By Wes Nakama
MILILANI — Despite having only 18 players suited up and several of them playing offense, defense and special teams, Eagle Valley (Gypsum, Colo.) took control early and routed Waialua, 51-6, Thursday night at John Kauinana Stadium.
Bulldogs turnovers (fumble and interception) led to three quick scores and a 21-0 deficit with 7:35 still remaining in the first quarter, and after Waialua closed it to 21-6 on Jace Apau’s 2-yard touchdown run with 8:38 remaining in the second quarter, the Devils needed just four plays to answer with Colter Blakey’s 21-yard TD pass to a wide-open Xander Deherrera for a 27-6 lead that held to halftime.
Nathan Leeper’s 33-yard field goal made it 30-6 with 5:12 left in the third quarter, and the Bulldogs fumbled again on the ensuing kickoff return. Eagle Valley again capitalized, with Blakey and Deherrera connecting on a 12-yard scoring lob five plays later and Leeper’s extra point made it 37-6.
The Devils later slammed the door shut and ignited the running clock with Blakey’s 41-yard touchdown pass to Keaden Lake down the left sideline with 10:13 remaining in the game.
“We had 15 actual varsity players (available), and a few of our JV guys suited up for emergency purposes,” Eagle Valley coach Chris Lake said. “We usually have about 65 kids back at home, but this first trip (to Hawai’i) … there was a lot of hesitation on sending kids across the ocean to play a football game. But we’re hoping to build upon this and do this again in a couple years and bring back the full squad.”
Lake said about “90 percent” of the players and coaches on this travel party had never been to the islands until their arrival on Wednesday.
“We got the news back in February, and we started raising money to come on this trip,” said Leeper, who played linebacker, running back and kicker. “Everyone was super excited. It was either here or (Orlando) Florida, and we all wanted to come here. It’s beautiful, we walked down to the beach this morning and we were all like, ‘Wow.’ It’s awesome.”
Eagle Valley is located in Gypsum, about 2 and 1/2 hours West of Denver, not too far from the famous ski/snowboard towns of Vail and Aspen. The Devils, who have an enrollment of about 1,000, compete in Division 3A.
“We’re kind of in the middle of the road (as far as Colorado competition),” Lake said. “We lost in our league championship game last year and just missed the state playoffs.”
Although they didn’t show it, Leeper said playing a full 48-minute game Thursday night without coming off the field was tiring, and fatigue was a concern.
“We’re from up in the mountains, we don’t have a ton of kids, and we have a lot of young kids on this team, so you gotta play a lot sometimes,” Leeper said. “I noticed the humidity in the first half for sure, but it was better in the second half. But I was tired, I’m not gonna lie.”
Waialua could not capitalize and instead shot itself in the foot with four turnovers (two fumbles and two interceptions), punts of 16 and 21 yards, and failing to convert after gaining first-and-goal from the 1 at the end of the first half. The Bulldogs also lost the ball on downs after reaching the red zone at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got a young team, so a lot of butterflies, it’s a learning experience,” Waialua coach Gary Wirtz said. “The turnovers just kind of racked up in their favor, and it was hard to recover from that. We just gotta step up. It’s trial by fire. We’ve got work to do, we’re still getting into it. We’re still not jelled yet, we’re growing, and this was a learning experience. Obviously it didn’t go the way we wanted, but we’ll just learn from it, we’ll go back to the drawing board and go back to work.”
Wirtz also gave credit to Eagle Valley.
“They had a lot of heart, they didn’t quit,” Wirtz said. “They came to do work, and their vacation starts now. But they showed up to do a job, and they did their job.”
Lake said his team plans to do a sunset dinner cruise and a luau, but will also visit Pearl Harbor on Saturday.
“We’ll try to get an education (activity) in for the kids,” Lake said. “We want to show them the real thing, what went on here (in World War II).”
Photos: Lori McKeown
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