Since the 2014-2015 school year, Damien has been crowned as the ILH D2 football champions.
This past school year we played them four times. The first game against them we lost, a heart breaker in the fourth quarter. The second game we stepped up our game and beat them. We had the opportunity to play them one last time for the ILH title.
Seniors Roy-Matthew Dacuycuy and Tyson Shimabukuro described their mindset for playing Damien. Dacuycuy says, “It is a mindset I have of life. In life, you have to work hard to achieve greatness. In football, in order to win the ILH or a state title, you have to put in the work to become a champion.” Shimabukuro says, “My mindset is to play hard play smash mouth football and to straight up humiliate Damien.”
Dacuycuy explains, “It’s been a journey for me and my team to get where we are today. From those days at Kapiolani Park during summer and working our butts off in the hot sun.” He added, “We are not satisfied because we all know we worked hard to be deserving of the ILH Championship and State Championship.”
Regarding playing Damien for a last time with everything on the line, Dacuycuy said “I’m happy knowing that it’s going to be my last game playing Damien because I know that my team and I deserve to win. I know we are going to leave everything on the field knowing it’s the last time us seniors will face our rivals. I’m also super eager to play because I wanna make my school and family proud.”
The Saints were not able to complete their quest, losing to Damien 13-12. However, the football team had its best season ever. The team left it all on the field and that’s all we can ask.
