Hurricanes put Kapolei on map
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
Finally. A communal heartbeat was felt in Kapolei Friday night: The hometown football team did good.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
At last there's something to talk about besides bricks and mortar, too much commercial enterprise and too few roads to accommodate it. There's something genuine to brag about besides being the fastest-growing community in the state — home of the largest public library without many books.
Hurricanes fans cheer as the Kapolei High football team scores a touchdown against the Radford Rams.
Kapolei now has the makings of a tradition, a legacy from which to build.
There were indications of an actual communal pulse last year in Kapolei — a place where the term "hometown" has never been an easy fit — when Rob Lawson, serving drinks at the newly opened Kapolei Chili's Bar & Grill, predicted, "Next year, when the team has seniors, it'll be awesome!"
But who could have predicted "awesome" would be an understatement?
On Friday night, the Kapolei Hurricanes, sporting a full varsity squad for the first time in the school's four-year history, won the O'ahu Interscholastic Association White Division championship with a 38-21 victory over the Radford Rams.
The win capped off a season in which the Hurricanes went undefeated. In the annals of high-school football history, it's hard to imagine many other teams that have taken home a conference championship before the school even had alumni.
The after-game celebration was typically low-key. The team was bused back to Kapolei High, where members stashed their gear in two Matson containers in a back parking lot. The team doesn't have a locker room. Normally, players listen to a pep talk under the stars, change their clothes and take off.
"It's easier just to go home stinkin' and take a bath," said Hurricanes coach Darren Hernandez, who trains his players on the school baseball diamond.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
"There's so many things we don't have. We're the only team I know of in the state that doesn't have a designated field. This year we played no home games anywhere. Every game for us is a road game. We always play in hostile territory."
Hurricane Darin Awong, 15, left, Jensen Pruse and Bryan Padayao, both 17, kick back after Friday's game. Kapolei, with its first-ever full varsity squad, is champion of the OIA White Division.
Still, Friday night was special. Several parents prepared hot meals for the players to eat next to the Matson containers. Friends, teammates and family members held a festive tailgate party behind the school until midnight. All the players were aware they had just made history, even if the magnitude of it had yet to register fully.
"Next year, we'll do even better," said junior Darin Awong, 15, who at 6-feet-3 and 350 pounds is the biggest kid on the squad.
And how would that be possible?
"Um ... I don't know. Score more points?"
Andrew Miram, 17, a left tackle, will be in the school's first graduating class next year.
"My son's class, at next year's homecoming game, will be the only alumni," said his mom, T.J. Cuaresma, one of about 2,500 Kapolei High fans crowding the Radford bleachers Friday evening.
"We don't even know where our graduation ceremonies are going to be."
Like the school, the town of Kapolei is still trying to figure out its traditional game plan, Cuaresma said.
Barely a decade old, it is even younger than the varsity team players. It grew out of the 'Ewa Plain beginning in the early 1990s and has no community center, old steepled churches or cemetery. Today, with a population of around 30,000, it is long on businesses, people, traffic and houses, and short on just about everything else.
In the process of rapid growth, it has at times seemed more like a disjointed conglomeration than a community. Many who shop and work in Kapolei live elsewhere. Coach Hernandez, for instance, lives in Pearl City.
To this day, some residents in the 96707 ZIP code — which includes Makakilo, Kalaeloa, Honokai Hale, the Villages of Kapolei North and South, Honokai Hale, Nanakai Gardens and Ko Olina Resort — act as if they aren't sure where to say they're from.
Yesterday, some in Kapolei were unaware of the previous evening's accomplishment.
"There was one lady in earlier this morning whose son plays for Kapolei, and she was excited about the game," said Stephanie Farmer, who lives in Waipahu but works at the Kapolei Safeway. "But I did not know they won the conference."
Kaylene Auld of Makakilo also didn't know. She said her son, Jonathan, 14, was at the game, but got home after she'd gone to bed.
"He told me last week they had beaten the undefeated 'Aiea," she said. "But I haven't talked to him today. So I didn't know."
Hernandez believes, however, that the Hurricanes have only begun to transform and unite the community. Just to be sure, he's turning up the pressure.
"We're not done yet," he said moments before being among the last to leave the tailgate party.
"I told the team at the beginning of the year we've got four goals. One, make the playoffs. Two, win the White conference. We've done both of those. The next goal is to get a state tournament berth.
"And the last is to win the darn thing."
