HAWAII HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM AWARDS 2018 – THIRD IN STATE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL SPORTS

The McKinley High School football team showed they weren’t gonna travel to Waialua and take home another loss. After almost four losing seasons, the Tigers ended their 29 game losing streak on Sept. 15 against the Bulldogs.

During off-season training, Pat Silva became the Tiger’s new head coach. Together with his staff, he has made some changes in the program. Besides ending the losing streak, they have introduced a structured study hall program to aid players with academic needs, and brought back some of the traditions lost in previous years.

“What we try to bring is that winning attitude and tradition,” Silva said. “We feel good about what we’ve been able to work with and what [the team] has accomplished.”

Senior Nu’u Koli said he saw a change in the players during this game that he believed helped them execute well.

“Everyone believed in us more. Everyone was more focused because they were more determined to win,” Koli said. “We put our pride on the side and we played the way the coaches taught us to play football.”

Senior Ezekiel Samuelu, team captain, said it was great to win a game during his last season.

“We’ve been waiting a long time and we finally won,” Samuelu said. “Offense was communicating and defense was doing our jobs and shutting down their offense.”

This winning attitude was not only noticeable on the field, but in the stands as well. Senior Eirene Peter is in the band and has gone to every football game since she was a freshman. Even though she may not be suited up, this win still means a lot to her.

“I feel like this year they really wanted it,” Peter said. “You could tell during their warm ups how hard they practiced and how ready they were to play… All these years were building up to this. Great job, Tigers.”

According to Koli, MHS lacks confidence at the beginning of games, which hurts how well they play. This win may be what was needed to boost the Tigers’ spirits.

“We always keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Silva said. “I hope it triggers, for us, the attitude that we can accomplish things if we [execute] and put ourselves in the right positions… If we do that, we always believed we could be one of the top teams in the conference.”

The Waialua game was a start for MHS, who will be working hard to add more wins to their record.