LIHU‘E — Some were first-time visitors, some were returning to their home island, but all were treated as ‘ohana as the University of Hawai‘i Warriors football team made its first trip to Kaua‘i since 1992 for a practice, scrimmage and autograph session, Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.
Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. called it “a great day” as UH players signed various items for the long line of local fans in attendance.
“The Kaua‘i guys represented well,” said head coach Greg McMackin, referring to the three local players — junior wide receiver Jett Jasper, junior defensive tackle Vaughn Meatoga and senior defensive lineman Kamalu Umu — who were able to suit up and practice in front of family and friends.
Junior defensive back Kenny Estes, a Waimea High School graduate, was held out of the practice with a shoulder injury, McMackin said.
Close to 1,000 fans filed in to the visitors bleachers to see the team practice, then go 11-on-11 in a scrimmage that featured some big hits. In just the sixth practice of the spring, the coaching staff has the Warriors going full-speed and holding nothing back in their tackling.
The aggressive and physical approach, which is slightly different than some recent spring practice seasons, is having a positive effect on the team, according to Jasper.
“The new hitting is making us a lot tougher,” he said.
The wideout got to play on the Vidinha grass for the first time since his senior year at Kaua‘i High School. He said he was “definitely a little nervous” at the start, but those nerves wore off once he got out and started playing. Jasper hauled in two passes in the scrimmage, just missing out on a third.
“You can say that I got two-and-a-half,” he said.
Therese Jasper, Jett’s mother, was happy she and her family were able to see her son play without heading over to O‘ahu.
“It was definitely a dream,” she said. “Kaua‘i has a lot of UH spirit… It’s great for the kids to be able to see them and say ‘I can do it, too.’ ”
Meatoga, from Kalaheo, has made himself into one of the top defensive linemen in the Western Athletic Conference. He went to Kamehameha for high school, never getting the opportunity to compete on Kaua‘i or in Vidinha Stadium during those years.
“It was the one thing I always wanted to do in high school,” he said.
Meatoga said the team is progressing well and that his defensive unit is forming a strong front.
“I see a lot of the younger guys stepping up,” he said. “Right now we’re building that cohesiveness, building a bond.”
For Umu, of Kapa‘a and a UH transfer from Charleston Southern, Saturday was unique in many ways.
“This was my first time ever playing at Vidinha Stadium,” he said.
After attending Kapa‘a Middle School for one year, Umu went to St. Louis High School, graduating in 2006. Now returning to his home island for the first time as a Warrior, the 6 foot 2 inch, 295-pound lineman was able to catch up with plenty of familiar faces.
“It’s great, I’ve been seeing people I haven’t seen for years,” he said.
Estes, a 2006 graduate of Waimea High School, heads into his third year of eligibility after making himself a regular on special teams last season, seeing action in 12 games.
After the 45-minute practice and prior to the scrimmage, the team huddled up at midfield and got some inspirational and fiery words from Carvalho, a former offensive lineman at UH alongside athletic director Jim Donovan, a good friend of his to this day.
His words made McMackin think they might need to find one more uniform.
“He starts talking his football talk, he starts slobbering, he got down in a three-point stance… I almost got him a helmet,” he said.
Carvalho said his words to the team were also about enjoying this experience and taking everything in.
“Look around you, this is Kaua‘i,” was one of the messages he wanted to impart on the first-time visitors.
For the Kaua‘i fans, he said this type of day can become “an example for the entire community,” that it is not only about football, but about coming together as one ‘ohana.
He felt that bringing the team over can inspire the young Kaua‘i athletes, allowing them to realize that there is a big-time athletic program right here.
In his talks with Donovan to organize the event, Carvalho expressed the county’s stance that all UH needed to do was get the team here.
“Once you get off the plane, we’ll take it from there,” is what he told Donovan.
The game itself featured three touchdowns, as the offense began each drive on its own 30-yard line, later moving into overtime situations and starting on the defense’s 25.
Quarterback Brent Rausch hit receiver Darius Bright in stride for a long touchdown covering over 40 yards for the first score. Cayman Shutter put up a deep pass and let receiver Billy Ray Stutzmann make a play near the pylon, which he did, resulting in the second touchdown. Shane Austin, who saw time under center last season, hit Ryan Henry in the back of the end zone for the final score, followed by a modified running-man celebration dance by offensive lineman Austin Hansen.
Overall, McMackin thought the team was sharp for where they currently are in the practice season.
“I thought it was a good first scrimmage,” he said. “It was just our sixth practice, but I thought the defense did an outstanding job and the offense made some big plays.”
He added that the offense and defense were mixing up their units, not just having all first-stringers and second-stringers playing together, but looking to evaluate using different combinations. The team played 116 guys and will use this process as the basis for personnel decisions moving forward.
NOTES: Starting quarterback Bryant Moniz was not with the team, due to personal reasons… Early in the game, a quarterback scrambled out of the pocket and toward the sideline, getting shoved out of bounds and taking one of the trainers to the ground with him. The trainer got up quickly and received a hug from Carvlho for his trouble… Though many of the players stayed on Kaua‘i, Jett was set to head back to campus in the afternoon, where he was going to deliver a speech back at Manoa, Saturday night as the team representative for Relay for Life… Making an appearance early in the day was Hawai‘i gubernatorial candidate Neal Abercrombie, who expressed his happiness with UH coming to the outer islands and also voiced his displeasure with the current Bowl Championship Series.
