Newbury Park Opens Season at Waimea

School started all over this week, but the Newbury Park High football team is getting an education out of the reach of most students.

The Panthers open their season against the Waimea Mehunes tonight at 10:30 (PDT) in Lihue, Kauai. The learning part will come before and after the game.

“The whole island is hosting us,” Newbury Park Coach George Hurley said. “We are approaching this as a cultural exchange. Waimea is a rural high school and their kids live much differently than ours do.”

The Newbury Park players, who flew to Kauai on Thursday and will return Monday, are staying with the families of Waimea players. The Panthers accompanied their hosts to school Friday before celebrating the visit with a luau.

“Several of the Hawaiian players speak little English,” Hurley said. “This is not the tourist part of Hawaii.”

Lihue was hit hard by Hurricane Iniki in Sept., 1992, a disaster that caused $1.6 billion in damage on Kauai. Many homes are still being rebuilt.

A charity football game between Newbury Park and Waimea was arranged for November of that year by Dr. Mel Hayashi, the Newbury Park team physician who was raised on Kauai. Newbury Park had a conflict with its Southern Section playoff game, however, and Westlake played host to Waimea instead, defeating the Mehunes, 16-15.

The Waimea players stayed with families from Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Westlake and several thousand dollars was raised for hurricane relief.

“This trip really restored our faith in our fellow human beings,” the Waimea coach said at the time. “A bunch of people in California got together and showed us warmth and caring. I just hope some day we can pay them back.”

That day is here.

“Neither team is interested in winning by 50 points or losing by 50,” said Hurley, who paused and added, “especially losing by 50.”

Waimea opened its season last week with a 43-6 victory over an Hawaiian opponent. Two Mehune players rushed for more than 100 yards and the team attempted only seven passes.