Back in the day, it was such hum bug to find game tape on a Neighbor Island football team, which made game-planning a chore, scheming for, basically, a ghost, and going in blind.
Back in the day, it was such hum bug to find game tape on a Neighbor Island football team, which made game-planning a chore, scheming for, basically, a ghost, and going in blind.
Now, if a game is not on OC16, it’ll be somewhere on the web. Google a team and – poof! — half a coaching staff’s homework is done. There’s no need to spend extra airfare, and send someone to Maui to scout.
Kamehameha coach Dan Lyons also has a viable source, the staff at Kamehameha-Maui. It always helps to have brothers on a different island.
The Warriors (8-2) play No. 1 seed Lahainaluna (9-0) in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II semifinals at 6 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.
Kamehameha has a chance to make Big Island Interscholastic Federation history. Since statewide classification in 2003, no team from the Orchid Isle has advanced to the championship.
The Luna last made it to the state final in 2012, and lost to Iolani 36-33. Of course, that Lahainaluna team had a devastating defensive star in Hercules Mataafa, who racked up eight tackles, including seven solo. He’s now at Washington State.
Whether Lyons and his staff received game tape from their Warrior brothers on the Valley Isle or watched stuff for free on maxpreps.com, they likely saw a few areas of concern.
The guy who jumps out on tape is Luna senior quarterback Makoa Sione Filikitonga-Kukea, who’s a run-pass weapon out of a spread attack. He’s an athletic package at 5 feet 11 and 185 pounds.
He’s not the state’s most accurate guy with a 55 percent completion rate: 55 of 99 for 630 yards with 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. However, Filikitonga-Kukea is dangerous as a read-option runner, 608 yards on a 6.3-yard average, and 11 TDs. He has a team-high 96 rushes.
Whenever a QB leads a team in rushing attempts and is still standing upright, that’s a clear sign of toughness or really good blocking. Lahainaluna’s most dominant blocker is Junior Moala, a 5-9, 270-pound junior, who looks like a big school bus.
Watch any film clip and he’s often getting to the second level. When the Lunas run their counters, left guard Ken Brito (5-10, 205) is the most mobile guy and pulls for any lateral attack, leading the way for the QB or someone on a jet sweep.
Defensively, Nau Filiai (6-2, 205) lines up at right end or on the opposing quarterback’s blind spot, and represents a serious threat. The junior Luna is not that physically imposing, at least on paper, but he plays with a hard-nosed edge, as if he eats nails for breakfast.
“They’re very disciplined and have good athletes,” Lyons said. “Their QB and D-line are pretty good. No. 25 at wide receiver (Scott Medeiros-Tangatailoa, 5-11, 180) is a pretty good player.
“With their quarterback read-option, they’ll have him running on a counter and do a lot of pulling, similar to that style is Konawaena. Generally, you have to stop one guy (pulling guard), and hopefully everybody rallies to the ball. But first you have to stop that pulling guy to have any success.”
The Lunas don’t have to watch game tape to understand the key to Kamehameha’s run defense production. If D-lineman Pono Davis gets penetration, that opens the door for his Warrior linebackers, especially sophomore Wayne Dacalio, to make plays.
And if the Lunas hoist a ball in the air, Kamehameha’s secondary guys – Alapaki Iaea, Caleb Baptiste, David Kalili and Preston Kalai – are all ballhawks.
“Dacalio always plays big in games,” Lyons said. “He’s got a motor, energy, work ethic, athleticism, everything. He’s the real deal, a guy we definitely see as a projectable Division I college player.
“We’ve done a lot of film study and we’re prepared. We’ve seen a moderate amount of material. We’re confident enough to have put together a game plan.”
That’s the preparation part, a reason game tape is so vital. Coaches can draw up schemes where to put their top blocker or tackler to create the best advantages.
There’s only one thing more important than preparation: execution. Players need to carry out the game plan, make blocks and get tackles. If the opponent is bigger, stronger and faster, then that’s why halftime was invented to adjust on the fly.
In any case, the Warriors go in confident, at least they know who the Lunas are and what they do.
“We do think it’s a winnable game,” Lyons said. “We’ll be prepared and will play hard. We have to be very disciplined, make sure we don’t make mistakes, do what we do, and if we do all that we have a chance to be successful.”