Defending girls basketball state champion Konawaena is off and running again, recording its sixth nonconference win in a row with a 57-26 win over Kaimuki on Saturday in the Wildcats’ invitational tournament.
Konawaena posted wins over Mid-Pacific and Lahainaluna in earlier tourney games after trailing both teams at the half. Dawnyelle Awa led the Wildcats with 21 points against Kaimuki, which struggled with illness (stomach flu) to two starters.
Ewaliko turned Punahou down
Moments after a 35-0 loss to Punahou in the Division I semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships, Baldwin quarterback Keelan Ewaliko summed it up.
"They did a lot of stuff that on tape that we weren’t ready for. We did so much film on these guys. We saw they did a weird defense. They put spies on me, guys just to stick on me and nobody else," he said.
Just one week after sparking the Bears to a win over Farrington, Ewaliko never lost hope despite the lopsided margin.
"When it was 21-0, I thought, ‘Brah, we can come back. It’s not the first time we’re down, we’ve come back before.’ But they scored, it was 28-0. I knew we weren’t going down quitting. I’m going to fight to the end. They’re really good. They stopped me," the junior said.
It was a unique opportunity to face a program that wanted the 5-foot-11, 175-pound scrambler. At the time, Punahou had a big question mark at quarterback.
"I was supposed to go to Punahou this year, but I felt like my team needed me. I felt like I was going to abandon my team and I thought they were going to hate me for this, so I decided not to go."
Five-peat ambitions
‘Iolani is one win away from a fifth straight Division II state football championship.
When they meet Waipahu on Friday, former Raiders teammates Wendell Look and Eric Keola will be the opposing coaches.
"He’s a little bit younger than me, one or two years younger. He’s been out at Waipahu on the JV," Look said of Keola, who is in his first season as varsity head coach. "He’s done a good job out there."
