breath and said, ''It's the old axiom: offense wins games but defense wins championships.''
''They found some pukas, we covered those pukas, and they found other pukas,'' said Mckinley head coach David Tanuvasa, as he comforted his sobbing players in the locker room. ''We had setbacks, but we kept comin' - we kept comin'.''
Wahine take on The Beach on its home ground
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- It used to be THE rivalry.It may have been a little one-sided.
After all, the Long Beach State women's volleyball team did beat Hawaii on 11 consecutive occasions. The 49ers did end the Wahine's season during NCAA regional play five out of six years between 1989 and 1994.
Maybe the current players don't remember the intensity of the what used to be the Big West's longest-running feud. Only Hawaii seniors Cia Goods and Therese Crawford, and The Beach's Nique Crump, Jessica Alvarado and Misty May have been around long enough.
But history and the fans haven't forgotten. Saturday night, for the first time since 1994, the Wahine are here on the 49ers' court. The venue has changed -- the match is being played at The Pyramid, instead of The Gold Mine gym -- and the outcome won't determine the Big West's champion or the regional tournament champion.
However, the match is still very important. It will be used as a measurement of growth and maturity.
Just how far has No. 14 Hawaii (18-4) come since playing its last ranked opponent? Just how far has No. 2 Long Beach State (19-1) come since being swept twice in straight sets at the Special Events Arena in 1995 by the then-No. 1 Wahine.
'I think the roles are reversed from the last time we played them,' said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, his team riding a 12-match winning streak. 'We were older and more polished the last time and they were young. Now we're young and they are very, very polished with a lot of juniors and seniors.
"Can we win? I don't know."