KAILUA-KONA — Last season, Kealakehe High School football made a big turnaround.

KAILUA-KONA — Last season, Kealakehe High School football made a big turnaround.

After winning two combined games in 2023 and 2024, the Waveriders turned things around under Brian Hill and won four games — the program’s highest single-season total since 2019. Now, with the start of the 2026 season in reach, Kealakehe is aiming to continue trending upward under new head coach Nano Padillio.

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Padillio was the program’s junior varsity coach a year ago. Having worked with several of the varsity team’s players before, the transition up was naturally a bit easier.

“It’s going to take discipline (to keep the program’s momentum going,),” Padillio told the paper during a hot Kona afternoon practice Thursday. “Last year, penalties and selfishness hurt us a lot, where players put it upon themselves to do things that didn’t really balance with the team. It caused personal fouls, which put us in setbacks and then eventual deficits.

“So we’re trying to steer away from bad attitudes and focus on doing what’s best for the team.”

“I think we just need to work better as a team,” senior linebacker Ezra Alapai-Toli added. “At times, we were all over the place, so I think we have (to be more consistent as a group).”

Teammate Siosaia Ma‘asi, a towering presence who is expected to play critical roles on the offensive and defensive lines, agreed with his teammate’s comments.

“We just got to keep our standards high and play as a team — that’s the biggest thing,” Ma‘asi said.

But it’s easier said than done, especially with the significant roster turnover the Waveriders just went through. The program lost 26 graduating seniors from 2025, with this year’s roster only having five. While the group is in a rebuilding process in 2026, Padillio believes they can surprise a lot of people.

“I’m taking it as a growing process for the program,” he said. “We are a young team, but I think they can compete. They show the drive. They want to come out every single day.”

Deeton Padillio is one of several young players eager to make an impact, as the sophomore will assume the starting quarterback position. Although Padillio is just a second-year player, he feels a responsibility to lead his team as the signal caller — a challenge he looks forward to.

Padillio is also the son of the head coach.

“The overall goal is to win with the team, but I think for myself is to just really develop my leadership skills, and just be able to project it at camps and things in the future,” the sophomore said.

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While Padillio is hungry himself, he can see the fire in the rest of his teammates, too.

“I see a lot of that hunger in these freshmen and sophomores,” he added. “We got that hunger, and granted, we lack a little bit of the talent that we had last year, we got that hunger to make it up.”

Joining Padillio in the backfield is freshman running back Michael Tinao, who will be replacing last year’s senior star Gabriel Chong.

“(Tinao) has been the one who has shown the most promise during the summer,” Nano Padillio said. “He’s going to be the workhorse of our offense. He’s definitely one of the ones that we’re lucky to have, because we’re going to have him for the next three years.”

Kealakehe was slated to host Nanakuli this weekend for a preseason matchup, but the game was canceled due to weather concerns. Because of this, the ‘Riders won’t have any preseason games to prepare for their conference opener next Friday against Honoka‘a.

Despite the setback and lack of game reps prior to the start of the year, Padillio sees a silver lining in the situation.

“I see both the good and bad out of it,” he said. “The one good thing is that I get to save my players for the season at hand.”

But one thing is certain for the Waveriders: they’ll come ready to compete and give it their all, from the opening kick to when the clock hits zero.

Padillio believes that if his players do that each week, Kealakehe will be a tough out for anyone.

“For me, a successful season is making sure that these gentlemen understand the roles that they play on the team,” he said. “Because for the seniors going to the next level, if they understand their role here, when they get to that next level, it’s going to be a lot easier to transition into that program.”

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The ‘Riders 2026 schedule can be found below. The slate is subject to change.

• 8/28 Honoka‘a

• 9/4 Hilo

• 9/11 at Konawaena

• 9/26 at Waiakea

• 10/2 at Honoka‘a

• 10/9 Waiakea

• 10/16 at Kea‘au

• 10/24 Hawaii Prep