Na Alii to host Farmers for football scrimmage

Contest could be only one for Molokai in ’21

PUKALANI -- It is a controlled scrimmage that will help both teams, but for the Molokai High School football team it is the season.

The Farmers will play what appears to be their only game of the year on Friday at 6 p.m. at King Kekaulike Stadium against Na Alii. Due to the lack of available officials, the game will be a controlled scrimmage.

"We really appreciate Coach Tyson (Valle) and P.K. (Higa), the AD over there, allowing us to come over, hosting us and fitting us in the schedule because I reached out to a bunch of guys that had byes in their schedules and for whatever reasons -- I don't know all the reasons -- they were unwilling," Molokai coach Mike Kahale said Monday. "But King K, Coach Tyson, when I explained the situation to him, he said, 'Yeah, let's do it.' "

Na Alii are 0-3 in the MIL 11-man football ranks and Molokai, the five-time defending MIL eight-player champion, has no one else to play after Hana and Lanai could not muster enough players for the 2021 season.

The Farmers had been hopeful of a home-and-away, two-game set with the Pine Lads, but it didn't work out.

Kahale is currently looking into the possibility of playing junior varsity teams from Maui High and Baldwin, the two largest rosters in the MIL 11-player ranks, but it is quite possible that Friday will be the only game the Farmers play in 2021.

"We definitely would be more than willing -- a one-game season is essentially what we have, right? But for us it does come down to some finances," Kahale said. "It's on our dime, right? We're traveling over there to play King K and any other game -- I'm pretty much, like, 99 percent sure -- nobody wants to come here for a scrimmage or a game, so it would have to be on us. Every trip is $5,000 or more. ... So that's really what it comes down to."

Valle talked to his team post-game on Friday night after a 58-27 loss to Kamehameha Maui about how fortunate Na Alii were to have a full six-game league season and how important hosting Friday's event is to provide an opportunity to play for the Farmers.

"We have a lot of guys who we really haven't showcased in our games and we really wanted to see what they can do, a lot of young talent, so this is actually a good game for them," Valle said Friday night. "But we picked up the Molokai game just really because we know how it feels not to have the season and those guys didn't have one. So, we want to do the best we can with them, do it up for them that night, and just let them have the best night possible."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.