When Mike Moss shares the story of his mound-meeting exchange with Glenn Goya late in the 1972 Hawaii high school state championship game between Punahou and Saint Louis, it’s up to each of us to decide how many grains of salt to take with it.

Moss: “Glenn, how you feeling?”

Goya: “Mike, I’m feeling good. I’m not even tired.”

Moss: “That’s a good thing, because your outfielders are exhausted. They’re chasing balls all over the place!”

Did Moss really say that to a pitcher closing in on a perfect game? He explained:

“I just had to say something to lighten the mood, then we had a short conversation about how to approach the next hitter, and we were off and running again,” the Buffanblu catcher and co-captain said.

And they finished the job — not just a 5-0 victory for the state crown, but a nine-inning perfect game. It never happened before and probably never will again since high school games are now seven innings.

Perfect games are associated with the pitchers who throw them, but everyone connected to this one — especially Goya — speaks of it as a collaboration.

“I was surrounded by a team who made miraculous defense plays and a smart, brilliant catcher who called a perfect game and placed his mitt in the right spots for all 27 batters,” Goya said.

The Buffanblu — players, coaches, staff, family — gathered Friday evening at Honolulu Stadium State Park. They reminisced at the very spot where 50 years ago to the day they accomplished one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of Hawaii high school sports.

Moss’ comment about the outfielders was funny and apt because there was some truth to it.

Goya was masterful and kept the Crusaders off-balance all night. But he got plenty of help, starting with Saint Louis’ first batter.

Eric Texidor lifted a deep fly to left. Jay Higgins knew his only chance was to take his eye off the ball and sprint to the fence. “I got to the warning track, consciously turned around, and looked up into the stadium lights and miraculously saw the ball floating down towards me,” he said.

Goya recalls thinking it was going to be a long night after that long out.

“The wind was going out. Just like it is tonight,” he said Friday.

In the third, center fielder Earl Nakaya tracked down a deep shot to the 375-feet sign in right-center and made an over-the-shoulder catch. No one was thinking perfect game yet. But they were in the eighth when the Crusaders’ cleanup hitter, Danny Phillips, belted a sinking liner to right.

“Mosi (Tatupu) got a good jump on the ball,” Goya said. “He went a little to his left, and snagged it right above the ground.”

The late Tatupu, known more for his football exploits, batted .700 in the state tournament.

The infielders came up with gems, too.

The next batter popped out on a 3-1 pitch that Goya said was 2 inches off the plate. No swing, no perfect game.

For the final out, Goya threw a high fastball for his eighth strikeout. In the ensuing dogpile near the mound, coach Doug Bennett was accidentally cleated on his right ear by Nakaya.

“It’s still flat on the top of that ear, and it’s the tattoo I carry around with me everywhere I go,” Bennett said.

Not much was expected from the 1972 Punahou baseball team. It had lost more than half the team to graduation, the pitchers were all sophomores and juniors, and Bennett was a 29-year-old first-time varsity baseball head coach.

The Buffanblu lived up, or rather down, to the billing before the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season.

“Then, for two months, we played baseball like a bunch of Forrest Gumps,” third baseman Kerry Komatsubara said. “Everything went right. How did it happen? We still don’t know.”

Punahou went undefeated in the ILH, 14-0-1, with a tie with Saint Louis due to darkness.

“Our coaching staff was our pixie dust,” Komatsubara said. It also included Jim Doole, the former head coach who came out of retirement to mentor the pitchers, and Yukio Hamada.

Several players said Bennett was ahead of his time as a player’s coach who let them learn by making mistakes … and supporting each other. The team bought into his motto: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

That’s why a 209-page hardcover book exploring this team from every possible angle is entitled “Going Together.” It’s designed and edited by Chris Yamada, a 1995 Punahou graduate who lettered in baseball and football. Many of the recollections here were first gathered by him.

Bennett, who went on to also coach football and serve as Punahou’s athletic director, wanted a keepsake for the team and its supporters to go with their reunion.

“Tonight isn’t about how great we were,” Moss said Friday. “It’s about how grateful we are.”