The Konawaena Wildcats sing their alma mater after defeating Hilo in late October for back-to-back BIIF Division I titles. CJ Caraang | SL

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Konawaena senior defensive lineman Chray Flanary prepares to rush the passer in the championship game against Waipahu. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Konawaena sophomore Nakoa Ige lines up to kick a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of the Division I state title game. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Trez Uemoto, Isaac Clement and AJ Blanco celebrate after making a play in the BIIF Division I title game against Hilo. CJ Caraang | SL

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Running back Kawelu Kaiawe is tackled by a pair of Lunas in the 2021 Division I state semifinals. Brian Bautista | SL

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Jacob Ah Mook Sang waltzes into the end zone after hauling a 55-yard TD pass in the Wildcats' 51-0 win over Hilo in the BIIF Division I championship game. CJ Caraang | SL

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Konawaena QB Keoki Alani fires off a pass in the state championship game against Waipahu. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio hauls in a 21-yard TD pass to give Konawaena a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter against Waipahu. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Konawaena senior Landon Daquel-Shimabukuro finds some running room after the catch. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Torrance "Ro'o" Satta-Ellis holds up Maui Ellis-Noa's No. 5 jersey on the day of the BIIF Division I championship game. CJ Caraang | SL

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The Wildcats hold up five fingers in memory of Maui Ellis-Noa after winning their first-ever state title. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Year 101.

State championship No. 1.

The Konawaena football team etched its names into the history books with a stellar season in 2022, which culminated in the school's first state title with a 38-28 win over Waipahu in late November.

The Wildcats cruised through Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division I play — outscoring league opponents, 557 to 20 — before gutting out hard-fought matches in the state tournament against Aiea and the Marauders.

It was a total team effort that saw contributions from many areas, with special teams providing to be the difference in Konawaena's postseason run.

The most glaring example of this came in the championship game when the Marauders lined up to attempt a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter to potentially cut into the Wildcats' lead to make it 14-10. The end result was a blocked kick that senior Chray Flanary took the distance 81 yards to give Konawaena a 21-7 advantage.

Konawaena senior defensive lineman Chray Flanary prepares to rush the passer in the championship game against Waipahu.

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_63925ae0a975f.jpg - Michael Lasquero | SL

Konawaena coach Brad Uemoto said it was a huge turning point that worked to perfection.

“Coach Kalae (Lee) drew up this field goal block I think in the BIIF championship week. We didn’t really use it, but we knew that it’ll probably come up big one day,” Uemoto recalled.

“Chray picked it up and probably ran the farthest he’s ever run in his life and it was a huge momentum changer for us.”

The Wildcats also took advantage of another Waipahu special teams miscue in the third quarter when the Marauders’ were whistled for roughing the punter. Konawaena capitalize on the new set of downs and drove the length of the field for a 1-yard touchdown run by Kawelu Kaiawe to go up 35-21.

Waipahu battled back to get within one score late in the third quarter to keep the game in reach for most of the second half until Nakoa Ige kicked a 36-yard field goal — after a delay of game penalty — with 1:52 remaining for the final points of the night.

Uemoto said that the delay of game penalty was on him because he was trying to ask Ige on the sideline if he can make the kick.

But Ige was already on the field ready to go.

Konawaena sophomore Nakoa Ige lines up to kick a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of the Division I state title game.

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_63925b2c0dfaf.jpg - Michael Lasquero | SL

Like he did in the semifinals in a 27-24 win over Aiea when he booted two field goals — which included the game-winner with no time left in regulation — Ige was solid in closing time to put the championship game out of reach for the Marauders.

Not bad for a special teams unit that never attempted a single field goal until the postseason.

“We never put a ton of time into special teams, it was a lot of dry reps where coach Paul Chinen, our JV coach would bring the long snapper and kickers out and just work technique, work on the snap, work on the hold, work on the timing and just got them good reps down the stretch,” said Uemoto.

With long snapper Tayton “Kalama” Tamashiro and holder Armenio “AJ” Blanco, who are both sophomores alongside Ige, the Konawaena special teams unit was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals and 8-for-8 on PATs in the state tournament.

