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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Classification made
storybook possibleAT the end, after the last collision and the ball had hit the ground, Damien stormed the field, tackling one another, helmets in the air. And then they hugged. And jumped and hugged and jumped and hugged and jumped and hugged, bouncing in embraces big and small.
Damien had won a game, this 28-21 thriller over ILH rival Iolani, and it meant something.
"We ... worked ... three ... years. I don't know," said Damien receiver Andrew Canoy, who scored two touchdowns on tough catches. With whoops in the background, everyone still jumping, still hugging, still laughing, still crying, Canoy tried to sum up the moment. "I cannot explain," he said. This was too big.
Damien is in the postseason. Damien is on to state tournament play. Damien beat Iolani yesterday for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's second championship, a berth in the newly created Division II tournament.
"Isn't this a good thing?" asked Keith Amemiya, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director, who had pushed for a second set of playoffs. It was.
"It's a storybook," Damien's pro-classification president Brother Gregory O'Donnell said.
Damien is in the postseason.
You knew something big was going to happen yesterday. The atmosphere said it, you could feel it in your bones. It was Homecoming at Iolani, and Halloween, and the drums never stopped, fans of both teams living and dying, rocking like this was the World Cup.
There were interceptions and fumbles, fourth-and-inches, long passes and sacks. It was a game that made you feel alive, if it didn't kill you first.
Everyone in the stadium felt like they played.
And then, Damien's Ranson DeCosta, who started at tailback, and punted and returned them, and played defense, and was even the Monarchs' third quarterback when everyone else went down, returned the punt. He'd let go a ball he should have caught, with the Monarchs sitting on a late seven-point lead, and then picked up a roll he should have left alone. He nabbed it on the run at the 2-yard line and his momentum carried him into the end zone. He thought about it for a second, realized he needed to get going, picked up a couple of crushing blocks, broke free, got caught, hopped on one foot, escaped and finished with a leaping dive, landing on the 39-yard line.
That kind of play is a sign.
Maybe. Iolani was driving. What a game this was. Everyone stood. It wasn't over until that last pass hit the ground.
And then it was joyous pandemonium. Damien had won. Damien had won something. It was crazy. "We're No. 1!" the Monarch fans sang. It wasn't true. But somehow, now they could sing it.
The students came onto the field, hugging everyone, kissing DeCosta. They all gathered in front of the band, for a triumphant alma mater. Parents came out. The whole school was on the field, holding hands and then raising them to the sky.
Damien is on to the postseason.
"A few years ago this win would have been great," O'Donnell said. "But it wouldn't be what it is now."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
