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PAC-FIVE WOLFPACK
>> 2015 record and finish: 3-3 (1-3 ILH D-II); did not qualify for the postseason
>> Number of returning starters: 13 (7 offense, 6 defense)
>> Number of returning seniors: 23
>> Number of starters lost to graduation: 11
>> Number of seniors lost to graduation: 18
>> Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State selections lost to graduation: None
>> Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State selections returning: None
>> ILH D-II All-Stars lost to graduation: Aaryn Villamor (first-team OL), Jarrod Infante (first-team REC), Justin Daise (first-team DL)
>> ILH D-II All-Stars returning: Clayce Akeo (first-team REC), Travis Kaloa (first-team REC), Kainoa Ferreira (first-team QB), Kekahi Tam (first-team LB), Kealii Carvalho (first-team DB)
>> Among 2016 key offensive returnees: Kainoa Ferreira (QB, Sr.), Ryan Johnson (QB/REC, Sr.), Grey Ihu (REC, Sr.), Travis Kaloa (REC, Sr.), Cody Masterson (OL, Sr.)
>> Among 2016 key defensive returnees: Kekahi Tam (LB, Sr.), Keawe Tong (LB, Sr.), Spencer Cox (LB, Sr.), Nathan Bek (DE, Jr.), Kealii Carvalho (DB, Sr.).
>> Wolfpack with Division I FBS college offers: None
>> All-time state championships: None
>> All-time Prep Bowl (1973-1998) championships: 2 (both D-I — 1982, 1985)
>> All-time ILH championships: 2 (both D-I — 1982, 1985)
>> 2016 conference: ILH D-II
Head coach KIP BOTELHO on the Wolfpack’s outlook for 2016:
“Breaking through and winning the title, that’s always the goal. The league is very competitive. There’s a lot of balance in our division. I think it’s anybody’s game. For us, as far as spring and at this point in the summer, our biggest challenge is the commitment part. Getting the kids at practice. They’re dealing with all of the other summer sports. We’re not one school. We have a lot of basketball programs here in Hawaii. Everybody plays basketball or baseball, so that’s our challenge right now. Get the team together as one, the commitment part. Can’t work on discipline until the commitment is there. It has pretty much always been that way. Until late summer, when summer programs are done, then we start getting full commitment. We have a core group of 30 kids who have been consistent this spring, mostly our senior type of skill guys. We have good practice sessions. What we do lack is the linemen types, as always. We’ve got enough to get some good 7 on 7s in and get some good drills going. We’re expecting about 60 on the varsity eventually, based on numbers from last year and what we had in spring.
“The kids are aware of how close we are. All games were close last season. We lost by 3 points to Damien, when we had three field goals blocked. We were down there again at the end, and could have gone for another for a tie, but I wasn’t about to have four blocked. The problem was our starting guy, the wing back guy was hurt. He hyper-extended his elbow on a tackle and we had to take him out. After the tape job, he wasn’t able to extend his arm. Other guys didn’t get the job done and we lost 6-3. That was the second game of the season after we had already beaten St. Francis, so we would have been sitting pretty at 2-0 against those guys. Everybody beat everybody. It’s wide open again this season and we’re excited to compete and the kids are excited. We are senior heavy this year. Last year, we were junior heavy. Those guys got a taste of knocking on the door but not going in.
“We’re thin at positions. We’ve got ones (starters) and a big drop off after that. Last season, during the course of the season, we had some injuries on the defensive front and struggled on defense a little bit, but that’s how it goes.
“I hope how close we came resonates with the kids and hopefully they’ll work harder for it, and we’ll see. We need to get the guys out and be committed. For us, that’s big. They come from all different schools, so making it on time (during the season) every day is not as simple as it may seem. There will be some days where we don’t have this guy and other days we don’t have that guy. They may have something else going on on their campus that day. I’m used to that and usually don’t even think about it. That’s all we know. At this point every year, it’s more frustrating for the coaches because we want to move forward. Some days, we’ll have just three O linemen, so we can’t even go team O.
“It can help when we get that walk-on that comes in late. Last year, we had two walk-ons come out for the team in late August after we had played our preseason games. Two kids, basketball players, came out. One was Justin Daise, a defensive lineman from Mid-Pacific who had never played football before, but just a stud athlete. We had tried since he was in 10th grade to get him to play football. He was focusing on basketball and finally gave it a try his senior year. It ended up making him a better basketball player. He made first-team All-Star in both football and basketball. Matt McGivern from Maryknoll, also a basketball player who came out late, started on the defensive line, too. Both came out as receivers, but that’s just too much to pick up coming out that late. I told them that if they want to get on the field and contribute right away, they would have to go to the defensive side. The little schools (in the Pac-Five program) recruit for their basketball programs. We need to go out and go get some of those guys.”
2016 Pac-Five football schedule
Check here for the latest schedule updates: http://bit.ly/2958rWe
>> July 28: at Waialua (scrimmage only)
>> Aug. 6: vs. McKinley, at Aiea High field
>> Aug. 12: at Kamehameha-Maui
>> Sept. 9: vs. Damien, at Aloha Stadium
>> Sept. 16: vs. St. Francis, at Aloha Stadium
>> Sept. 30: vs. Damien, at Aloha Stadium
>> Oct. 7: vs. St. francis, at Aloha Stadium
2016 Pac-Five varsity football staff
>> Head coach: Kip Botelho (33-83, 13th season)
>> Quarterbacks: Gabe Nehl
>> Offensive line: Chris Bisho
>> Running backs: Bill Wheeler
>> Slotbacks: Derek Tengan
>> Wide receivers: Chris Lupenui
>> Wide receivers: Jason Anzai
>> Defensive coordinator: Sililo Pale
>> Defensive line: Leo Yang
>> Linebackers: Ron Fitzgerald
>> Defensive backs: Ku Botelho
>> Defensive backs: Pat Sato
Pac-5 actually won 2 state football championships back in the early 1980s. Div 1 too. Hard to believe.
They were competitive until St. Louis’s run. The 56 points in the 1985 Prep Bowl is still the most points scored in the Prep Bowl era and State Champioship era.