The Panaewa Athletics Combined attended the Lawyer Milloy football camp for the second consecutive summer and scored touchdowns in recognition.
The Panaewa Athletics Combined attended the Lawyer Milloy football camp for the second consecutive summer and scored touchdowns in recognition.
Of the 16 youngsters, five were named MVP for their age division positions at the four-day camp in late July at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., that featured over 250 participants.
“The great story is half are from Panaewa and half are from Keaukaha,” PAC director Sergio Mamone said. “The idea is instead of the kids just competing against each other it’s to get the local kids out of here and into college.”
Eventually, the Panaewa and Keaukaha gridiron youngsters become teammates at the BIIF level, either at Hilo or Kamehameha or Waiakea.
But they grow up as rivals, honing their football skills at their home bases — the fields at Panaewa Gym or Kawananakoa Gym.
In fact, Keaukaha beat Panaewa 16-6 for the Big Island’s Pop Warner junior midget (ages 11-13) championship last November.
Mamone’s son Wela, a senior at Hilo, earned the MVP at linebacker and received offers from host school Pacific Lutheran, a Division III school, and Central Washington, a D-II college.
Best of all, Wela was chosen by the coaching staff, including Milloy, a former Seattle Seahawk safety, as a Gridiron Elite recipient.
Milloy’s clinic is under the Sports International Football Camps umbrella. Sports International will send Wela’s information to over 2,500 college coaches through its partnership with ncsasports.org.
Kilohana Haasenritter, a freshman at Kamehameha, was the MVP at wide receiver. He was a member of the Keaukaha Warriors’ Pop Warner championship team.
He comes from a storied athletic background. His dad is Charlie Haasenritter, a long ago ace pitcher for Hilo High. His mom is Kahea Silva, who played volleyball for the Vikings and Vuls.
One uncle is Matt Haasenritter, who played baseball at Hilo and UHH and was a member of the Hilo Senior League World Series championship 2003 team.
Kilohana’s aunt is Haunani Haasenritter, a softball great for Hilo and UHH and another uncle is Mana Silva, a former NFL player for the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills.
His grandfather is Maurice Silva, also a PAC coach, who spends his free time at Panaewa Park’s football field directing speed and agility drills for kids Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Other MVPs were Kalen Davis-White, Hilo freshman, MVP at linebacker; Elijah Borges Apao, freshman, MVP at running back; and Ricky Mamone, Connections seventh-grader, MVP at quarterback.
Irsrael Bowden, a Kamehameha junior receiver, and Cody Alvaro-Thomas, a Waiakea junior receiver, also earned Gridiron Elite recognition and will receive recruiting services from ncsasports.org.
“Most kids go to college camps, but we wanted to take the kids to a pro camp,” coach Silva said. “They can get in tune with the verbiage, techniques, and skills they use in showcases. They won’t be on pins and needles at the college camps. Next year, we want to take them to the Stanford and Oregon camps.”
In a car analogy, people want to kick the tires on something they want to buy, not order something from a website and receive a lemon.
That’s a reason Mamone wants to head to the mainland during the summer, getting his kids not only seen but also experienced.
“The past year, we had a pilot program and took the kids to the 7v7 Pylon Elite tournament in Las Vegas,” he said.
Since then, they’ve taken players to the GPA camp on Oahu, the All-Poly camp in Utah and the UCLA camp.
“Wela is like our college recruiting experiment,” Mamone said. “Hopefully, when Kilohana and Ricky and the others are older they’ll get college offers, too.”
One cool thing at the Milloy camp was the PAC coaches livestreamed the camp on Facebook, so the parents back home could watch it.
Mamone mentioned that it isn’t easy to take a bunch of kids to football camps. There are a lot of working parts involved, like commitment, cooperation, and helpful sponsors.
He also gave a shout-out to team moms Taira Tam and Nani Miyashiro and the rest of the coaches, including Dave Murray and Mike Laimana from the Keaukaha Warriors and John Flores from PAC and Panaewa Alii.
“Dave does anything for the kids and so does Mike,” Mamone said. “We know the kids grow up going against each other, so that’s why we appreciate Keaukaha. They bought in, and we went there as one.”