Title game rekindles
memories of ’74 final

Warriors and Mules meet 30 years
after their Prep Bowl showdown

No, boys, helmets did have face masks by 1974.

Kamehameha and Leilehua meet in the Division I finals of the First Hawaiian Bank State Football Championships tonight, but as far as today's Warriors and Mules are concerned, '74 might as well have been in the Stone Age.

State Football Championships At Aloha Stadium, today division I » No. 2 Kamehameha vs. No. 6 Leilehua, 8 p.m. division II » Campbell vs. Iolani, 5 p.m.

Thirty years ago, a spry, agile quarterback named Blane Gaison was at the reins for Kamehameha in the second Prep Bowl at Honolulu Stadium.

Leilehua, an underdog picked to finish eighth in the Oahu Interscholastic Association West, led late in the fourth quarter.

"I vaguely remember Blane running on a bootleg," former Leilehua linebacker James Toyota recalled. "I'm watching him run down the field and I'm thinking, you've gotta be kidding me."

Funny thing is, the bootleg wasn't in the Warriors' playbook, but Leilehua defensive end Al Harris had wreaked havoc on the Kamehameha boom series.

"One of my good friends, Al Harris, was chasing me down from the backside. I'd hand the ball to Radford Park or David Hughes, and Al would chase us down," said Gaison, who decided to improvise on the spot. He faked to Park and sprinted around end for the go-ahead touchdown with 3 minutes left.

"Actually, I think there was about a minute left, but it was so long ago," Gaison said. Kamehameha won 20-19.

"It was either one or the other, and both schools had good teams," former Kamehameha coach Cal Chai said. "All teams are pretty much equal, especially when they make the championship game. It doesn't matter, as long as you had a good game. In other words, you'd like to win, naturally, but you just want your kids to do the best that they can."

It was a remarkable season for the Warriors, who had rallied to beat Iolani late in the season on a touchdown catch by Aaron Lorenzo, a brother of Leilehua safety David Lorenzo.

Harris went on to star at Arizona State, and then in the NFL with Chicago and Philadelphia. Gaison is co-athletic director at Kamehameha, and Toyota is registrar at Leilehua. Gaison, who played in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons, and Toyota will join Chai and Hugh Yoshida of Leilehua as honorary captains for the game tonight.

"I'm sure when I get on the field with coach Chai, there will be a world of emotions and flashbacks, but I'm more excited and happy for the players," said Gaison, whose son, Kepa, is an offensive lineman and punter for the Warriors.

The '74 game was played at old Honolulu Stadium, a landmark that was leveled soon after. It was the last time the two schools met for a football championship.

Chai was surprised when the HHSAA called.

"I'll be nervous. I was startled to find out that they're looking back to all those years," Chai said. "In those years, Blane was a heckuva athlete and scholar, the captain of that team. I'm just thankful and happy and fortunate I was selected. It's the team that I had that put me where I am."

Chai is amazed with what he sees today.

"They got a lot of good talent and these boys are getting huge. In our days, the line averaged 175, 185.

"Anyone who was 200, that was miraculous," he said. "But it doesn't matter how big you are. You can have a huge team, but it's how you perform."

Yoshida, who went from Leilehua to the OIA front office, and then to UH as athletic director, was also surprised to get a call from the HHSAA.

"I was wondering why they chose me. Then it dawned on me that 30 years had passed by," said Yoshida, now retired. He remembers the '74 Prep Bowl well.

"Kamehameha was pretty big, with a young man by the name of Blane Gaison. He was a concern for us," Yoshida said.

Leilehua, formerly of the Rural Oahu Interscholastic Association, had merged with other public-school teams formerly from the ILH to form the new OIA in 1970.

"This year's team reminds me of how we played. They are disciplined," Yoshida noted. "They didn't make mistakes, and that got them in position to win the game. One thing we always prided ourselves on was not making mistakes."

Wide receiver Chustin Senas was at full attention when Yoshida spoke with the Mules after practice Wednesday night.

"It made me feel good. He said we helped bring the community together," the sophomore said.

The Division II title game also has honorary captains. Principal Gail Awakuni will represent Campbell, and former coach Eddie Hamada will carry the mantle for Iolani.