Kalani’s losing
streak snapped

The Falcons' 21-19 victory over
Roosevelt on Friday put a stop to
their 27-game losing skid

In past years, Greg Taguchi might have had a hard time getting his Kalani football players to show up for a Saturday morning practice following a game the night before.

Yesterday, all of the Falcons who weren't nursing injuries were ready to work. A win will do that for a lot of teams.

Kalani broke a 27-game losing streak on Friday with a 21-19 win over Roosevelt in a non-league game at the Rough Riders' field. The Falcons hadn't won a varsity game since going 3-6 in 2000.

Despite ending the streak with a win over a Red Conference team, Taguchi said the Falcons are more focused on this week's White Conference opener with rival Kaiser than celebrating their victory.

"I'm not a guy that likes to look at records and stats, so I don't think they were aware, they just knew they hadn't won in a while," Taguchi said.

"They were excited but hopefully they want to work hard to try to get another. They were happy to win, but they understand it was a preseason game. They know they have to work to get a win in the real season."

The Falcons led throughout the game and got the clinching score on a special teams miscue in the fourth quarter. A bad snap sailed over the head of punter Dustin Umeda, who tracked down the ball and was able to outrun the Rough Riders to the end zone to give Kalani a 21-12 lead.

Roosevelt cut the deficit to 21-19 and got the ball back with less than five minutes left. But Kalani was able to stop the Rough Riders on four downs and ran out the clock.

"In our scrimmage there were some bright spots, so I think they knew they could play," Taguchi said of his team. "They were just up for the challenge."