Mere seconds after receiving the OIA championship trophy, Moanalua quarterback Zaira Sugui delivered a stern message to her team: The job wasn't finished for Na Menehune, who improved to 8-0 on Thursday night.
"We're not satisfied with what we have right now because we're going for that state title," she explained afterwards.
From the moment girls flag football officially kicked off as a sanctioned high school sport in Hawai‘i to Thursday, Moanalua has been the prohibitive favorite, featuring a roster that has a handful of players and coaches with previous flag football experience at the club level.
In Thursday's OIA championship game against previously unbeaten hosts Mililani, Na Menehune won 25-6, led by three touchdown passes from Sugui. The 19-point victory was the first time Moanalua did not beat a team by at least 20 points this season.
Sugui, also a state champion wrestler, completed 19 of her 27 passes for 208 yards, according to Spectrum, who televised the game. She also threw three interceptions and was sacked twice.
"For me as a quarterback, I don't think I did that great," she said. "But as for my team, I think they did a hell of a job on offense and defense. They really balled out, and they performed the way they needed to, and they got my back when I was down on myself and they helped me pick myself up."
The first sanctioned girls flag football season began across the state in late March and culminates with the state tournament, which runs from April 30 to May 3, with the championship game also set to take place at Mililani.
Sixteen teams will partake in the tournament, with teams from four different islands making up the field. Seven OIA teams and two ILH teams will represent O‘ahu, while the Big Island Interscholastic Federation will have four teams in the tournament. Rounding out the field is two teams from the Maui Interscholastic League and one from the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation.
While Moanalua chases perfection, the winning team of the state tournament will forever be etched in Hawai‘i history as the first flag football champion.
"We'll let history take its course. Everybody wants to be the first one, even me," Na Menehune head coach Ladd Mokiao said. "But it's totally up to the team, right? I got to get them prepared. We got to get prepared. We got to earn this. You can't just walk in there and take it."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
