Their faces change, yet their importance to the community remains – even grows.
The Lahainaluna football team is gearing up for its second season since the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires uprooted much of the Lahaina community, including many coaches and players of the celebrated Lunas.
Prep football around the state opens up Friday night. Division I Lahainaluna’s nonleague slate begins the following week as it hosts Kapolei of the OIA Open Division at Sue D. Cooley Stadium on Aug. 16.
“It’s going to be an eye-opener for many of our kids,” Lunas co-head coach Dean Rickard told Spectrum News in a phone interview this week. “They’re an Open Division team … but it’ll be a good gauge to see where we stand.”
The Lunas have been the class of the Maui Interscholastic League for years; they own a 44-game winning streak against MIL opponents dating back to 2016. That includes last year’s abbreviated slate that was pushed back several weeks when the fire wrought chaos on lives and logistics.
When the Lunas finally played Baldwin on Sept. 30, it was a cathartic community event.
“I think our program has always served as that, as a representation of the community,” Rickard said. “That’s what our kids are. They … take pride knowing that they play for their town.”
Despite everything – destroyed homes and lost family members and rampant displacement all over the Valley Isle – they still managed to be their usual effective selves. Lahainaluna blew through its league slate but its closely watched 2023 season came to an end in a 29-28 upset home loss to Kapaa in November.
Lahainaluna coaches and players were even honored at Super Bowl LVIII in February.
Rickard said that his group of 45 varsity players is less experienced than in years past. He has 21 seniors, but only eight of them saw significant playing time last year.
“Just play your best to represent not only yourselves and your family but the school and the town,” Rickard said the coaches have told the group. “And they’ve done that.”
There are some nerves associated with it, he acknowledged, given the high standard the program has maintained.
“Until somebody knocks us off, it’s still ours to defend.”
Numbers are down from last year’s team that finished the season with 55 on the varsity. The JV in particular has been affected, Rickard said.
“Some of the kids we thought would be coming have decided to stay at their schools on whatever side of the island they’re residing,” he said. “Instead of trekking over on the bus, they’ll attend Baldwin or Maui High School.”
The coach is acutely aware the that the real rebuild job is taking place down the hill from the high school campus. Rickard has been encouraged by the progress made in clearing debris from residential and commercial lots.
“There’s definitely signs of hope, but it’s going to take time,” he said. His parents and other family members were among those who lost a home.
“I think it’s important coming up on a year that we don’t forget and awareness still needs to be brought to what happened here in Lahaina a year ago," Rickard said. "We need everybody’s support and we’ve got to be united in how we’re going to rebuild Lahaina better.”
Lahainaluna football is set for the next two or three years for equipment, Rickard said, thanks to the donations from several groups including the Downtown Athletic Club of Hawaii’s Luna Strong fund that came in after the fires.
“We’re very appreciative about that,” he said.
Lahainaluna's MIL opener is Aug. 31 against Molokai High's new 11-man football squad.
DACH continues to send relief to Lahainaluna High’s athletics programs and students, the organization’s president Keith Amemiya told Spectrum News this week.
“The damage to Lahaina town was so great, so the need to support them will have to continue for many years to come,” said Amemiya, who is Gov. Josh Green’s chair of his Sports Task Force. “It’s my hope that the community will continue to support Lahaina and Lahainaluna High school. … The Lunas athletic program is such an important focal point of the community.”
Lahainaluna graduates of the 2024 class who are attending out-of-state colleges and university recently received up to $25,000 each in relief funds from the Hawaii Community Foundation via DACH. In addition, the full Lahainaluna graduating class of more than 200 students was offered scholarships to attend the University of Hawaii via a private donation.
Future projects for Lunas athletics include a synthetic turf baseball field (an estimated $1 million) and two beach volleyball courts ($100,000) on campus, Amemiya said, once those donation thresholds have been met.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.