MIL soccer: Battle of unbeaten girls’ teams

By Fred Guzman

Defending champion Baldwin and Kamehameha will be going all in with unbeaten MIL records tonight when they tangle in a 5 p.m. girls’ match at War Memorial Stadium.

The 7 o’clock nightcap between boy’s teams has significance, as well.

Defending champ Baldwin can move into first place in the Division-I standings with a victory against the Warriors after King Kekaulike’s 2-1 win over Maui High yesterday, handing the Sabers their first league loss of the season.

Goals by Logan Bantilan and Michael Kleeman provided the scoring for Kekaulike, while the Sabers managed a late penalty kick by Nicola Perez.

In other soccer action today, the Maui High girls will host Kekaulike in a 4 p.m. match.

In basketball action last night, Kealii Pacheco scored 15 points in leading the Baldwin boys to a 49-36 win over Maui High. In the girls’ game between the two schools, Vaikoloa Lotulelei had 12 points for the Sabers in a 38-24 win.

And congratulations to Ginger Long of Kamehameha-Maui and Kalei Vaivai of Molokai High for their selections as MIL Division-I and II girls’ volleyball players of the year by the Maui News. Vaivai, a junior, was instrumental in helping the Farmers win the D-II title.

COACHING CAROUSEL: On the day Rich Rodriguez was supposed to get fired at Michigan, it was Tom Cable, instead, who got the axe in Oakland.

Despite multiple media reports that Michigan had already dismissed Rodriguez after three years and a dismal 15-22 record, the embattled coach survived a three-hour meeting with athletic director Dave Brandon. The two are to meet again today.

Brandon just celebrated his first anniversary on a job that represented a demotion. He played for Bo Schembechler and did his alma mater a huge favor by stepping down from his lucrative job as Chairman and CEO of the Domino’s pizza chain.

As a respected businessman, Brandon developed a reputation for well-considered decisions. My guess is that Brandon is shrewdly buying time. If he can’t quickly secure another quality coach, he keeps Rodriguez for another season and avoids a $2.5 million buyout.

Oakland declined to pick up a two-year option on Cable although he guided the Raiders to their best record, at 8-8, in eight years, and 6-0 in the division.

Owner Al Davis is now searching for his sixth coach since the end of the 2001 season. The front-runner is offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, who received permission to interview with San Francisco.

The Raiders also could have interest in Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, who was a QB coach in Oakland from 2002-03 and is close with Davis. Harbaugh is a little off and likes to wear black. He’d fit right in, but insiders say that San Francisco is a more likely destination for Harbaugh.