The only thing new about the Pearl City football team seems to be its coaching staff, because the results are the same as always.
Robin Kami, Pearl City’s third head coach in three years, has his Chargers on a four-game winning streak after starting the year 0-2. The new coach hasn’t just beaten opponents during the streak, he has obliterated them.
Pearl City beat Waialua 38-12, Kalaheo 49-8, Anuenue 50-7 and Roosevelt 37-0. Things won’t be as easy for the Chargers the rest of the way, as they play Nanakuli (2-3) this week followed by Kaiser (5-0) and Radford (5-1).
Nanakuli and Kalaheo already have three losses, which means the Chargers can sew up the OIA White’s fourth playoff spot with a win over the Golden Hawks.
Nanakuli’s grueling closing stretch is not going to be about extending the streak, it is going to be about winning one game at a time. Only four other Pearl City teams have won as many as five games in a row in a single season.
Longest in-season winning streaks in Pearl City history
9: 2011 under Kai Kamaka (32 ppg during streak, 16 papg)
6: 2010 under Kai Kamaka (33 ppg, 11 papg)
5: 2012 under David Hallums (48 ppg, 17 papg)
5: 1977 under Joe Francis (28 ppg, 12 papg)
4: 2013 under Robin Kami (44 ppg, 7 papg)
4: 2002 under Onosai Tanuvasa (29 ppg, 9 papg)
4: 1986 under Ben Ronquilio (13 ppg, 0 papg)
4: 1986 under Ben Ronquilio (15 ppg, 9 papg)
So Kami, with a new group of players, has put together a stretch of defense and winning that you would have to go back to 1986 to improve upon. His Chargers have given up an average of seven points per game during their winning streak, lower than any other since Ben Ronquilio opened the 1986 season with four straight shutouts.
That is not supposed to happen at a school that is on its third head coach in as many years, but Kami has made it happen.
The Chargers haven’t had a stretch of fewer points per game, winning streak or not, since they gave up 6.75 during a stretch in 1997.
Kami is still in the process of shaking his lineup out, and finding one unit might be a little difficult since everyone he has thrown out there has excelled.
Jordan Taamu has established himself as the quarterback, and Reno Abero has led the Chargers in rushing in each of the last two games after a committee handled the work early. Timothy Rivera and Kierren McGhee have emerged as Taamu’s most reliable targets.
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