It was a game the Pac-Five football team did not want to lose.
And the Wolfpack didn’t. They looked sharp last Friday in a 37-0 victory over St. Francis, a first-year ILH Division II varsity program.
“We didn’t want to be the first team to lose (an ILH) game to them,” Pac-Five coach Kip Botelho said while heading to the bus outside the Aloha Stadium North end zone after the Wolfpack’s first win of the season.
Some Pac-Five (a conglomeration of mostly small ILH schools) players from last year are now playing for St. Francis.
“It’s always tough when you lose guys,” Botelho said. “The same thing happened when Word of Life had a team (for several seasons a few years back). It’s tough because it’s a numbers thing. We’re always battling against a lack of numbers and St. Francis is too, now.
There are 51 players on the Pac-Five roster and 30 on the St. Francis roster. In comparison, 75 players are listed on Division I Saint Louis’ roster.
St. Francis’ only win so far came against Drumheller, Alberta (Canada).
Despite the lopsided score on Friday, it was a well-played game by both teams.
The Saints moved the ball efficiently, but had two highly costly turnovers and lost the turnover fight 5-0.
Botelho is hoping the Wolfpack’s win leads to some momentum. Pac-Five (1-5, 1-3) is only a half-game behind Damien and ‘Iolani for first place in ILH D-II.
The Wolfpack meets ‘Iolani (4-4, 2-3) at 5 p.m. on Friday at Aloha Stadium.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Saints (1-5, 0-4), who take on No. 2 Kamehameha (6-1, 3-1) at Kunuiakea Stadium on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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