The narrative doesn’t change much from year to year at Pahoa High School when August rolls around and football tryouts begin for the new season.
Until now.
St. Louis High School on the practice field scrimmaging with the Daggers?
“Things are changing,” first year coach Leonard Fuerte said last Saturday, looking out at the controlled practice, “and the community got the message. I can’t tell you how many people came up to me this week and said, ‘What’s this about St. Louis coming here?’ I tell them it’s all true. Come out for yourself and see.”
And they did.
The sidelines and the shady spots under trees were filled Saturday with fans from Pahoa and Hilo — also invited — along with a clutch of St. Louis folks who jumped on the charter flight for the over-and-back taking in the first look at football for the 2022 season.
The season is new for everybody this time of year, but at Pahoa, it’s newer than new, with Fuerte, starting his first season as a head coach with a virtually all new coaching staff.
Fuerte is determined to readjust the perception of Pahoa football, generally consigned to the lowest tier in these season look-aheads.
“I’m seeing good things out here,” he said, “we have definitely progressed from what I saw in the spring. We have six new coaches, including me, and the kids have totally bought in, the attitudes are great.”
Most of the coaches live in the Pahoa area and their inclusion has helped lift the outlook.
“I’m not saying anything bad about the previous regime, it’s nothing like that,” Fuerte said, “but things probably get adjusted in a new way when new coaches come in, and we have over 40 kids coming out to play, so that’s more than Pahoa usually has.
“We’ve been at it since May and we’ve all seen a lot of progress, the desire is there from these kids, we have a 100 percent buy-in; we’re all on the same page, working together.”
Donivan Lynch is the returning junior quarterback and receiver who has some familiarity with the system and the coaching staff.
“He knows what’s expected and he knows he’s going to have to make reads and get the ball to the open man, or take it and run, but ultimately, he knows his jobs is to make the right decisions out there.” At quarterback, and throughout the team on both sides of the ball, players have understood the biggest job at Pahoa may be changing the culture, something that involves a little more than just knowing your assignment on a play.
“The past is behind us,” Fuerte said, “It is whatever it is, but we are a group that is looking forward, not behind. We feel we will be ready to compete.”
Lining up on its home turf against the well-known private school from Oahu, where National Football League stars Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa were highly recruited standouts who played at Oregon and Alabama, respectively, is indicative of the change.
The defensive coordinator last year, Fuerte understands the transformation from a generally overlooked program to a contender may not happen overnight.
You’ve heard it before — it’s a process.
“We’ve been preaching, ‘trust the system’” he said, “and I think we see that being accepted. We are all in this together, and if we go down, we all go down with the ship, or when we all work together, we celebrate together.”
He will be counting on leadership from senior linebacker and running back Jay “J-boy” Kaawaloa-Alidon and Lynch to direct the buy-in on both sides of the ball.
“They are a big part of it,” Fuerte said, “because they can bring us all together. We are committed to changing the culture, and that really demands trusting the system.
“When they go off and revert to something they did in the past that we got away from, that’s when we have to talk about the process and what we’re doing, but we really haven’t seen that since the spring. When those guys see it and buy in, it filters out to the rest of the team.”
The offense, like most offenses these days, at least in this state, will spread the defense and let the individual talents show the way.
“We are all excited and really encouraged by what we’ve seen,” he said. “The desire is there and we feel we have a 100 percent buy-in from these guys. They understand if they follow what the coaches are saying, if they trust and believe, we can make this happen.
Pahoa gets its first test Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kohala.