Photo of Linfield 1984 football team added by Wildcatville in 2009
By RODNEY S. YAP, Staff Writer
Maui News, December 18, 2004
WAILUKU–Keith Machida took a trip down memory lane last month when he returned to McMinnville, Ore.
Machida was one of more than 40 players and coaches from the 1984 Linfield College national championship football team that returned to campus on Nov. 13 to be inducted into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.
For many of the team members, the reunion was a chance to see one another for the first time since the Wildcats’ season 20 years ago. 
Linfield had to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to capture the NAIA Division II national crown that year, and Machida remembers it well.
“We were trailing 22-0 in the third quarter,’’ the 1980 Maui High School graduate said Friday. “We were playing Northwestern of Iowa for the title at McMinnville High School because the field we usually play on was torn up from the rain and mud. We scored 33 points and won 33-22.’’
It was memories of that game and other highlights from that season that got plenty of the former players fired up.
“We shared a lot of stories,’’ Machida said. “We actually drove down to the field and kicked a field goal. That was the first score we made and everybody thought we were crazy to kick a field goal. Then we got a turnover and scored again and went for two and got that.’’
Machida recalls the Wildcats’ first touchdown because it was a 1-yard pass to him from quarterback David Lindley.
“We ran the same play for the two-point conversion,’’ said Ma-chida, who hauled in that pass, too.
Hall of Fame week at Linfield coincided with the Wildcats’ regular-season finale. Linfield nailed down its fifth consecutive Northwest Conference championship with a 48-14 defeat of Willamette.
Currently ranked No. 2 and in the championship game of the NCAA Division III tournament, Linfield is led by quarterback Brett Elliott, who set the school single-season yardage record with 4,313 yards, surpassing the record of 3,084 set last season by All-American Tyler Matthews.
Elliott has also thrown more touchdown passes (59) in one season than any quarterback in the history of college football.
Elliott has also thrown more touchdown passes (59) in one season than any quarterback in the history of college football.
The Wildcats will take on Mary Hardin-Baylor today in Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl XXXII in Salem, Va.
Freshman Ryan Ishizu, a former Maui High running back, is on the team’s roster, but Machida said Ishizu will not be one of the 53 players who suits up for Linfield in today’s game.
The current Linfield team has 11 former Hawaii prep players on the roster, including four from Kamehameha Oahu and two each from Hawaii Preparatory Academy and Radford.
Machida said the 1984 team had its share of Hawaii players, including two offensive tackles and a guard. Machida was the tight end who garnered second team all-league honors.
“I always played tight end,’’ said Machida, who remembered a simpler game. “I remember when I was there, they just gave us a hook – to hang your stuff on. And if you were really special, they would give you a cardboard box to put your stuff in. Back then we didn’t play on FieldTurf, we played in the rain and the wind.’’
Machida keeps up with this team and sees some differences between this year’s squad and the teams from his day.
“I listen to the games on the Internet and this is a very good Linfield team,’’ Machida said. “We ran out of the slot formation back then and operated out of the spread formation and threw the ball much more.’’
