Montclair Prep Courted for 2nd Islands Tripleheader

Montclair Prep may join the Canyon and Crespi football teams in Hawaii next year if event organizer Skip Akina can arrange a second high school football tripleheader to accommodate the Southern Section teams.

Akina earlier had planned a tripleheader pitting three teams from Hawaii against three mainland teams and had scheduled the event at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu for the last weekend in August. He had invited Canyon and Crespi, but Southern Section rules forbid teams from playing games when their sport is not in season.

However, the Southern Section then offered a compromise that would allow its teams to play in Hawaii on the first weekend in September. Canyon and Crespi already have received formal invitations for the second tripleheader, and Akina said that Montclair Prep will be the third team invited to play Hawaiian teams.

“We really want to see Derek Sparks play,” Akina said of Montclair Prep’s junior running back. Sparks leads Valley-area rushers with 1,314 yards in 129 carries.

Akina has kept intact his original plan to stage a tripleheader on the last weekend in August and has a commitment from San Diego Morse. He is seeking two other mainland teams to round out the field.

The event is being held to raise funds for a scholarship in the name of former Hawaiian high school player Shawn Akina, Skip’s brother who died of a heart attack in 1986.