Sunday, December 9, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
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Aaron Francisco walked slowly down the tunnel after conducting several interviews to greet old friend and former Kahuku High teammate Leonard Peters. Francisco is forgiven
By Paul Arnett
parnett@starbulletin.com
Despite being on opposite sidelines in yesterday's 72-45 win by Hawaii over Brigham Young, the two exchanged handshakes and pats on the back.
Peters didn't play for the Warriors, while Francisco did all he could to help the previously unbeaten Cougars.
Early in the game, the true freshman picked off the only interception UH quarterback Nick Rolovich threw. He also recovered a Mike Bass fumble on the BYU 6 en route to finishing with five tackles. Not a bad homecoming for the BYU boy.
"Nice game, man," Peters said.
"Thanks," Francisco replied. "What's that you've got there?"
Tucked inside Peters' jersey was a Kahuku Red Raiders T-shirt that celebrated their back-to-back state championships over rival St. Louis School. Peters brought it with him to give to Francisco, who said earlier that he had heard about Kahuku's win the night before his game at Mississippi State.
"My friends actually called me up during the game," Francisco said. "They called us when there was about one minute left to tell me the score."
Later, Francisco exited the BYU locker room wearing the shirt Peters had given him a half-hour before. Still down from the loss to Hawaii, Francisco managed a brief smile when someone congratulated him for beating St. Louis the year before.
"That was a great win for us my senior season," the 2000 Star-Bulletin all-stater said. "For them to come back and beat them again was sweet. It was good to come home and see all my family and friends. They had a lot of parades in Kahuku this week celebrating this year's win. Seems like they had one every day."
As for attending BYU, Francisco has no regrets. He was recruited heavily by Hawaii. The Warriors even believed he was in their camp, but in the end, BYU had been a life-long dream.
"It was the right decision for me, no regrets," Francisco said. "Playing here in Aloha Stadium again was great and all. But I look forward to playing Hawaii again when they come to Provo. Hopefully, it will be a different result the next time we play."
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Ka Leo O Hawaii