Konawaena head coach Brad Uemoto ended up soaking wet for a second time this season after playing Kamehameha-Hawaii on Friday. Luckily this time, it wasn’t because of the bad weather.
With less than a minute remaining on the clock and the Wildcats up 44-21 on the Warriors, Konawaena players surrounded their first-year head coach and gave him a deserving Gatorade shower, putting an exclamation point on a fourth BIIF Division II championship in five years.
“This is so rewarding. I feel so good for these kids,” Uemoto said. “We have such a great group of players and coaches. I’m so proud of all of them. They deserve this.”
The championship also avenged the only blemish on Konawaena’s record — a 24-0 waterlogged road loss to Kamehameha on Sept. 25. The Warriors also beat the Wildcats to open the 2014 regular season and in last year’s title game — the only gap in Konawaena’s half-decade of BIIF dominance.
“They had our number for three games in a row,” Uemoto said. “Coming away with a solid win over a terrific program like Kamehameha feels incredible.”
According to Konawaena athletic director Bill Trumbo, the Wildcats are slated to host a HHSAA state tournament game on either Nov. 6 or 7, but the official seeding have yet to be relased.
“We are excited,” Cameron Howes said. “We got this win and now we are ready to take it to the next level.”
Sophomore quarterback Austin Ewing was a difference maker. Ewing missed the regular season matchup against Kamehameha with an injury, but made his presence known on Saturday. He finished 21-of-43 for 291 yards, three touchdowns and two second half interceptions.
Six different receivers caught passes, with Howes leading the way with 114 yards and two touchdowns on a season-high seven catches.
Algene Kelekolio (54 yards, two touchdowns) headlined a group of seven different Wildcat ball carriers, but there was not much room to move on the ground for either team most of the night.
“We saw some things on film that we thought we could take advantage of,” Uemoto said. “They clogged up the running lanes and we took what they gave us. We let our athletes make plays in space.”
On the defensive side of the ball, it was another sophomore making some noise. Michael Banagan-Brock — who was brought up from the JV and has had limited playing time this season — made a team-high 10 tackles and forced a safety on a sack of Kamehameha quarterback DallasJ Duarte in the end zone.
The Konawaena unit as a whole held BIIF Division II rushing leader Kaeo Batacan to just 66 yards. Last time around, the senior back chipped away for 100 yards on 40 carries.
So what made such a big difference this time around? Ewing’s return and big game obviously helped, and so did a complete defensive performance. But a raucous home crowd on a dry south Kona night surely helped tip the scales a bit.
“This mauka vibe,” Howes said. “Playing up here — there is nothing like it.”
