The schedule said Saturday. The ocean said otherwise.
On Thursday, with Tropical Storm Lala bearing down on the islands, the Hawaii Sports Radio Network reported that Kamehameha Kapalama's home game against Orem had been moved up a day, to Friday at 5:30 p.m., ahead of the worst of the weather. The storm wiped out a dozen other games across the islands, per the same report. Orem's survived, and so the defending Utah 5A champions played their season opener a day early, far from home, in gusts the Honolulu Star-Advertiser clocked at 20 to 25 miles per hour.
They won it 16-7. It was not pretty. It was not supposed to be.
The defense scored first
The game's first points did not belong to either offense. Javoni Halalilo picked off a pass and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and in a game where the wind turned every deep ball into a negotiation, seven free points felt like twenty.
Kamehameha answered late in the second quarter on a short Maddox Sharrer run to make it 7-7 at half. From there the Tigers took the game the way you take games in weather: a 31-yard Adrian Sanchez field goal in the third, and a 21-yard touchdown catch by Brooks Ross in the fourth. Orem rushed for only 67 yards and still threw for 163 in a windstorm, which says something about the arm talent, and something else about the nerve.
The scoring, in order:
| Qtr | Score | Play |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7-0 Orem | Halalilo 64-yard interception return |
| 2 | 7-7 | Sharrer 4-yard run (Kamehameha) |
| 3 | 10-7 Orem | Sanchez 31-yard field goal |
| 4 | 16-7 Orem | Ross 21-yard touchdown catch |
This was not a soft opponent
Kamehameha Kapalama is the No. 4 team in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's Hawaii rankings, playing at home, in conditions it knows better than any visitor ever will. SPIN publishes no Hawaii board, so we will borrow theirs: Orem went into a top-five Hawaii team's stadium, in a storm, held it to one touchdown, and scored seven of its own sixteen without the offense taking a snap.
Utah's No. 3 on our board now owns the strangest 1-0 in the state: a road win that arrived a day before anyone back home expected it.
The season Orem wants
The 5A champions fly home with a defense that has scored as many touchdowns as it has allowed, a kicker who has already won a possession war, and the quiet satisfaction of a trip that gave them everything August can give: travel, weather, a good opponent and a short week of film to prove it happened.
The storm got the schedule. Orem got the game. Some trades you take.
