{"id":23474,"date":"2026-09-06T09:45:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T19:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=23474"},"modified":"2026-09-07T08:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T18:54:18","slug":"2026-high-school-football-brings-lahaina-and-paradise-calif-together-in-unity-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/2026-high-school-football-brings-lahaina-and-paradise-calif-together-in-unity-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"High school football brings Lahaina and Paradise, Calif., together in \u201cUnity Bowl\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAHAINA \u2014 The football teams from Hawai\u2018i\u2019s Lahainaluna High School and California\u2019s Paradise High School came together for a historic matchup Saturday evening in West Maui, bringing two communities that were both devastated by wildfires together on the field to celebrate hope, resilience and the strength of community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 8, 2018, the Camp Fire in Paradise displaced more than 50,000 people and destroyed over 18,000 structures and killed 85 people, marking it as the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history at the time. Five years later, on Aug. 8, 2023, a wildfire rapidly spread through Lahaina, destroying over 2,200 structures and killing 102 people\u2014making it the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game, dubbed the \u201cUnity Bowl,\u201d was born from a vision shared over a year ago between Paradise High School\u2019s athletic director Jerry Cleek, longtime Punahou School athletic director Doug Bennett and Lahainaluna\u2019s athletic director Jonathan Conrad to use high school football as a bridge for mutual healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe realized that football and sports and community heals, and so that’s really what this football game is about\u2014is bringing these students and athletes together, and learning from each other, and sharing hope, and sharing stories, and making friends for life,\u201d Christy Voigt, co-principal of Paradise High School, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before a crowd of about 1,900 at Lahainaluna\u2019s Sue D. Cooley Stadium, the Lunas picked up their first win of the season Friday, beating the Paradise Bobcats 27-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those in attendance were U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, U.S. Congresswoman Jill Tokuda, and Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen. In a video Hirono recorded with U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California, which was played before the game, the two spoke on the importance of learning from each other through these tragedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s been a really interesting week. It’s brought up a lot of emotions from three years ago,\u201d Lahainaluna Principal Richard Carosso said. \u201cMeeting their administrators, meeting their coaches, our kids meeting their kids, I think it really helped us to heal and showed us that it’s going to be OK and communities can get better and can be resilient. And I think it did a lot for us as a school and for us as a community. And through football\u2014one of Lahainaluna’s favorite things\u2014I think it was extra special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Luna team captain Ma\u2018a Tevaga, the game carried special meaning. The 2023 wildfire struck the day before he was set to begin his freshman year, destroying his family\u2019s home and forcing them to relocate to Utah. Tevaga went on to play football at Timpview High School in Provo, Utah. Now, he\u2019s proud to wear a Lahainaluna jersey, following in the footsteps of his father, who also played for the Lunas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI repped Lahaina as hard as I could, and let the world know where we’re from,\u201d Tevaga,who\u2019s now a senior, said. \u201cThe biggest thing that I think we can get from this is k\u014dkua<\/em> aku, <\/em>k\u014dkua<\/em> mai<\/em>. It\u2019s an old Hawaiian saying that says \u02bbwe help you, you help us and we can grow together,\u2019\u201d Tevaga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams will come together for dinner and a l\u016b\u2018au Sunday night to cap off the trip. Plans are also underway for Paradise High to host Lahainaluna High for a Unity Bowl in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n