For the first time in the football program’s history, Hawaii Preparatory Academy will forfeit a game due to roster concerns.
Athletic Director Stephen Perry confirmed on Friday morning that the game with Konawaena has been forfeited due to a lack of numbers. Ka Makani finish the season 2-6 (1-6) this season. The roster had been in the “mid-20s,” Perry said.
This time, after carefully assessing the situation each week, the school decided that having just 20 players available was too much risk.
Konawaena has already clinched first place in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and will have home-field advantage in the Division II playoffs.
Hawaii Prep had always fielded a team despite having one of the smallest enrollments in the state among teams in 11-man football. Ka Makani were a powerhouse in the BIIF during the first four decades since the league’s inception in the 1960s. The varsity program always had healthy numbers by not fielding a JV team, absorbing freshmen and sophomores.
Changing demographics contributed to lower turnout for football, however, in recent seasons. Perry said he is hopeful that HPA’s numbers bounce back in 2018. He said the program is not looking to play in the BIIF’s growing 8-man league at this point.
Former HPA standout and Washington lineman Daniel Te‘o-Nesheim is the head coach. Former ‘Iolani and Washington star Bern Brostek is an assistant coach. Te‘o-Nesheim was a standout, three-time All-BIIF player for HPA, which also featured current NFL player Max Unger (New Orleans Saints) in the trenches. Ka Makani were 11-1 during Te‘o-Nesheim’s senior year. After earning defensive MVP honors at Washington, he was drafted in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles and also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brostek coached Te‘o-Nesheim and Unger at UW. Prior to that, he was an all-state lineman at ‘Iolani, later an MVP at Washington before becoming a first-round selection by the Los Angeles Rams. He played his entire career with the franchise at center.
High school tuition at Hawaii Prep is currently $25,800.
Now WE know why they have less student athletes, they charge more tuition then Punahou! Cut the tuition in half and watch the enrollment go up, I promise, and maybe you’d have a JV team also to pull up from duh! I hate stupid expensive schools that don’t think things out!