HONOLULU — To rehearse a road-game routine, Timmy Chang took the University of Hawai'i football team back to his roots.
Now in his second year as the Rainbow Warriors' head coach, Chang scheduled a quick trip up Wai'alae Avenue to Saint Louis School to cap the second week of fall camp.
While Saturday's practice simulated some of the team's game-day operations for the coming season — which opens Aug. 26 at Vanderbilt — the field trip also represented a homecoming for Chang, defensive coordinator
Jacob Yoro and 15 more Crusader alums on the UH roster.
"It's such great feeling coming back home," said senior offensive lineman
Eliki Tanuvasa, a 2018 Saint Louis graduate. "A lot of blood sweat and tears on this field.
"It helped me grow to be a man. Now in my last year of (college) football I get to come back here one more time, where the whole grind really started. Just a great experience and I have chicken skin right now. It's so much fun."
Chang, a former Saint Louis quarterback, led the Crusaders to two O'ahu Prep Bowl titles and the inaugural Hawai'i High School Athletic Association championship in 1999 before embarking on a record-breaking career at UH. Yoro was an All-State linebacker for the Crusaders and served on the Saint Louis coaching staff early in his career.
Chang is now teaching the run-and-shoot offense he first learned while coming up through the Saint Louis program led by Hawai'i high school coaching legends Cal and Ron Lee.
"This is where it all started," Chang said, standing on an artificial turf field that was grass and dirt during his high school career. "The run-and-shoot started here for me."
After practice, Chang called upon the current Warriors who came through the "Brotherhood" at Saint Louis to join the "Braddahhood" in Mānoa to sing the school's alma mater.
While the group did take some good-natured ribbing from teammates from rival high schools, in the end the Warriors returned to campus united as they continue preparing for the coming season.
"With fall camp, it's been nice with the bonding we're doing being around each other all day," senior wide receiver
Jonah Panoke said. "That bond is really beginning to come together."
Along with Panoke — who caught the winning touchdown pass in Saint Louis' win in the state championship game in 2017 — and Tanuvasa, other Saint Louis graduates now playing for the Warriors are wide receivers
Koali Nishigaya and
Nick Delgadillo, linebackers
Isaiah Tufaga,
Tasi Tadio and
Kamalu DeBlake, defensive back
Kona Moore, tight ends
Kila Kamakawiwo'ole and
Devon Tauaefa, offensive linemen
Ethan Spencer,
Arasi Mose and
Ka'ena Decambra and defensive linemen
Josh Sagapolutele and
Anthony Sagapolutele.
The Warriors resume fall camp on campus on Monday and will host a Fan Fest on Aug. 12 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.
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