If this is the end for the Lees, what a way to finish

Is there anything left to achieve for Cal and Ron Lee?

Of course there is. When you’re a high school coach there’s always a new batch of youngsters to teach and to build into a team.

But …

“Everybody has to go sometime,” said Cal Lee, who hasn’t decided yet if the third year of his third stint as Saint Louis School football coach — capped with a state championship Saturday — was his last.

“I really don’t know, honestly,” the winningest high school football coach in state history said Tuesday. “I enjoy it, but like anything else, there’s your health and the wear and tear.

“I know I look 50, but I’m not 50,” quipped Lee, who recently turned 70.

Then there’s Ron, the run-and-shoot offense guru who has been by his brother’s side most of the past 40-plus years at Kaiser (where Ron was the head coach), Saint Louis, Kalani and the University of Hawaii.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” said Ron Lee, when asked if he will retire now at age 72. “It’s been a long, long season. It kind of depends on Cal.

“It’s a lot of work. We put in a lot of time. And it was nice to finish how we did. If there’s a good time to go out this might be it. We’ll see. I still enjoy getting up thinking about practice. But it’s six months.”

Going out on top, on your own terms, is always attractive. And that’s what it would be, after the 30-14 upset win over Kahuku, avenging the 39-14 loss in the 2015 finale. Also, this was the first championship of a new era — the Open Division of the three-level state tournament format.

They both have plenty left to offer football in Hawaii. But both also have family considerations that include caring for their mother, Hazel, who is 95.

“And I have a grandson,” Ron said.

IF THIS IS it for the Lee brothers, it won’t be because coaching has become routine or mundane for them. And they can still even surprise each other — and themselves — at times.

“I really don’t know why I did it,” said Cal Lee, initially, when asked about the uncharacteristic call to go for a first down on fourth-and-one with the ball on the Crusaders 29-yard line instead of punting. There was 6 minutes, 16 seconds left, and Saint Louis led 16-14.

The Lees have been in many fourth-and-1 situations before; Ron, the offense guy, always wanted to go for it, but his younger brother, the defensive mastermind and head coach, would overrule him.

That’s how it went every time … until Saturday and a role reversal.

“I wanted to punt,” Ron said. “Cal was the one who wanted to go for it. I don’t know why, but he made that decision, which is a tough one. The game could turn around if we don’t make it. This one time I’m telling him to punt, he said, ‘No, quarterback sneak, put it in Tua’s hands.’”

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa added a wrinkle on his own, starting out in shotgun and then walking up to behind center. It was brilliant in the sense that it could either cause a defender to jump offside, or at least force them to show their hand. The latter happened as Kahuku bunched toward the middle, giving Tagovailoa the outside.

The result was a 28-yard run that turned out to be arguably the biggest play of the game. A couple of downs later, Tagovailoa scored on a 30-yard run. Kahuku never recovered.

Cal Lee said he didn’t know why he made the once-in-a-lifetime decision. But if you know him, you know he’s a coach who puts his players in position to succeed. If one of the two or three greatest offensive players in state history can’t make a yard? Oh, well …

“That’s the kind of call he has to make (as head coach),” Ron Lee said.

Whenever they retire, the Lee brothers will be remembered mostly for dominating high school football in Hawaii for so long (13 Prep Bowls in a row in the 1980s and ’90s).

But they started out as underdogs. That’s why they installed the run-and-shoot at a new public school, Kaiser, in the 1970s, and took it to Saint Louis to get an edge in the hyper-competitive private school league. That was before the consistent winning drew so much talent the rules had to be changed.

If that was their last game Saturday it’s fitting they’ve gone full circle and won when few thought they had a chance.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.