HONOLULU — Ken Smith missed that frigid feeling.
Punahou’s 75-year-old water polo coach, dripping wet in the Kapalama night, shivered and smiled as he recounted what it took for his Buffanblu to resume their dominance after two years of canceled state play.
The pandemic-induced time off changed nothing as Punahou’s superior ball control won out. Smith got tossed in the pool with his team’s 13th straight championship, an 11-3 victory over Kamehameha in the Warriors’ pool on Saturday night.
“It’s been a couple years not getting thrown in,” said Smith, in his 50th year of coaching water polo at Punahou going back to his leadership on the boys side in 1972. “Lucky 13. We’ll just try to keep it going.”
Center Kaylee Ogawa, whom Smith called “a coach in the water,” was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after scoring five goals in the championship. Pono Gacutan and Allison Kauahi added hat tricks.
“Pono, she gave me really good passes and I don’t think the goals would’ve worked without her,” said Ogawa, nodding at her fellow senior standing next to her. “We tried as hard as we could … this was our last game.”
Punahou ended the match with all six of its seniors in the pool – players who were freshman reserves watching from the deck the last time there was a tournament in 2019.
“It means a lot (finishing this way after two years off) because freshman year, all six of us were actually on the varsity team,” Gacutan said. “So, being able to actually get into the pool and win it for our team was really memorable and a nice sendoff.”
Smith credited the group for staying focused in the interim years of no official competition.
“To keep their enthusiasm, their perseverance, they really pulled together the last three or four weeks of the season,” he said. “They did a lot of stuff behind the scenes that really made us come together.”
Freshman Reia Kim was named the goalkeeper of the tournament as she made timely saves and helped induce some Warriors shots off the posts and crossbar.
Kamehameha, the runner-up for the last six state tournaments, had kept it closer in this season’s Interscholastic League of Honolulu meetings with Punahou. The Warriors played right with the Buffanblu for about a quarter and a half Saturday before the dynasty took hold once more with a second-half shutout.
“After having pretty close games during the season, to be able to do that, up here (at Kamehameha), in the final thing, we’ve worked a lot on our defense and our transition game. I think that played a big part in our success tonight,” Smith said.
The Warriors drew to within 4-3 early in the second quarter with a deep shot by Reaves Dayton, her second goal of the game. Soon after, Jordyn Nishimura had a shot to tie that was saved by Kim.
That would, for all intents and purposes, be the end of the suspense as Ogawa scored on a putback dunk and Gacutan converted a penalty shot that was earned by Kauahi for a 6-3 lead at halftime. Punahou rattled off five more unanswered the rest of the way as the Warriors had some near opportunities carom off, in some cases leading to counterattack scores at the other end.
“I don’t know if anything turned so much. Punahou just executed really, really well,” said Kamehameha coach Anthony Cabrera, who took over the Warriors program in 2019. “Really proud of the girls. Their attitude and effort, not just at the game but every day in practice has been top notch.”
Punahou has not lost a match, including the regular season, over the course of its incredible streak dating back to 2008. The last time it was played within a one-goal margin in states was by Kamehameha in the 2017 final.
Punahou owns 15 of the 17 state championships in the sport, which has only known ILH victors in Hawaii.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.