A Saint Francis player goes up to make a reception in a morning practice. Stacy Kaneshiro | SL

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Saint Francis players participate in a drill during a morning practice. Stacy Kaneshiro | SL

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MANOA-As the newest team to join the varsity high school ranks this season, the Saint Francis Saints believe they're ready for their debut in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

The fledgling Saints, who competed at the junior varsity level last season, will have two tuneups before opening the ILH season Aug. 30 at nine-time defending Division II champion 'Iolani. Saint Francis will make its debut Aug. 9 against Maui High at War Memorial Stadium. The Saints will then host Drumheller of Canada on Aug. 24 at Waipahu.

The odds appear to be stacked against the Saints, whose Manoa campus doesn't have a football field. The team practices at Manoa Recreation Center field. The place kickers won't have a goal post to gauge their muscle memories until the Manoa Pop Warner team puts up its goal posts.

Mike Ulufale, a star linebacker and quarterback at Campbell in the late 1980s who went on to play at Brigham Young and was a third-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 1996, is the team's head coach.

The Saints will field about 35 players, most making their varsity debuts. About five players were with the Pac-Five program last year. A number of them played with a JV team that went winless last season (0-7 overall, 0-6 ILH). But that might be deceiving. They were within a score of winning some of those contests, Ulufale said. The Saints lost to Kamehameha, 22-21 and 26-24, and fell 31-26 to Mililani.

"I'm really proud of the kids and the way they competed," Ulufale said. "We should've won a couple of games."

The Saints ability to compete paved the way to play varsity this season.

"If we didn't compete, there would've been no varsity this year," Ulufale said. "Give credit to my coaching staff. Half these kids didn't know how to put on the equipment."

Because some players have more experience than others, expect a number of them to play most of the 48 minutes, Ulufale said.

There's only one startup that Saint Francis, which will be in Division II, can compare to: Word of Life.

Word of Life last two seasons - 2008 and 2009 - going a combined 3-20. Two of those wins were from non-league games. Its only league victory was 50-42 against Damien in triple overtime.

George Pakele, a senior who played linebacker and fullback at Pac-Five last year, likes that he will be a part of school history.

"It's kind of an honor and a privilege to represent your own school," Pakele said. "Try to make a name for Saint Francis."

Pac-Five's team is composed of players from small ILH schools from around the island. The prep athletic combine was established in 1974. A similar combine was called the Hummers in 1973; it was an acronym for the small schools that contributed played (Hawaii Baptist, University, Mid-Pacific, Maryknoll, Our Redeemer).

For senior defensive end Lachoneus Tautuiaki, it's not just a new chapter for his school, but for his own life. He last played at Waipahu High as a sophomore before transferring to Saint Francis last year and sitting out.

"I just everything at home, came and met my new family," Tautuiaki said. "(I want to help) put Saint Francis on the map."

Senior LB Blayne Won had been with the Pac-Five program since seventh grade. Though he is one of the few players with varsity experience, it's still like starting over again.

"It's very different because before, Saint Francis was an all-girls school," Won said. "But there's boys, it's a whole new environment. So now that we have a football team, it's the same thing. We're the new kids on the block, so we have something to prove."