An all-nighter high school championship football fest at Aloha Stadium, champions galore in mixed martial arts and surfing, the retirement of a coaching legend and the struggles of the University of Hawaii football team topped a robust year of headlines in local sports.

1. Downer for UH Football

A year that began full of high hopes ended in the disappointment of a return to losing amid the frustration of five consecutive defeats for the Rainbow Warrior football team.

After a 7-7 finish to his inaugural season as head coach in 2016, one that concluded with a Hawaii Bowl victory, Nick Rolovich was unable to deliver an encore in 2017.

The ’Bows fell to 3-9, their seventh consecutive season without a winning mark, a program record in the modern era of an all-collegiate schedule.

The season started encouragingly enough with a road victory at Massachusetts and a triumph in the home opener against Western Carolina. But the ’Bows, inconsistent on offense and vulnerable to big plays on defense and breakdowns on special teams, won only one more game the rest of the campaign, beating San Jose State in a mid-October homecoming contest.

2. Changing of the guard for Rainbow Wahine

The retirement of the iconic Dave Shoji after 42 years as the head coach of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball program in February opened a new chapter with former All-American Robyn Ah Mow as his successor.

Shoji’s departure after 1,202 victories, the second most in NCAA Division I history, and four national championships ended the most successful era in UH athletics.

Ah Mow, a three-time Olympian, became just the third head coach in the program’s history.

After an 0-3 opening, Ah Mow guided the Rainbow Wahine to 17 victories in their next 22 matches, a 14-2 record and runner-up finish in the Big West Conference, and a return to the NCAA tournament, where they were a first-round victim of Illinois.

3. John John Florence rules the waves

“To win at home is my dream,” Florence said at the Billabong Pipe Masters in December, where he clinched his second World Surf League world championship.

It was the first time since Andy Irons in 2004 that a Hawaii surfer had won a second straight title.

Gabriel Medina, who entered the final stop on the world tour trailing Florence in points, cemented Florence’s repeat with a quarterfinal round loss to Jeremy Flores.

4. Max Holloway reigns supreme

The UFC featherweight champion from Waianae ran his record to 19-3 and winning streak to 12 bouts with a pair of third-round technical knockouts of Jose Aldo.

When his first title defense against Frankie Edgar was canceled due to an injury suffered by the former lightweight champion, Holloway drew Aldo again and won the 11th-hour rematch.

While Holloway set the tone, Hawaii did not lack for MMA titlists. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane won the flyweight champion of the Bellator Fighting Championship and Angela Lee held on to the ONE Atomweight world championship. A car accident forced her to cancel a title defense.

5. State football championships for the ages

It took Joshua Tihada’s 7-yard touchdown run to seal the longest state championship game in history, with Lahainaluna surviving Konawaena 75-69 in seven overtimes for the Division II title.

The 4-hour, 10-minute drama came in the first of three title games in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships and gave the Lunas their second consecutive D-II crown.

Later, in a game that finished Sunday morning, Saint Louis mounted a furious comeback to defeat Kahuku for the second year in a row, 31-28.

Down by four points with less than a minute remaining, Crusaders quarterback Chevan Cordeiro put up a desperation pass that Jonah Panoke outwrestled a defender for and broke into the end zone with the deciding score.