Schools will punish
for football fracas
In the aftermath of altercations that followed Kailua's 14-12 playoff football win over Nanakuli on Saturday, there is reason to feel positive.
That's the only way Kailua coach Gary Rosolowich sees it. After all, when spectators got involved in the melee, the first-year head coach saw a great deal of leadership from his team.
"Clearly, there were a few on our side who made foolish choices, but the vast majority of our players tried to be peacemakers with these incidents," Rosolowich said last night.
Athletic directors and principals spent an hour analyzing video footage of the fracas yesterday afternoon prior to their usual weekly meeting. The ADs and principals deferred any decisions, and any disciplinary action will be dictated by the two schools.
"We left it up to them, and sometime tomorrow, maybe, they'll make their decisions," said Oahu Interscholastic Association football coordinator Richard Townsend, who is also athletic director at Leilehua. The longtime administrator doesn't believe the disciplinary action will affect many players.
"I think it's going to be minimal, maybe five or six (players)," he said.
That's relatively good news for Kailua, which plays Mililani in an OIA quarterfinal game Friday at Aloha Stadium. The winner secures a state tournament berth.
Kailua administrators will meet with Rosolowich today to mete out the disciplinary action.
Last year, more than 20 Castle players sat out the regular-season opener against Mililani because of an incident that happened near the end of the state championship game against Saint Louis in 2002.
Spectator involvement made this situation different.
"There are some concerns that we'll look more into," Townsend said.
A month ago, more than a dozen police officers were at the Mililani-Leilehua game, but that was a different scenario.
"We got a prank call. That happens sometimes," said Townsend.
Rosolowich knows fans may pay more attention to the negative aspect of Friday's incident. "A lot of our guys did the right thing," he said, referring to Kelroy Kohatsu, Kekoa Sua, Matt Nault, Damien Torres and other Surfriders. "I'm proud of them for doing the honorable thing."
