Tropical Storm Lala Wipes Out Saturday Hawaii High School Football Schedule

Tropical Storm Lala has virtually wiped out Saturday's high school football schedule in Hawaii, forcing the cancellation of games across the islands as officials prepare for potentially dangerous winds and heavy rainfall.

Hawaii Public-School Football Games Canceled

The Hawaii Department of Education ordered public-school campuses closed, eliminating Saturday athletic events involving public schools and disrupting a weekend that featured several prominent in-state and mainland matchups. Some teams managed to beat the storm by moving games to Thursday or Friday, while only one Saturday contest remained on the schedule as of Saturday morning.

The National Hurricane Center's Advisory 10 indicated Lala was still a tropical storm as of 2 a.m. HST/11 a.m. EST on Saturday, Aug. 15, and noted that “hurricane-force winds are expected on the Big Island of Hawaii Saturday.” Heavy rainfall and strong winds will impact the rest of the islands as the weekend progresses, making it too risky to proceed with the weekend schedule.

As reported by Hawaii Sports Radio Network's Michael Lasquero on X.com, the Hawaii Department of Education issued an order Friday afternoon directing all public school campuses and offices on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai and Molokai to close by 5:30 p.m. HST. All campuses on Kauai and Oahu were ordered closed Saturday and Sunday. The closures canceled extracurricular activities, athletics and community use of school facilities.

Orem, Mililani Beat the Storm — and Their Opponents

It's a tough blow for high school football on the islands, but some games were play ahead of Lala's arrival. Several marquee matchups featuring mainland teams and their Hawaii hosts were moved up, allowing them to be played on Friday before conditions deteriorated.

That included Friday night's early evening meeting between the visiting Orem Tigers and the Kamehameha Kapalama Warriors. In that game, the defending Class 5A state champions from Orem, Utah, defeated their hosts 16-7 in a hard-fought defensive battle in Honolulu.

Meanwhile, up the road in central Oahu, the Mililani Trojans rallied from a 24-14 halftime deficit to defeat the visiting Liberty Patriots from Henderson, Nevada, 31-24. The Trojans entered the game as the No. 2-ranked team in High School on SI's Hawaii Elite 12 state football rankings, while Liberty entered as an Open Division semifinalist in Nevada a year ago.

California Teams Go 7-0 in Hawaii

California teams, meanwhile, finished a perfect 7-0 over the course of Thursday and Friday nights in advance of the approaching storm, led by the San Clemente Tritons' 23-8 win over the Kapa'a Warriors. The Thursday night contest featured the California Southern Section Division 2 finalists against a Kapa'a squad that lost, 13-9, to the Kailua Surfriders in Hawaii's Division 1 title game.

Complete List of Hawaii High School Football Cancellations

The games canceled by the order involving Hawaii teams included inter-island contests such as 'Aiea's planned Friday visit to Konawaena on the Big Island and Kapolei's trip to the Valley Isle to face Kamehameha-Maui. The complete list of canceled games includes:

Aiea at Konawaena
Waiakea vs. Kalani at Kaiser
Kailua at Kamehameha-Hawaii
Lahainaluna at Keaau
Waimea at Kekaulike
Kealakehe vs. PAC-5 at Farrington
Kapolei at Kamehameha-Maui
Maui at Kaiser
Kahuku at Waianae
Punahou at Moanalua

'Iolani-Edison Remains on Saturday Schedule

As of Saturday morning, the only game still on the schedule for Saturday was 'Iolani's game against the Edison Chargers in Honolulu. 'Iolani is a private school, so the Raiders' contest against their visitors from Huntington Beach, California, isn't affected by the Hawaii Department of Education's order canceling games involving public schools. The game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. HST.

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