“The execution was really impressive considering the magnitude of some of those kicks,” Uemoto said.

Trez Uemoto, Isaac Clement and AJ Blanco celebrate after making a play in the BIIF Division I title game against Hilo.

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_63925b71a3d85.jpg - CJ Caraang | SL

Coming into the 2022 football season, Uemoto and his staff knew that it was going to be a special year.

With a loaded senior class — which included Uemoto’s son Trez, a middle linebacker and punter — the Wildcats were ready to parlay experience into results.

“When these kids rolled in, these 22 seniors, we knew that they were special,” Uemoto said. “We always looked forward to this group and I think there was thirty-something of them as freshmen on the JV squad. Covid kind of killed it, but they all came back and they had some big minutes as juniors.”

In their first season as a Division I program, the Wildcats reached the BIIF championship game before falling to eventual state champion Hilo in 2019. In 2021, Konawaena claimed the league title and got valuable state tournament experience in a turnover-prone loss to Lahainaluna.

It didn’t take Uemoto and his staff long to start planning for the 2022 season after their loss to the Lunas.

Running back Kawelu Kaiawe is tackled by a pair of Lunas in the 2021 Division I state semifinals.

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_63925c0339e23.jpg - Brian Bautista | SL

“After the loss to Lahaina, we sat at the hotel lobby and mapped out an offseason and what it would take to be a competitor for a state title and we started workouts in late January, started field work earlier than usual and got involved in 7-on-7 tournaments worked throughout the summer.”

Konawaena also got a few transfers coming home from Timpview (Provo, Utah), which included senior Hezekiah Anahu-Ambrosio, a two-way stud that started as a freshman in 2019. Anahu-Ambrosio’s younger brother Zedekiah also came over alongside Jacob Ah Mook Sang, a hybrid linebacker/safety who has family in the 50th state.

“I think with everything, it gave us that feeling that things were coming together and the window was there and we talked about it,” said Uemoto.

The Konawaena coach also said he did not see pleasure in outscoring his BIIF opponents by a large margin, but that the team’s ceiling and potential had to be realized in order to be successful in the postseason.

“Not going to lie, I studied and dug up scores of Hilo in 2019 and how they went about their season and we decided we were going to give every team in our league our best and we were going to play as hard as possible to try and win a league title and prepare ourselves for the state tournament.”

Jacob Ah Mook Sang waltzes into the end zone after hauling a 55-yard TD pass in the Wildcats' 51-0 win over Hilo in the BIIF Division I championship game.

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_63925c71dcec5.jpg - CJ Caraang | SL

The Wildcats’ preparation included a more rigorous training regiment. Uemoto noted that different position groups started working out on their own and added that the Anahu-Ambrosio brothers' father helped run an offseason and in-season training program based on workouts from WayALife Athletics.

“You could see their bodies changing, you could see a change in our offseason approach and we linked up with one of the Anahu-Ambrosio’s trainers in San Diego,” Uemoto said.

“The conditioning was high-intensity. Normally on the Thursdays before games, we would ramp down on conditioning or lifting, but it seemed like it was more intense towards game time. I don’t think we caught one cramp this year, which is very rare for Konawaena.”

This only heightened the Wildcats’ offensive approach in being an up-tempo team, which helped mitigate a lack of size on the offensive line. Junior quarterback Keoki Alani was at the forefront of the offense, finishing with 3,408 passing yards with 50 TDs on a 71.4 percent completion rate.

“Offensively I’ve always been a tempo guy,” said Uemoto. “This season we started off a little slower, we didn’t have a lot of reasons for tempo, but we built and progress into a faster pace into the state tournament. At practice we’ll do tempo on air and get snaps off in seven seconds. We started doing that about a month ago. We just know offensively, because we’re smaller, we know that with our style of football that tempo will give us an advantage to some extent, and it’s mostly with our offensive lineman. If we can tire out a defensive front and not allow them to substitute.

