Damien looking, feeling like a whole new team

It is called “The Purple Line,” and at Damien Memorial School, it is a place of deep introspection, where seniors shared their thoughts and hopes with underclassmen in a heartfelt ceremony before the start of the football season.

This year, one fervent hope was that the Monarchs would win a game.

Any game.

After back-to-back winless seasons — and 25 consecutive games without a victory dating to 2009 — the wish was that the 13 seniors would not depart with an

0-for-their-careers varsity record.

Now, coming out of the nonleague portion of their schedule, the resurgent Monarchs have made it reality and, at 3-0, are assured of their most victories since 2008.

Even before they step into their new uniforms Sept. 8 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener against Punahou, the Monarchs have begun to look — and feel — like a new team. One that has been playing with newly acquired confidence and dedication to purpose. No longer is there a resignation about losing.

“The No. 1 thing we’re seeing is a change in mentality,” second-year head coach Eddie Klaneski said. “There is a winner’s attitude. There is the mind-set that we’re going in to win the game rather than thinking of trying not to lose the games.”

Klaneski said the coaches noticed it early on in summer camp, when the Monarchs began holding their own in scrimmages against McKinley, Anuenue and Waipahu.

“The boys could see they were becoming more competitive,” Klaneski said. “We felt like we could move the ball on people and make stops.”

Then, in the season opener against Kalaheo, they went about proving it. The defense forced a string of three-and-outs, while the offense scored the first time it had the ball in an eventual 31-0 victory over the Mustangs. Then, they knocked off Kaimuki 31-21 and Vacaville (Calif.) Christian 78-0.

Overall, the Monarchs have outscored their opponents 140-21, in the process already putting up more points than all of last season.

The Monarchs are the first to admit it won’t be like this in the rugged ILH. But, for the first time in a while, there is a belief that the small Catholic school will be able to compete.

Not too long ago the Monarchs were regularly on the receiving end of 31-0 and

78-0-like scores. So much so that in 2001, then-Damien executive officer Greg O’Donnell threatened to forfeit to 15-time ILH champion Saint Louis if the league didn’t come up with a safer, more equitable system. Damien’s principled stand led to the ILH and HHSAA adopting a two-division format for football.

Each day before practice, the Monarchs pause at “The Purple Line,” a painted, narrow swath of asphalt on the way to their practice field. It is a nearly 30-year tradition begun by current athletic director Wally Aina when he first coached there in the 1980s. It is a place for prayer, thought and focus.

These days, “the nicest thing is that when they come to practice, now, they have a purpose,” Klaneski said. “These kids have bought into what it takes to win and have broken that cycle of losing.”

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.