KAILUA-KONA — Somewhere in Dallas, thousands of miles for Konawaena’s Julian Yates field, a crowd pumped their fist and chanted, “Zoo Crew, Zoo Crew, Zoo Crew.”
The gesture was a show of support for the HHSAA state tournament bound Konawaena football team from the band Pepper — which is comprised of Wildcat alumni Bret Bollinger, Kaleo Wassman and Yesod Williams.
“This is huge for us,” the boys from Kona urged the crowd. “We went to the wonderful Konawaena High School. This is about our pride right now.”
The concert-goers obliged, and the boisterous message eventually made its back to the Wildcats’ locker room as part of a hype video put together last week by Thane Milhoan of Sportzviz.
“We happened to be hitting the Texas leg of the tour and we all know how big they are on high school football, so it was this super synergistic energy flowing,” Williams said. “We’ve got some more surprises coming for the boys.”
The Wildcats earned their first state tourney victory last week against Damien, and play Radford on Saturday in the HHSAA Division II state semifinals on Oahu.
Pepper has toured extensively with groups like 311, Slightly Stoopid, Flogging Molly and Sublime With Rome, and spent several summers on Warped Tour.
“It’s cool for them to be giving back like that,” said Konawaena head coach Brad Uemoto, who was classmates with Bollinger and Williams. “Some of these kids didn’t know a whole lot about them, but now their music is around and I think they have at least 50 new fans. We are helping each other out in that way.”
Currently on their nationwide Three Amigos Tour, the band tries to keep tabs on what is going on back in Kealakekua, but a packed schedule can sometimes hinder that.
“Being on the road around the world, it gets hard at times. But as much as we can, we’re right there with our alma mater,” Williams said. “Always flying the flag.”
Kona is never far from the band’s heart. Williams reps his Wildcat and Kona pride at nearly every show by wearing an old school Konawaena basketball jersey while on the drums.
“Words can’t explain how proud we are,” Williams said. “We are so grateful to be from Kona and to have graduated as Wildcats. To see things coming full circle like this are the things dreams are made of. Hail Konawaena.”