Maui Sports

Football is big in the small town of Lahaina in West Maui.

Maui basketball fans were treated to the transformation of the Illinois basketball team this week at the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational.

He was an All-State quarterback for Kamehameha and led the Warriors to back-to-back state football championships. He also earned the Stan Bates Award, given to the top male scholar-athlete in the Western Athletic Conference. He received All-WAC and All-America honors at UH, where he graduated in Pre-law. He played five seasons in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons.

Although Illinois basketball is only five games into the John Groce era, the early-season progress report is as bright as the sun shining on West Maui.

The giant-killers from St. Louis Heights on Oahu were at it again. This time Chaminade knocked off Texas, 86-73, before a prime-time televised audience opposite Monday Night Football at the Lahaina Civic Center.

If the first game of the 29th edition of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational is any indication of what’s to come over the next two days, tournament officials can expect television ratings to spike to record numbers.

Southern California will be looking for its first 3-0 start since 2000-2001 season when it opens with unbeaten Illinois (3-0) in Monday’s opening-round night cap of the 2012 EA SPORTS Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center.

For the first time in school history, the Lahainaluna High School football team and its cheerleaders competed on Oahu, on the same day, in their respective state competitions.

Lahainaluna High School handled its business on Oahu like it has done all year on the Valley Isle — with a shutout, it’s seventh of the season.

Kahuku Red Raiders improve to 11-0 and advance to face Punahou (8-2) at 7 p.m. on Nov. 22 in a HHSAA Division I rematch of last year’s title game.

The work that has helped produce the outstanding numbers that have come to define this particular Lahainaluna High School football team started a year ago.

Nanakuli coach Skippy Lopes said before Saturday’s game that his team wasn’t simply happy to make their first ever state tournament appearance.

The University of Hawai’i Warrior football team saw its losing streak extend to seven games following a 49-14 loss to Boise State, Saturday in a nationally televised game at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

Trailing 13-10 at halftime, Mililani head coach Rod York was done talking before he walked into the War Memorial Stadium locker room.

Two of the best prep quarterbacks in the 50th state will lead their respective teams into tonight’s quarterfinals of the First Hawaiian Bank Division I state football tournament.

When you’re a fighter first, like Maui’s Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove, the size of the stage is not important.

It appears that Maui’s youth baseball players who attended Kurt Suzuki’s baseball clinic last year made a memorable impression on the Maui-born, big-leaguer, just like he did in Washington, DC, during his brief stint with the Nationals.

As players have one final opportunity to qualify for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the event has limited volunteer opportunities when the first event of the 2013 PGA TOUR season comes to The Plantation Course, Jan. 3-7.

The University of Hawaii will travel to Michigan for the first time in school history when the teams play, Sept. 3, 2016 in Ann Arbor, Mich. In addition, next year’s season-opener against USC will move to Thursday, Aug. 29 at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

The University of Hawai’i Rainbow Warrior basketball team tips off its 2012-13 campaign with the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic, Nov. 9, 11 and 12 at the Stan Sheriff Center.