A decade in the making, Konawaena lacrosse finally got it done.
This past Sunday in Waimea, the Wildcats cliched their first-ever Founder’s Cup title, which is the state championship equivalent for club lacrosse in Hawaii. It was the team’s first state title. Since becoming a program in 2015, Kona had been in six of the previous 10 championships — including last year’s title match against Hawaii Prep.
For many of the Wildcats, this state title was a long time coming. With the team rostering middle and high schoolers, a few of Kona’s players have been in the program for several years now, including Dylan Nonaka. The junior was ecstatic to finally get over the hump.
“I’ve been playing since eighth grade. We were so close these last few years, and we finally brought the cup home,” Nonaka told West Hawaii Today. “We all put in so much time and effort in order to win, and I truly think we deserved it.”
Teammate Theron Harnage echoed similar thoughts, adding that the years of coming up short ultimately molded the Wildcats into a championship team.
“I’ve been with this team for three years, and we have watched each other improve,” Harnage said. “Finally, this year we were finally able to take home our first state championship, and I’m proud to be a part of this team.”
Kona beat Kailua’s club team Windward 12-3 in the semifinals, advancing to play Kapiolani’s Town in the title match. But the title match was far from smooth-sailing, as both teams were tied 4-4 at halftime. Early in the second half, the Wildcats went up two goals, but Town responded by going on a massive 5-0 run to take the 9-6 lead.
But Kona wasn’t ready to lie down. The green and white answered back with a 4-0 run of their own, taking the 10-9 lead with a minute to play in regulation. The Wildcats played keepaway with the ball for closing seconds, officially claiming the state title.
Nonaka and Harnage led the way with three goals each, while teammate Goose Gagnon had two. Michael Flores and Jacob Kihe scored the rest of the green and white’s goals with one apiece.
“It was a big sigh of relief,” Kona head coach Dan Curran said of the nail-biting win. “They’ve come so close in the past, and we always knew that we could do it. It was really nice to finish the job.”
Curran explained that the Wildcats lost some players during the season, but kept a next-man-up mentality throughout the way. He also credited eighth grader Mason Nonaka for stepping up big as the team’s goalie.
“Mason had only been playing goalie for three months, and that’s an extremely difficult position to learn in a short amount of time,” Curran said. “Our returning players also led the way for us throughout the season when we lost some guys, which I was very proud of.”
The Wildcats expressed their gratitude postgame, as they recognized and appreciated the difficulty of getting to the mountaintop. The team had no shortage of people to thank for support throughout the journey.
“I want to thank our coaching staff for being there no matter what,” Nonaka said. “Whether it was 100 degrees outside or dumping rain, they were out there helping us and making sure we got better.
“It was a really interesting season because during the first two weeks, we didn’t think we had enough, but look where we ended up. I’m so grateful for it all.”
“Big thanks to the coaches for giving us their time and effort to not only create better players, but also better people in general,” Tharnage added.
Now that two Big Island schools have won the last two Founder’s Cups, Curran hopes the title will set a new standard for lacrosse on the Big Island — inspiring the local younger generation to give the sport a try in the near future.
“(This title) is a testament to all of the kids’ hard work,” he said. “It’s a testament to the culture that we try to create, which is competitive, but also trying to grow the game in a fundamental way. We really hope this puts Kona on the map, and establishes to everyone else that we are an elite program.”
