New hope at Pearl City

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

New Pearl City High School coach Onosai Tanuvasa instructs his players during a Chargers practice. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Pearl City, toiling on the other end of the football spectrum, has not had a winning season since 1986. The Chargers' best record in the past 15 seasons was a 5-5-1 mark in 1995. Under three different coaches, their record in that span was 40-95-3, a winning percentage of .290.

"Football wasn't looked upon seriously here," said Tanuvasa, a first-year head coach. "They have a band that is nationally recognized, and we still are very proud of the band. But when you lose, it affects the way the kids view certain sports. And when things start to go bad, it snowballs and gets worse every year. All of a sudden, the attention of the school turns away from the sport."

As it now stands, however, Pearl City (3-1 overall) actually owns a better record than St. Louis (2-1). More importantly, the Chargers are 3-0 and alone in first place atop the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's White Conference standings.

Pearl City enters its homecoming game against Waialua on Friday with a chance to go 4-0 for the first time since the 8-2 season of 1986.

"We're believing in ourselves," said Preston Faletagaloa, a senior defensive tackle. "Before this year, people always looked at it as 'just another losing season.' But now that we're winning, things are starting to change. People come up to us after every win and they congratulate us. Whew ... it's been a long time."

The players and coaches say the biggest change has come in the team's attitude. With an enrollment of about 2,000, Pearl City is one of the state's largest schools, and players say the football talent was always there. But because of the team's losing reputation and a lack of commitment to winning, potential was not always realized.

One example is senior defensive back Kaleo Camboga-Meyer, who played as a sophomore but sat out last season after losing interest.

"Every time we were supposed to practice, I would just go to the beach," Camboga-Meyer said. "So I just quit."

Camboga-Meyer then decided to give football another try, "because it's my senior year," and does not regret it. He made a crucial play in the Chargers' 14-13 victory over Kapolei two weeks ago when he broke up a two-point conversion pass in the end zone that would have given the Hurricanes a 15-14 lead with 1:16 remaining.

"Everybody is more serious this year, we're more motivated," Camboga-Meyer said. "And a lot of people are starting to notice. People who never used to come to our games before, they're coming now."

Tanuvasa, a former Farrington standout who later played for the University of Oregon and Hawai'i, is known to oldtimers as the first Interscholastic League of Honolulu player to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. He accomplished the feat in 1969, rushing for 1,076 yards.

But Tanuvasa later became known on football's grass roots level, having coached the Moanalua Lions Pop Warner program for 18 years. He moved over to coach Pac-Five's intermediate team in 2000 and 2001, and he brought his staff over to Pearl City with him.

That staff includes son Shane and nephews Parson and Mike Iosua, both former players at UH.

Together, Tanuvasa and the other coaches have stressed fundamentals and sent the message that the Chargers do not have to be satisfied with losing.

"The first 12 or 13 years I coached Pop Warner, I really didn't care about wins," Tanuvasa said. "It was all about letting everybody play. I still think that's important, but then our (turnout) was getting smaller and smaller, and then reality hit me: I realized that at some point, you gotta win some games if you want people to get behind you."

That has proven true at Pearl City, where commitment and discipline had been constant problems. Tanuvasa said that early on, as many as 15 players would miss practice every day. Now, that number is down to one or two, usually with good reasons.

"I can see the kids' attitude change," Tanuvasa said.

So can the kids.

"We always had good football players here, but we didn't work together well," said Eddie Iinuma, a senior offensive lineman. "Guys would hog the ball, or not listen to the coach or argue with the coach. That was a turn off. But now we have teamwork, we all play together and like each other. We have a new attitude toward football, we all try harder."

Like Camboga-Meyer said, people are starting to take notice.

"Before, the only ones to come to our games were the parents and close friends," Iinuma said. "Now there's a lot of other students coming, too."

And not just to see the band.