Fans decked in red streamed into the Lahainaluna High School football stadium, snacking on nachos and venison chili, bopping to the high school band's rendition of 'Sweet Caroline,' and exchanging long hugs with neighbors and classmates.
Tamara Montgomery, front right, cheers for the Lahainaluna High School football team during their homecoming game at Sue D. Cooley Stadium, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Tickets for homecoming at the 3,000-person-capacity stadium sold out in seven minutes, said Principal Richard Carosso — an indication of how badly the community needed it. As Mary-Ann Kobatake arrived at the stadium to cheer on her son, No. 33 James Lukela-Kobatake, she refused to look toward the devastated town, where her own home was among the 2,200 buildings that burned.But being back on campus was comforting for the 1993 Lahainaluna graduate: “We still have a place we can come home to,” she said.
“Young boys dream about one day wearing the red and white and representing Lahainaluna,” said Keith Amemiya, a Honolulu bank executive who is spearheading the Luna Strong fundraising campaign for the 450 student-athletes and coaches whose homes were destroyed. His mother’s home burned, but his father’s home away from the burn zone survived. He aspires to play Division I college football, and he was heartbroken at the possibility of the season being canceled. “If there wasn’t a season, I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself,” he said.
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Football provides a homecoming and hope in Lahaina, where thousands of homes are gone after wildfireThe varsity and junior varsity football teams in Lahaina played their first home games since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed the town
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Football provides a homecoming and hope in Lahaina, where thousands of homes are gone after wildfireThe varsity and junior varsity football teams in Lahaina played their first home games since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed the town
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Football provides a homecoming and hope in Lahaina, where thousands of homes are gone after wildfireThe varsity and junior varsity football teams in Lahaina played their first home games since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed the town
Read more »
Football provides a homecoming and hope in Lahaina, where thousands of homes are gone after wildfireThe varsity and junior varsity football teams in Lahaina played their first home games since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century destroyed the town.
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