The deadline had passed, the game story was sent in and it was time to head out of the Kapolei High School field after the Hurricanes rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Campbell 16-7 on Friday night.
Ahhh, but there was head coach Darren Hernandez about to sit down and have some postgame grinds with his assistants.
“Got a minute?” he was asked.
Well, of course, he needed to unwind from a stressful football game anyway and he wasn’t going anywhere.
We took a walk to his office, where the OC 16 replay of the game was on the TV. He talked about the prospects for the 10th-ranked Hurricanes (3-3) down the stretch run and other assorted topics.
Arggh, looking back, the one question that needed an answer was not asked. Forgot. Why did you pass for a touchdown instead of running out the clock with a 9-7 lead and less than a minute to go?
Later on, a few minutes after starting the drive home, a text (from the side of the road) was sent to Hernandez and never answered. Maybe he didn’t get it. No matter. It’s old news now. Kapolei won. Had a pass been intercepted and returned for a touchdown and it resulted in a loss, that question would have been a lot more pressing.
But, via a mini tour of the premises given by Hernandez, other things were learned after the meeting in his office and before the drive home.
For instance, Kapolei is in the process of building a new $3.8 million locker-room facility that also includes two meeting rooms. Hernandez is thrilled with the plans and can’t wait for the improvements to be completed.
The meeting rooms will have a portable partition in the middle that can be removed to make it one big meeting room for team meetings.
At the present time, the Hurricanes are using the large enclosed area under the mauka bleachers, which extend from one end of the field to the other, as a combined weight room and locker room. When the new locker room is done nearby, that area will be used solely as a football weight room. The school’s other sports use a weight room elsewhere on campus.
Not bad for a team that underschieves every year! Might have to move to Kapolei!!!
$3.8 million? I thought Kapolei was a fairly new campus with all the bells and whistles. I think the state should renovate some of the older more run down facilities and schools such as….mmmm….maybe Kahuku? That would be nice for those country kids who happen to win lots of championships too.
Meanwhile at Kahuku…
yeah…all you schools keep building new facilities…
We’ll just keep building champions at Kahuku!!
Unreal.