In the wake of Typhoon Mawar and the damage it caused the island last month, Guam’s high school football final between Guam High and Father Duenas Memorial has been canceled, league officials said.

“No go,” Guam Interscholastic Sports Association league director Marvin Linder said in a brief statement to Stripes last Friday.

The league’s athletics directors met Friday at Tiyan High School to discuss whether to reschedule the game, which had been slated for May 27, or to cancel it altogether.

Mawar, at the time a Category 4-equivalent super typhoon, passed over Guam’s northern tip on May 24. Power and water were knocked out to most of the island, multiple wire and Web reports said. It’s the strongest typhoon to hit the island since Pongsona in December 2002.

“No football field is available because of the typhoon,” Guam High athletics director Ed Paz said, adding that there was no practice field available, seniors had already graduated and the team hadn’t been able to practice for two weeks. “There was no other choice.”

The ISA’s constitution states that in the event of a natural disaster, they revert back to the regular-season standings.

Father Duenas (7-0) – winner of a league-record six straight titles and 65 straight games – finishes in first place, followed by Guam High (6-1), George Washington (5-2) and John F. Kennedy (4-3).

“A Category 4 super typhoon doesn’t care about any sport at all,” said outgoing Panthers coach Jacob Dowdell.

The game was highly anticipated, pitting the Friars, with the league’s top scoring defense, having not allowed a point all season, against the Panthers, with the league’s top scoring offense, 39.3 points per game.

“They showed their resilience, to score as many points as they did, the No. 1 offense on the island, that speaks volumes about their level of dedication,” Dowdell said.

The cancellation marked an end to what had already been an odd season. Normally, Guam plays its high school football in August, September and October, but due to equipment issues, the season was pushed back to spring and the ISA schedule of other sports shuffled.

The season had been scheduled to start on March 24, but equipment problems delayed the start by a week to March 31.

And the Panthers were actually unbeaten on the field during the season. They forfeited their game to the Friars when a video surfaced on social media a few days before the game showing a Guam player using vulgar language to refer to the opposition.

Dowdell, who has coached the Panthers for 10 seasons, said that he is stepping down and leaving the DODEA system, after suffering heat stroke during a practice in late May, and will focus on taking care of himself. He plans to move to his home South Carolina.

“It’s been a good run,” Dowdell said of a Panthers team that has one league title and two finals appearances to its credit. “I’ve been blessed to know great people and coach great kids.”