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Monday
Evening QB
LET the debate begin. Was Kahuku's 26-20 victory over St. Louis in Friday night's state championship game Hawaii's biggest prep football game ever? Red Raiders’
championship
public domainIt was a well-played exciting contest that went down to the last minute.
As Kahuku assistant coach Walter Santiago said, "It was like a big heavyweight fight with two champions slugging it out."
But what really made it special was how the Red Raiders' victory gives hope to all underdogs.
For the first time since 1984, a public school has won the big game.
There's at least one other Hawaii high school football game that can be mentioned in the same breath.
In 1965, Jim Becker wrote one of the most memorable stories that ever appeared in the Star-Bulletin.
It was about a game similar to last Friday's: Farrington beat heavily favored Kamehameha, 16-6.
That was when the town public schools played in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu with the private schools -- before there was a Prep Bowl, much less a state championship game.
"There was a lift then around town, and there is now," said Becker, who watched the replay of the Kahuku-St. Louis game on TV yesterday.
"This is just as big. It restores pride and I think interest. I have nothing against St. Louis, and (coach) Cal Lee showed a lot of class in the loss. But people were beginning to lose interest because they won for 14 straight years," Becker added.
Public vs. private school is big in Hawaii; our state has the highest percentage of children attending private schools in the nation.
"If you flew in from New Jersey or the moon, you wouldn't see this as important," Becker said. "But there's a kind of feeling that the cream gets skimmed off and goes to private school here. Public school kids get put down a lot, told they're second rate, so something like this is more than just Kahuku. It's important as more than just a football game."
Farrington in 1965 and Kahuku today have at least one thing in common: their neighborhoods are a working-class combination of immigrant and longtime local families -- areas where high school football success equals pride, and the players know they owe it to their many supporters to do their best, even against tough odds.
And that is exactly what both teams did.
DON'T expect Haim Shimonovic to play against UCLA on Saturday.
That's what University of Hawaii basketball coach Riley Wallace said about his freshman center from Israel.
Shimonovic, who is reported to have played in a league with professionals (but did not receive money himself) has been held out of play since UH's season started more than two weeks ago against Louisville.
UH is working with the NCAA to determine Shimonovic's status.
"The lawyers are reviewing it and we're still awaiting some information," Wallace said. "I don't think we can possibly get it done by then. We're not counting on him playing."
LENN Sakata -- whom many feel is the best candidate for the job -- said he has decided to apply for the University of Hawaii baseball head coaching position.
After much thought, the minor league manager in the San Francisco Giants organization made the original deadline of last Thursday to mail in his application. That deadline has since been changed by UH to Dec. 15.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail Dave: dreardon@starbulletin.com
