KAILUA-KONA — There was a feeling of familiarity for Kamehameha-Hawaii as the final seconds ticked off the clock in the BIIF water polo championship game at Kona Community Aquatic Center on Saturday.
As the final buzzer rang, there were no celebratory cannonballs or swim caps flying by the Warriors — a team with seniors who have known nothing but BIIF titles during their high school careers.
Kamehameha scored the first 10 goals of the game and surged past Konawaena 15-6 for a sixth consecutive league title.
Senior Halia Nahale-A tallied a game-high five goals for Kamehameha win and Pua Wong added four more.
The Warriors now have their eyes on the HHSAA state tournament, which will be held from May 6-9 at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
“We always set goals at the start of the season,” Kamehameha head coach Dan Lyons said. “Our goals are always to get to states and improve as the season goes along.”
Mikala Fernandez and Porsha Brandt provided the only offensive for the Wildcats, each netting a hat trick.
After the loss, the mood was far from somber for Konawaena. The Wildcats — who upset Hawaii Preparatory Academy on Friday — will join Kamehameha at the state tournament for the first time in school history.
Lyons admits he doesn’t have any interest in keeping track of the numbers, but that doesn’t make the statistics any less overwhelming. Kamehamehea outscored its BIIF competition 188-54 on the way to an 11-1 record, with the squad’s lone loss coming in double overtime to Hawaii Prep.
“We don’t really watch the scoreboard,” Lyons said. “At the beginning of the season we never really know what we have until we get in the pool. We usually have two or three freshmen that have to step up, but we always try to get everybody in. We don’t want it ever to be a game we can’t recognize. We are constantly working on it but at different levels.”
Kamehameha has earned a seeded berth in the state tournament, getting a bye to the quarterfinals. The Warriors have finished fifth in each of their last three tries at the state level.
“In the past, we have been in that upper-echelon – whether that’s top two, or top four,” Lyons said. “I don’t know where we fit in this year, but we are just concentrated on getting better this next week and a half.”
The path to the championship will likely go through ILH powerhouse Punahou. The Buffanblu have won the last seven state water polo championships, and nine of the last 11. A BIIF team has never finished higher than third at the state tournament (Hilo, 2005; Hawaii Prep, 2007).
“At the state level the biggest difference is experience and depth,” Lyons said. “We haven’t played a lot of games that have been competitive where our starters logged a lot of minutes. But when you get to states, those teams have played competitive games all year long.”
