LIHU‘E — The football game between Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i high schools that was suspended due to darkness Saturday night will resume after the end of the regular season, Kaua‘i Complex Area Superintendent Bill Arakaki announced in a press release Tuesday. The
LIHU‘E — The football game between Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i high schools that was suspended due to darkness Saturday night will resume after the end of the regular season, Kaua‘i Complex Area Superintendent Bill Arakaki announced in a press release Tuesday.
The Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Executive Board met on Monday to determine the outcome of the Sept. 17 game, which ended at the start of the fourth quarter with Kapa‘a leading 7-6.
The game, which started at 4:45 p.m., was supposed to end with the lights on, but officials were unable to turn on all of the stadium lights due to a programming error. The referees suspended the game after they determined it was too dark for players to safely finish the game.
“The remaining fourth quarter of the Sept. 17 game will be played in early November after the regular season is complete,” Arakaki said in the release. “The date and time of the rescheduled game will be announced when the site is secured.”
Arakaki said the board, along with the athletic directors from the KIF schools, reviewed the National Federation of High Schools Football Rules Book and the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation by-laws to determine the decision.
Kapa‘a High School Athletic Director Greg Gonsalves said ultimately the board made the best decision possible.
“I think it’s the best thing to happen at this point,” Gonsalves said. “There is still a lot of football to play. We’ll just be patient and see what the records say at the end of the season.”
Gonsalves and Kaua‘i High School Athletic Director Ross Shimabukuro confirmed that the remainder of the game will only be played if it has a direct effect on the outcome of the season.
“Normally the league goes by if it has a bearing on the league championship,” Shimabukuro said. “Everybody was in agreement. I thought this was very fair for both sides.”
If the game is resumed, Arakaki said in the release that the game will be open to the public and no admission will be charged.
Kaua‘i County is on probation from the U.S. Department of Justice and is required to turn lights off earlier at parks and stadiums to avoid accidentally killing threatened Newell’s shearwaters and endangered Hawaiian petrels.
The seabirds’ fledgling season runs from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15. During this time, artificial lights can attract the young shearwaters when they are flying at night. This can disorient the birds, causing them to circle the light source until they become exhausted and crash to the ground where they can fall victim to dogs or other predators.
County officials programmed lights around the island to coincide with this rule last week. The lights at Vidinha Stadium were allowed to be on, but an error was made and the lights were programmed to shut off at the stadium.
County Parks and Recreation Director Lenny Rapazo, who was reffing the game, managed to turn the light banks on the west end on, but the east side’s lights remained off.
