HONOKAA — At halftime, the 12-7 score of Kamehameha-Hawaii’s game against Honokaa was much closer than anyone expected, outside of the Dragons’ huddle at least.
But calm and collected, the Warriors retreated into the break. There wasn’t any yelling, emphatic drawing up of plays on a whiteboard or rah-rah speeches.
In fact, it was quite the opposite, as the players talked among themselves to correct their mistakes.
It worked, as Kamehameha found the end zone three times in the second half and kicked a field goal to come away with a comfortable 35-14 victory over the Dragons.
“What I really liked about the team was that they took ownership of certain things they felt they needed to improve,” Kamehameha head coach Dan Lyons said. “If they start taking personal ownership over what we do, it can be a very powerful thing. And not just on the football field, but in life. It’s an important skill to be able to take responsibility and accountability for your actions.”
As Lyons has mentioned multiple times this season, miscues have been the bane of the Warriors. It came into even more focus after a pair of losses against BIIF powerhouses Hilo and Konawaena. In both contests, Kamehameha had a chance to win late, but the team made just one too many mistakes.
“We took away some confidence from those games. We know we can play with them, but we have to do a better job a minimizing our mistakes,” Lyons said. “It’s football 101, but if we do that, we have a chance in every game.”
There were some mistakes against the Dragons, including penalties near the goal line, a pair of fumbles on tosses and allowing Honokaa to capitalize with a few big plays of their own.
However, even with backup players getting reps in the second half, Kamehameha got stronger as the game went along — most notably along the offensive line — which the Warriors skipper credited to the leadership core on his squad.
“I love seeing these guys grow up,” Lyons said. “We want them to want to pursue excellence. It’s not forced upon them. I saw that tonight with some great leadership on the sideline.”
Teams never want to lose a game, but the reason for the looser than normal attitude was partly because nothing was on the line Friday night for the Warriors. A loss last weekend to the Wildcats locked up the location of the BIIF championship with Kamehameha set to travel to Julian Yates Field on Oct. 20.
Despite that, there were plenty of reasons for the Warriors to cheer against the Dragons.
On top of the normal rotation of borderline ridiculous depth at the skill positions, players deeper on the depth chart got in the game. Eight players received a carry and eight caught at least one ball. More importantly, the team-spirit never dampened for the Warriors, evident by the jubilant celebrations whenever someone made a play.
“The outcome did not matter. We were really just working on some stuff to get better,” Lyons said. “But it’s refreshing too see how positive the guys were. Instead of worrying about their own stats, they are over there cheering on all the other guys.”
The Warriors, who were one of only two teams in the BIIF to play a trio of preseason contests, get a well-deserved break before the BIIF championship. But as Lyons points out, it’s anything but a “week off.”
“There are no weeks off,” Lyons said with a laugh. “Maybe one without a game, but we have a ton of work to do before we face Konawaena.”