“I think the most important part with tempo is defenses really have to scheme to get play calls in. What comes with tempo is really vanilla defenses and we don’t see a ton of extravagant blitzes or coverages.”

Konawaena QB Keoki Alani fires off a pass in the state championship game against Waipahu.

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_63925d7fabe8e.jpg - Michael Lasquero | SL

The Wildcats gave up a score on their opening possession against the Marauders, but scored 28 straight points with Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio reaching the end zone three times in that span. The sophomore receiver reached pay dirt first running a read-option keeper, and later caught TDs from 21 and 23 yards out.

Things took a turn however when Anahu-Ambrosio received his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and was ejected with Konawaena clinging to a 28-7 lead at the 3:15 mark fo the second quarter. Uemoto said it was an unfortunate situation for a player that he said is a great kid.

“The first unsportsmanlike he got, he ran onto the track and shook a fan’s hand. It was nothing aimed at a kid. He has good sportsmanship, he doesn’t talk smack in games. He did say that the second one he got, he got off the ground, saw a camera, pointed at it and tossed it to the ref. Nothing was aimed at any kid, and that was the sad part. At the end of the day, his intentions was never to show any kid up.

“The most proud thing I am of this group.. is I’ve had so much text messages, phone calls, emails, and when you look back at that game.. every thing we preach to our kids was hit people hard and pick people up, and we did that every play. That’s the kind of program we run, and to label Zed as unsportsmanlike is hard for me to swallow because I know he’s not that kid.”

Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio hauls in a 21-yard TD pass to give Konawaena a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter against Waipahu.

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_63925e2633cc2.jpg - Michael Lasquero | SL

Anahu-Ambrosio proved Uemoto right after the ejection, being an active leader on the sideline.

“He spoke to the team, came in and said here’s the deal, I can’t go do this anymore. This is on you know. You have to play for me, I can’t help you make plays. He was in huddles, helping basically coach and being a positive influence and helping the people that took his spot at the end of the day. He still helped us in that regard, helping the guys that were there in his place. That’s helpful as anything else apart from him being on the field,” Uemoto said.

Spot starter Landon Daquel-Shimabukuro, a senior 5-foot-7 receiver, stepped up in Anahu-Ambrosio’s absence with his best game of the season, finishing with a team-high eight receptions for 79 yards. Abraham Ogata, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, was also huge with a jump-ball reception on third down to get the Wildcats in range for Ige’s field goal.

Konawaena senior Landon Daquel-Shimabukuro finds some running room after the catch.

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_63925e68d2322.jpg - Michael Lasquero | SL

A handful of former Wildcats were on the sideline to see Konawaena win its first state title.

Another was there in spirit.

Maui Ellis-Noa, a defensive tackle/running back that graduated earlier this year, passed away in mid-October, after an automobile accident.

Uemoto said he was the heart of the team last season.

Torrance "Ro'o" Satta-Ellis holds up Maui Ellis-Noa's No. 5 jersey on the day of the BIIF Division I championship game.

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_63925ea83b405.jpg - CJ Caraang | SL

“It took a toll on these kids because they were all so close to him. He just graduated and they’re all friends.”

Uemoto also recalled a conversation with Ellis-Noa after their season-ending loss to Lahainaluna a year ago.

“Because we were so junior-heavy last season, we just said get that state experience and use that to make a run (this year), and that was the last thing I told Maui Ellis-Noa as well when he walked off that field against Lahainaluna, ‘next season’s state title game is going to be for you and these seniors,’ and we had a couple of seniors (from last year) on our sideline tonight, and this is for them too.”

The Wildcats have since retired Ellis-Noa’s No. 5 jersey and would hold up five fingers throughout the season to honor him.

“We put our fives up and that was just in memory of him,” Uemoto said after the championship game. “You could just feel him here tonight. He was watching over us and he made this thing extra special because he knew, like I told him, this was part of his high school career as well.”

The Wildcats hold up five fingers in memory of Maui Ellis-Noa after winning their first-ever state title.

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_63925f4b75519.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL