The return of 8-player football

For the first time since 2019, eight-player football will return to the Maui Interscholastic League.

The pandemic wiped out the 2020 season entirely and only one team -- five-time defending MIL champion Molokai High School -- fielded a team in 2021. The Farmers played just one scrimmage game last season, a traditional 11-player game at King Kekaulike.

"We're excited for a new season, things have been so crazy the last couple of years," Molokai coach Mike Kahale said Monday. "Since 2019 we really haven't had a season."

Practice began for the eight-player league on Monday, and four teams are on the schedule -- Hana, Lanai, Seabury Hall and Molokai.

The two-round season opens on Aug. 27 when Lanai visits Molokai. A championship game, if necessary, will be at War Memorial Stadium on Oct. 20, a Thursday -- all other games are slated for Saturdays.

The Farmers will continue their climb toward the goal of joining the 11-player MIL ranks with a nonleague game at Waialua on Sept. 10.

The Farmers had around 50 players on the roster in 2018 and 2019, but Kahale knows that the pandemic has halted the momentum the program had going.

"I lost a lot of seniors last year when we played just one game," he said Monday morning before the first practice. "So, I have probably less than 20 returning and hopefully I have a good group of freshmen coming in and some underclassmen who didn't play or some kids who just didn't play due to COVID. We're hoping to be in the mid-30s, but it's hard to tell to be quite honest."

A boost to the Molokai program was the recent free clinic put on by Akana Athletics on the tiny island -- it featured Molokai legend Kimo von Oelhoffen, a Super Bowl champion and 14-year NFL veteran, and several other standout coaches.

Kahale, a teacher at Molokai Middle School, was also able to start a middle school league with three teams in the spring.

"I have a good group of seniors, some skill guys who are mostly on the defensive side," Kahale said. "I have some young sophomores who were freshmen last year who will be pretty good for us.

"Our quarterback position is kind of wide open. ... We have four or five quarterbacks kind of vying for the position."

Kilakila Orlando, a senior, and his sophomore brother Nakoa Orlando are two of the players Kahale singled out as team leaders. Senior Jonah Sahugan is also a player the team will count on at defensive back, Kahale said.

Nui Lee-Weeks will lead both the offensive and defensive lines.

"It's rebuilding year after losing so much talent, or so many seniors," Kahale said. "It's kind of a wait-and-see deal."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.