Charger Seniors Miss Most Of Senior Prom, Win OIA

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Pearl City sophomore Bill Takeuchi pins Moanalua
sophomore Aaron Taniguchi. The Charger girls and
boys judo teams won the OIA championships on
May 4. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Among the prom pictures taken of the seniors on the Pearl City High School girls judo team are a handful that include a plaque noting their third OIA team championship in four years.

Only moments after their stellar performance, they raced to the prom to enjoy what remained of it - about enough time to snap a few photos.

“It’s every girl’s dream to attend her prom,” Pearl City girls coach Robin Puahala said.“Our six seniors sacrificed that (prom) for the better of the team, and they have no regrets. The prom was supposed to be on a Saturday, but it was moved to a Friday. I told the girls, years from now, when they come into the gym with their own kids, they can look up and see the banner that says that they were OIA champions.”

The Chargers were hoping to follow up their OIA title with a state title last weekend when they took part in the 2007 State Judo Championships at Stan Sheriff Center. But regardless of their finish there, their run in the OIA keeps them firmly among the top programs in the state. If anything, the Chargers feed off of their winning tradition, to hear Puahala tell it.

“There’s always been a mentality here because of the tradition - they refuse to lose,” said Puahala, whose team beat Moanalua (100-0), Kahuku (53-40) and McKinley (55-37) on May 5 to win the OIA. “If one girl loses, there are nine others to pick her up.”

Puahala cited his team’s cohesiveness as the driving force behind its success this spring. “I’ve never seen a team as close as this one,” he said. “They go out to eat together, they go to church together, they do everything together.”

The Chargers’ roster offers an interesting mix - one dominated by seniors and freshmen. It is senior leadership that has perhaps benefited them most, behind veterans Kelsey Awa (154), Jolana Gallero (122), Kimberly Rivera (115), Keani Hueu (98), Jillian Fontanilla (139), Charysse Paheo (129) and Kasey Fujihara (220), the lone junior in the group.

Awa is the team’s most vocal leader as well as one of its captains. “Kelsey comes up with the right words for the right moment,”

Puahala said.“Her leadership is her strength.”

Paheo entered last weekend’s states as a three-time defending champion in her weight class, while Fontanilla “is undefeated over the past year and a half,” according to her coach.

“She’s hard to stop because of her mix of speed and strength,“Puahala said of Fontanilla, who was seeded No. 1 in the state in her weight class last weekend.

“Her opponent usually won’t be as strong as her.

She has too many things going her way (to lose).”

Gallero was a state champion in Air Riflery in the fall in addition to serving as one of the judo team captains. “She’s one of Pearl City’s Athletes of the Year,” Puahala said.“She’ll do anything to benefit the team, whatever it takes to win. Keani has only been in judo for two years - she had been a basketball player - and she’s been a leader ever since she joined us. She won every match for us in the team championships, and she had to go through Moanalua, Kahuku and McKinley, the three toughest teams in the East. Kimberly is our only two-time captain. She’s soft-spoken and a good leader by example.”

Puahala credited Fujihara’s win over Kahuku standout and two-time state champion Kanoe Tani in the 220 pound class as the key component in Pearl City’s team title May 6.

“It was the first time she’d beaten Tani. Kasey was fearless. If she doesn’t win that match, we don’t even make it to the finals.”

“It’s a special group,” he added. “The seniors have been together since their freshman year, and they’ll fight through anything. They have a desire to win, and they don’t let anything hinder them.”