That fall back to Earth came quick for Waipahu.
The Marauders, who opened the season with a 34-13 upset of Waianae, got stomped by ‘Iolani 55-14 on Saturday.
They had it coming, in a way. A game that was originally scheduled for home was switched to ‘Iolani. It was also at 3 p.m. in the blazing heat.
“In hindight, maybe we should have had some 3 o’clock practices during the summer,” Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho said. “I don’t know how hot it was, but I was sweating when I got on the field.”
By no means was Carvalho using the heat as an excuse.
“I look at it as a wake-up call,” he said. “The kids and the coaches all feel the same.”
Carvalho said some key players from the secondary were not suited up and that his line on both sides of the ball, while solid, was low on depth.
“We had players on the line going both ways who were severely dehydrated,” he said. “We struggled up front to get anything done. Our initial concern of being shorthanded in the secondary got magnified.
“We also had kind of a messy start. Usually, we can bounce back from that type of thing. But ‘Iolani continued to execute and our guys were just exhausted.”
‘Iolani is a team known for its impeccable execution, so any kind of slow start is not recommended.
“They’re very, very good,” Carvalho said. “And we knew that going in. They’ve won (eight) state championships. They’re well-coached and disciplined, and between the ears, they’re very smart.”
But the loss may be a blessing in disguise. Two years ago, a 36-35 loss to Waialua in the OIA D-II title game served as motivation for last season. Last season’s 53-50 loss to Konawaena in the first-round of the D-II state tournament is serving as motivation for this season.
“I told the boys that it (the defeat to the Raiders) was our worst loss in three years,” he said. “We also haven’t won a D-I game that counted in three years as well. When you get humbled, you rethink how you work. We still need to prove that we belong.
“I see it in the coaching staff and the kids, we don’t want to get embarrassed again. And the competitor in me wants to play ‘Iolani again. Every kid on our team wants do what we can to possibly meet them again.”
If Carvalho didn’t want to make excuses for Waipahu’s blowout loss to Iolani he has a strange way of showing it: 1) we switched our home game; 2) the game was played at 3pm in the hot sun; 3) our kids were dehydrated; 3) our key secondary players were missing; 4) our O line and D line were depleted; 5) we had early game turnovers; 6) we were exhausted and couldn’t get anything going. C’mon Coach Bryson the kids are reading this stuff. Waipahu outweighed Iolani’s O line by 50lbs per player and their defense had studs all over. Iolani pulled their offensive starters half way through the 2nd quarter. Part of good coaching is acknowledging your opponent.
Waipahu wants to face Iolani again and no excuses this time except the game has to be played at Waipahu at 7pm at night with a temperature of no more than 75F and no wind and Iolani’s band can’t play too loud either and all Waipahu’s teacher have to pass all of their AP players. Now this is the standard that we want to teach our youth!
Game plan was horrible… play calling was horrible… and I agree, too many excusses, Iolani played in the same conditions as did Waipahu. Difference is Iolani takes care of grades… Bottom line Waipahu got out coached and out played.
Pink Sushi, Isnt quoting that Iolani being smart, disciplined and executing well, part of acknowledging the opponent? Carvalho also clearly states that they are a very, very good team.
Yea but Carvalho’s compliments of Iolani were cliche and they came after he listed 6 excuses and then he finishes the interview by saying our whole team hopes we get a rematch. The totality smacks of sour grapes.
So Waipahu lost.. and what. They will be back and ready as ever. Sounds like a bunch of haters. No excuses made. Iolani did great they had a better game. You win some you lose some. That’s life. Get over it. Waipahu keep your head up and play your game.