{"id":26155,"date":"2026-10-26T16:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T02:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=26155"},"modified":"2026-10-26T16:34:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T02:34:01","slug":"2026-soaring-with-pride-under-the-friday-night-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/2026-soaring-with-pride-under-the-friday-night-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"Soaring with Pride: Under the Friday Night Lights at Wai\u02bbanae High School"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A \u201cSoaring with Pride\u201d micro-film capturing the sounds, sights and spirit of our Hawai\u2018i public schools.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Situated a touchdown\u2019s throw from the blue Pacific, Wai\u2018anae High School\u2019s Raymond Torii Field was ranked the third-best prep football field in the nation in USA Today\u2019s 2019 poll \u2014 and that was before the stadium&#8217;s $6 million renovation was completed in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anchored squarely along the meandering, rugged shoreline joining mauka to makai, the field is where the Coast, school and proud football tradition meld together. \u201cIf you live on the Coast, you go to school on the Coast,\u201d Principal Bandy Yagi said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Soaring with Pride: Under the Friday Night Lights\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1232458883?h=b5b95ca7ae&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Established in 1957, the school has graduated generations of Westsiders. The sense of place grounds students in the rich history, legacy and stories of Ka Moku o Wai\u2018anae.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile I was coaching, these young kids, all they wanted to do was put on that Wai\u02bbanae uniform,\u201d Kendall Maeda, vice principal of Wai\u02bbanae High and former Wai\u02bbanae football coach said. \u201cThey looked forward to the day when they&#8217;re in ninth grade, to play football for Coach Larry Ginoza,\u201d he added, referring to the legendary coach and namesake of the school athletic complex, who passed away in June at the age of 89.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Seariders were state football champions in 1973 and again with back-to-back titles in 1977 and 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Wai\u02bbanae football program is a community builder. \u201cWe try to instill in our student-athletes from day one \u2014 to be proud of their school. They represent their families as well as the community,\u201d Kekoa Kaluhiokalani, athletic director, said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPride, discipline, tradition and the \u2018next man up\u2019 mentality, I use that in my everyday life,\u201d Daniel Peterson, a Wai\u02bbanae High and football alumnus, Searider Football Boosters president and Westside business owner said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe boosters are like a bridge for the community and the school. Unfortunately, a lot of our kids on this side can\u2019t even afford cleats. So we make sure they all get the same shoes so nobody stands out. That\u2019s a big part of our tradition: everybody looks the same, everybody plays the same, has the same discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a proven fact: when Wai\u2018anae football is doing good, the community is doing good. That&#8217;s one thing about our community, they come out and they support no matter what,\u201d Peterson said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of people can stereotype and label us as bad people, but on the football field, it&#8217;s just another way to show them and prove them wrong,\u201d Titan Kia Cox Bongo, a defensive lineman, said. \u201cWai\u02bbanae football brings so much positivity to this community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Home football games draw vibrant crowds of family, community and supporters looking to connect under bright Friday night lights and a shared Coast culture.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGrandpas, grandmas, keiki, moms, dads, aunties and uncles. You know, a lot of them scream for their personal family members, but again, it\u2019s community pride. There are a lot of families that have nobody in their family playing anymore. They\u2019re cheering for the whole team,\u201d Richard Des Forge, a football alumnus and parent, said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNot every time it\u2019s going to be a win, but the community comes together to support the young men that are out there battling to become the next story of Wai\u02bbanae history football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I mua, Team Wai\u2018anae!&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A \u201cSoaring with Pride\u201d micro-film capturing the sounds, sights and spirit of our Hawai\u2018i public schools.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":26160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,893,1022,1619,1622,1623","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":30,"label":"Highlights"},{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20261026-Waianae-Football-field-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kimi Takazawa","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/author\/kimi-takazawak12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":30,"name":"Highlights","slug":"highlights","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":30,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":30,"category_count":3,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Highlights","category_nicename":"highlights","category_parent":0},{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":380,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":380,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-11-02 19:01:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}