Posted on: Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Kansas State has kama'aina
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
A crowd of 79,451 and a national television audience of millions saw Kansas State rout then-No. 1 Oklahoma in the Big 12 football championship, 35-7, Saturday.
And two Hawai'i homegrown athletes thought about what the outcome meant back home.
"Not too many local boys back home can say they won the Big 12 championship," Jesse Keaulana-Kamakea said.
"It makes me and Peni (Holakeituai) feel that we are someone special from the Islands and we can go home and share that we beat the No. 1 team in the nation. We shocked the world and everyone got to see it on TV."
Keaulana-Kamakea, a 1999 graduate of Kailua from Waimanalo, and Holakeituai, a 1996 graduate of Waipahu High School, are senior offensive linemen for the Wildcats.
Both are listed second on the depth chart, and while neither played in the game it didn't take away from the experience.
"It was amazing," said the 6-foot-6, 310-pound Holakeituai. "It felt good to be there and be a part of a big game. It felt good to upset a lot of people.
"It feels good to come so far and be a part of something like this."
The roommates will graduate in May in criminal justice. But before then, they think about the implications the win had on the national scene.
"I think us upsetting the No. 1 team in the nation kind of (messed) up the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) for everyone in the top five," said the 6-3, 270-pound Keaulana-Kamakea.
It was the first Big 12 championship for Kansas State (11-3) and its first conference title since winning the Big Six in 1934, and much of the credit can be given to pre-game preparation.
"We saw that a lot of teams made crucial mistakes against them," Holakeituai said about scouting Oklahoma. "(We worked on) not giving them any opportunities to take advantages of our mistakes."
Kansas State moved up five spots in the AP poll and will take a No. 8 ranking into its first appearance in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 in Tempe, Ariz.
"It is going to take good preparation, good film study," Keaulana-Kamaka said. "I think it is going to be a great game. We get to play against the defending national champs and prove that Kansas State is all business."
Notes: Peni Holakeituai made his way to Kansas State via Ricks (Idaho) College, where he was rated a five-star prospect by Rivals.com. ... Before arriving at Kansas State, Jesse Keaulana-Kamakea went to San Francisco City College, where he was a first-team All-Golden Gate Conference selection. San Francisco City College was 24-0 in his two seasons there and he was ranked 69th among non-high school prospects by Rivals.com.
"But it put us in a great position to be in the Fiesta Bowl and play against Ohio State, last year's national champion."
Let us know
Homegrown Home & Away chronicles feats of college athletes here and away.
If you know of former Hawai'i high school athletes deserving of recognition, give us their names, high schools and graduation years, colleges and sports. E-mail us at homegrown@honoluluadvertiser.com or contact Leila Wai at 535-2457
Homegrown appears every Wednesday in The Honolulu Advertiser.
