LIHU‘E — Saturday marked the last night this season that the Kaua‘i High School football team will play under the lights at home. “The next time we play at home we’ll be playing during the day,” said Ross Shimabukuro, Kaua‘i
LIHU‘E — Saturday marked the last night this season that the Kaua‘i High School football team will play under the lights at home.
“The next time we play at home we’ll be playing during the day,” said Ross Shimabukuro, Kaua‘i High School athletic director.
Fans who relish the excitement of nighttime football have just four more games — none at Vidinha Stadium — to enjoy the atmosphere of the gridiron under the lights since the decision was made to move the games to Saturday afternoons during the fledgling season of the endangered Newell’s shearwaters.
Saturday night’s preseason matchup against the Big Island Warriors from Kamehameha drew a fairly large crowd, fans filling the north end of the stadium to near capacity.
The south end of Vidinha Stadium was closed to the public due to renovation work. Some sections of the top guardrails are missing their safety chain link fencing.
“There are more fans coming yet,” Shimabukuro said at the game. “At first, I thought we had too much food (for the food booth), but we’ve already sold out of the roast pork. We still have hamburger steak and laulau though.”
Kapa‘a High School, which defeated Kalani in both the junior varsity and varsity games, will host Lethbridge, a team from Canada, on Friday at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium.
There will be two games, said Calvin Paleka, a Kapa‘a coach. The JV game kicks off at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity contest kicking off at 7:30 p.m.
Football fans can watch Waimea, which lost to Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy on the Big Island last weekend, host the Hilo Vikings at 7 p.m. Saturday under the lights at Hanapepe Stadium. This will be a varsity-only game.
The regular Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation football season gets underway Sept. 4 when Kapa‘a hosts Kaua‘i at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium. The JV match kicks off at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity game at 7:30 p.m.
On Sept. 11, Waimea hosts Kapa‘a at Hanapepe Stadium in the final night game of the season. The JV match starts at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity game.
Kaua‘i High School hosts the first of the daytime games, Sept. 18, at Vidinha Stadium. The JV game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. followed by the varsity game kicking off at 3:30 p.m., according to the latest KIF schedule.
Thereafter, all football games will follow the daytime schedule for the remainder of the KIF season.
The Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II quarterfinals is scheduled for Nov. 12 with the Division II championship game to be played on Nov. 26 at Aloha Stadium.
