Field of Honor
'tis the season so I am posting what I call the Good News for Modern Man.
How does kicking four successful field goals in a US
football game make you to the goat? Read on and find out.
High school football in Hawai'i is like golf is to Scotland. Indeed, sometimes it seems like high school itself is more important than college (If someone from Hawai'i asks you where you graduated from they are asking what high school you went to).
So you can probably imagine how important high school football in Hawai'i is. And for many years, football in Hawai'i was dominated by one high school in particular: St. Louis High. The little Catholic school on the slopes above Honolulu was founded in 1846 and is a local powerhouse when it comes to football.
So it was the championship game for the year. All the months of preparation and hard work came down to this. Win this game, and you were on top of the world. Lose it, and there's always next year. But in this, in this game, it came down to one play.
The score was St. Louis 26 and cross-island rival Kahuku (itself founded in 1893 and now has students predominantly from Mormon families) 27. Time was running out. With 19 seconds left, St. Louis tried a 55-yard (~50m) field goal. The snap from the center spun on its axis in a lazy almost slow motion arc into the hands of the waiting holder. He placed it down perfectly and watched as the kicker stepped forward and kicked the ball towards the hopes and dreams of his team, family, and alumni. But 55-yards was 10 yards too far and the ball fell short of the goal post uprights. The Kahuku players and fans go wild, screaming with joy over their victory.
But wait, there's a flag on the play. A defender tackled the kicker after the punt was on its way. The foul moves the ball 15-yards (~14m) closer to the goal. Again, the teams line up. Again, all eyes are on the young man in the red and blue uniform. A young man who has already successfully kicked four field goals earlier in the game. The ball is snapped. The kick is away. And again . . . he misses. But this time, there is no foul and there is no time left. Game over. Kahuku wins and St. Louis loses.
Pandemonium breaks out again as the Kahuku players and fans celebrate their hard fought victory. All of the Kahuku players that is, except for two. These two see the St. Louis kicker still down on one knee, devastated by the loss. One can only imagine the mental anguish that must have been going though the kicker's mind as his head hung down, dejected. These two Kahuku players, seeing the pain of their opponent, come over to console the player only moments before they would have glady run into the ground.
Afa Garrigan, a 17-year-old Kahuku senior, is on the left, his head bent close to Santiago like he's saying something.
"I told him, 'You did good, brah. You did really good in this game," Garrigan said.
Mauhe Moala, a 17-year-old junior, is on the right, his arm curled around Santiago in a gesture of support.
Both Garrigan and Moala said they acted out of respect for the talented player Santiago is and the knowledge of how heart breaking the loss must be.
"I don't know him," Garrigan said. "All I know is that he's a really, really good kicker."
"I remember when I was in Pop Warner," Moala said. "It was our championship game. I was playing hard, and we lost and then a person I was going up against, he came up to me and said the same thing to me. It made a difference."
Garrigan said it didn't really cross his mind that he was consoling an opponent. "Not an opponent," he said, "just another player. That's sportsmanship."
Santiago doesn't really remember what the Kahuku players said to him, only that in that difficult moment, they told him to keep his head up.
"It could have been a really bitter loss. I mean, I wasn't happy that we lost, but because of the sportsmanship that they showed, it made it a lot easier to let go. It really meant a lot to me, " Santiago said. "I don't even know them personally, but it feels like we're friends. I have a lot of respect for the Kahuku players, especially after the support they showed us. They could have been jumping around and celebrating with their teammates, but they chose to talk to me. It's something I'll always remember."
The moment lasted only a few seconds and come next year, the players will be trying again, as hard as they can, to beat each other. But these two players showed, through their selfless action, what true sportsmanship is all about.
Left to right: Garrigan, Moala, and Santiago