HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The celebration continues in Ewa Beach after the Campbell Sabers won the Open State Title Friday night.
It’s the first-ever Open Division football championship to be decided in overtime.
A final game between Campbell and Kamehameha was an unexpected match-up to say the least.
However, the game itself did not disappoint.
Sabers went up 20-10 in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors scored 10 unanswered points to force overtime.
Kamehameha got the ball first with a drive that ended in a field goal.
Then Campbell took the field and never looked back.
“We just trust the defense and the defense trust us, and they got a big stop to get a field goal, and we just knew we had to punch it in,” said Campbell quarterback Brayden Medeiros.
Medeiros went 11-of-15 passing for 151 yards and three touchdowns.
Campbell was not ready to settle for a field goal and give the ball back to Kamehameha.
They knew with the right play call, they could end it all.
“The last play of the game, man I wanted to call something different. My (offensive coordinator) said ‘we got it’ and I trusted, and I believed,” said Campbell head coach Darren Johnson.
Johnson has had a storied career coaching football here in the islands, but he’s never gotten a State Title as a head coach before.
Until now, and he did it with his grandchildren watching in the stands.
“I don’t want to go to sleep, and I don’t want to wake up, I want to soak it in and enjoy this,” Johnson said. “I gotta say thank you to my whole family because they came the last two games we won, and I’m a bachi guy, so I said everybody gotta do the same thing.”
Medeiros added, “It means a lot, you know, every year he always came short, but this year was the year, and we just work hard, we play for him.”
Campbell’s last state title win was in 2004, but that was when they were in Division II.
Bringing the Koa Head Trophy back to Ewa Beach is an accomplishment many players dreamed of for the last four years.
“It means a lot just all the love and support when you look into the stands, and it just makes you want to play more harder,” said Tainoa Lave.
Lave led the team in rushing and had 10 tackles on defense.
This win caps off a historic week for the all-around athlete, who signed with San Diego State on Wednesday.
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