Kurisu Helps Keep The Mules At The Top Of Their Game
By Jack Danilewicz
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It may be too soon for Most Valuable Player honors to be distributed, but within the Leilehua program, third-year defensive coordinator Mark Kurisu would certainly garner a few votes.
The Mules have led the ultra-competitive Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West in total defense each of the past two seasons and are on a good pace this year, having yielded only 116 total yards a game to go with a pair of shut-outs.
“He’s a great teacher - on the field and in the classroom - and he makes our package easy for the kids to understand,” head coach Nolan Tokuda said. “We’re an attacking defense; we don’t sit back and read the play.”
Friday night’s opponent, Aiea, could pose one of the bigger challenges to date for the Mules’ defense. Na Ali’i quarterback Keenan Naeole is one of the state’s most capable at his position, having completed 56 percent of his passes for a West-leading 712 yards heading into the weekend.
“He’s been very consistent,“Aiea coach Wendell Say said of Naeole, who suffered a season-ending injury as a junior in 2006. “He’s having the year we expected.”
Aiea wide-out James Buchanan, who is the OIA’s leading receiver, leads a veteran pass-catching corps that returned eight of its top 10 players on the depth chart when Na Ali’i opened fall camp back in August. Aiea is averaging 195 yards of total offense per game.
“They have great team speed - offensively and defensively,“Tokuda said of Aiea. “They throw 40 to 50 times a game. Our strength is stopping the run - we think we can shut people down there - but can we stop the pass well enough?
“I still think it will come down to the guys up front - our four versus their front five,” he added. “If we can confuse them up front, we have a chance.”
Leilehua’s defensive line, which features Dontae Scott, Kaumu Delos-Santos, James Shuster, Bradley Laulualu, Christian Collado and Kalua Ellis, is backed up by a pair of solid linebackers in Art Laurel and Josh Cruz.
“The strength of our defense is our linebackers,” said Tokuda, whose team took a 2-1 record into the weekend.
In Aeremy Palomares, Peter DeSaulniers, Micah Cruz and Hoku Kama, the Mules also have their share of play-makers in the secondary.
“They’ve carried us all year, and we’re going to ride the shoulders of our defense to the play-offs,“Tokuda said. “Our offense doesn’t have to win the game, they just can’t lose the game.”
With that in mind, the Mules hope to shorten Friday’s game by holding onto the ball, thus keeping the quick-striking Aiea offense off of the field.
“With the defense we have this year, we’d like to try to play keep away,” Tokuda said. “Aiea always comes out with a good defense against us. They give us different looks from what we’ve usually seen on film of them, so we don’t usually get a good scouting report - at least when it comes to their defense.”
The Mules have rotated a pair of quarterbacks in Kaipo DeRego and Kaipo Kea so far this season, and both figure to play against Aiea. DeRego had completed an OIA-best 63 percent of his passes entering Leilehua’s game at Kapolei last Friday night.
Na Ali’i has beaten Campbell and Radford for its two league wins. A 21-14 loss to Mililani Sept. 21 was Aiea’s only “on-field” setback, with a forfeit to Kapolei accounting for the other. That had been the result of Na Ali’i's part in a melee that took place in the final minute of their game with Campbell Aug. 25, when numerous members of both teams came onto the playing field, prompting the OIA to enforce its standard one-game suspension.
“Up to the Campbell game, we were improving every day,” Say said.“The setback could have been a blessing injury-wise, because we got some people back, but I think the mental aspect set them back a little.”
In addition to the number of key individual matchups, the elements could also come into play on Friday night. “It’s going to be muddy - it will be a very ugly game,” Tokuda said, noting the field conditions at Leilehua.
The Mules won last year’s meeting 24-20 at Aiea.
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