Lihu‘e Midgets win championship

HANAPEPE — Sunday was especially sweet for Lihu‘e Patriots’ Midget head coach Jon Takamura, the coaching staff, and the players when the Midget team edged the Hanapepe Colts 14-6 to claim the first-ever championship title for the Lihu‘e program.

Takamura, speaking at a post-practice meeting with his staff and parental supporters, said, “We’ve been number two for at least the past four years, and it’s always been against Hanapepe. Until this year!”

“Lihu‘e has never won a championship (in the Midget division),” Harold Naumu, longtime Pop Warner official and announcer for the KIF said. “They started the Midget program back in 1970, or ‘71 under coach Roy Higa.”

Naumu said back then the team was known as the Lihu‘e Jets, and in all these years, Sunday is the first Midget title ever to be won by Lihu‘e.

Pop Warner commissioner Leon Gonsalves, Sr., in his game report said, “(There were) too many players who made this a victorious season for the Patriots (Midgets)!”

In Saturday’s action, Kapa‘a Junior Warriors JPW blanked the Kekaha Panthers JPW 12-0 while the Kekaha Seahawks PW shut out the Kapa‘a Steelers 6-0.

Kekaha Chargers (Midget) went on to a 32-0 win over the Kapa‘a Vikings while the Koloa Packers JPW controlled the Northshore Na Ali‘i 30-0.

Sunday’s matchups saw the Hanapepe JPW Colts shut down the Lihu‘e Patriots 31 – 0, and the Lihu‘e Patriots’ PeeWee team clinched that division title with their 28 – 0 win over Hanapepe.

The JPW Hanapepe win puts the Colts in a chase for the division title, trailing Koloa by one game.

Saturday will see a full day of Pop Warner football at Vidinha Stadium as Koloa opens the day with Kekaha followed by a noon matchup between the JPE Lihu‘e Patriots and the Northshore Na Ali‘i.

The evening series will have Kapa‘a hosting Hanapepe. First kickoff is at 8 a.m. with the final game kicking off at 8 p.m.