Last Friday did not go as planned for quarterback Andrew Manly.
First, Leilehua lost their homecoming game and share of first place in the OIA Red West as Waianae rallied to beat the defending state champions. This is Andrew's first loss at the varsity level since taking over the controls of the Mules' offense during the OIA playoffs last season.
During that run the high's were of course very high for Manly and his teammates.
This season was on track for another fun run. That's until the aforementioned homecoming loss. Where, to be honest, the Seariders were the better team.
Now I'm sure Manly was bummed about losing but imagine getting told your house was broken into while you were playing your guts out. That's right a group of thieves used the cover of that game, where a good chunk of Wahiawa was at, to break into the Manly household. Guess they were bright enough to figure the family would be preoccuppied for a few hours.
I mean talk about dirty. But breaking into the house of one of the key players who brought so much pride to Wahiawa with the HHSAA title, way to go on setting a new low.
Now I mentioned they were "smart" for doing it during the game but they were also dumb. The group was caught while carrying out a four foot chest that had jewelry in it. Andrew's mom Cathy told me they could have simply poured the contents into a bag and would have been off. But thankfully by trying to carry the chest, they were slowed down and a neighbor spotted them. The neighbor held them until police arrived who called Cathy from information at the house.
Cathy got the call just after halftime and missed the second half of the game. Her husband stayed to support Andrew and give him the bad news. It seems some of the group had gotten away with Andrew's video games along with (and I'm not kidding you) their Oceanic DVR - the one that held all of the Leilehua football games on OC16 this season.
I told her we'll see if copies can be made to replace those on the DVR. The video game stuff still hasn't been recovered yet.
If you ever get to meet the Manly's you will find a wonderful bunch of people. Just the night before Andrew was part of the Chili's Fundraiser we did for cancer research. I found him humble and genuinely having a good time and very much into serving people food for a good cause. Which is great to see considering he's a high profile star athlete.
Andrew and his family will no doubt replace their stolen items but it's just a shame something like that happened to good people. Kudos to their neighbor for watching out and taking action.
Just goes to show that it's not all fun and games on homecoming night.
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Sorry for not posting new stuff earlier. I'm battling a flu bug and have been pretty much wiped out.
Thursday night - we have ILH volleyball - Maryknoll vs Iolani 5 pm and Kamehameha vs Word of Life at 6:30 pm. Mahalo to Lori Santi for subbing for me!
Friday - a huge game in the OIA Red East - Kahuku vs Farrington at 7:30 pm. Shades of Waianae/Leilehua with first place again on the line.
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FYI to thieves of Oceanic cable boxes and DVR's...they're coded to each house...wouldn't work at your den. Now do the right thing and give the Manly's back their stuff.
