Governor’s Ball: Hawaii football team practices at Farrington High

There were two explanations as to why the Hawaii football team practiced at Farrington High’s Edward “Skippa” Diaz Stadium this morning:

1. The Warriors wanted to rest their grass practice field, which has been chewed up with rain and heavy use.

2. “We needed to find out where that mana came from on that last play,” head coach Nick Rolovich said, a reference to defensive lineman Pumba Williams‘ 35-yard sprint to help tackle Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate a yard short of the goal line and preserve the Rainbow Warriors’ 45-38 victory.

And, so, the Warriors filled three buses and made the 6-mile drive to Kalihi to practice at Williams’ alma mater.

“It was great,” said defensive lineman Foi Shaw, a 2018 Farrington graduate. “It was chill. It brought back old memories.”

For quarterback Justin Uahinui, a 2017 Farrington alumnus, it was his first time on that field. The $19.3-million stadium was completed in 2017, with the first game in September of that year.

“It was good to be back at my old school,” Uahiunui said. “For us, it was a regular practice, but it was a little more special.”

Uahinui remembered when the construction forced the relocation of practices. “We started practicing at Kalakaua Park,” he said.

Williams also was back on campus for the first time since graduation in May 2014.

“I used to hate practicing on that (previous) field,” Williams said. “We had ant hills everywhere. We had rocks in the middle of the field. A dirt track.”

But Williams said he was impressed with the new synthetic field and track that allow the Governors to host on-campus events.

At the end of the practice, in what has become an off-campus tradition, Williams, Shaw and Uahinui were asked to sing their alma mater.

“Oh, yeah, best alma mater in the state,” Williams said. “We sang with pride. It was good.”

UH practiced at Saint Louis, Punahou, and Kamehameha in the preseason.