Maturing Mules Enter OIA Playoffs As Top-seeded Team
By Jack Danilewicz
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As in college football, if you’re going to lose, it’s better to lose early in the season.
Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda doesn’t have to concern himself with college polls, but he likes the lessons his team took away from their defeats to Mililani and Saint Louis in August.
“Those two losses were very humbling for the kids,” said Tokuda, whose team enters this weekend’s OIA playoff game as the Red West’s top seed at 5-1 (6-2 overall). “They realized that it’s not how good you are, but how good you played. They were still trying to find themselves at practice.”
The team rebounded from those early losses to post five straight wins and are playing their best football when it counts the most. The Mule Nation doesn’t have to look back too far for inspiration when it comes to identifying a team that played its best when it counted the most. The 2007 team was a fifth seed before beginning a run that saw it capture the Division I state championship.
“Everyone is zero and zero at this point,” Tokuda said. “All of the teams in the playoffs are good, and they’re all hungry to play on.
“For us, the most important aspect is to continue to love and trust one another. That will be the key ingredient for us playing week in and week out.”
Depth and defense also will be critical this week and in the coming weeks. Like most teams this time of year, the Mules are calling on players to fill slots.
“We don’t make excuses for injuries - every team deals with them. The next guy (in line) has to step up.”
Defensively, the Mules are yielding 23 points per game under defensive coordinator Mark Kurisu, which is near the top in the West.
“I’m glad that our defensive coaching staff is on my team,” he laughed.“I’m very fortunate. They know the schemes, they know how to teach them to the kids, and they always find ways to make us better. The entire defense is playing well. We’re big believers in depth, and the second- and third-string guys have really stepped up.”
Up front, Leilehua has rotated 11 linemen on the defensive side for most of the year, whereas the average team’s rotation might be in the six-to-seven range.
Offensively, quarterback Andrew Manley continues to be the catalyst. He enters the playoffs with 2,050 passing yards and 17 touchdowns. His stats are secondary perhaps to his instinct for managing the game and for coming up with big plays in the clutch. Manley’s scoring toss to Kamana Akagi on a 4thand-2 at midfield - which helped push them over the top in a 14-10 win over Kapolei Sept. 11 - might be the most memorable play of the year campaign to date. Manley also is unique in that he is the only quarterback calling his own plays.
“He’s way ahead of his years,” Tokuda said. “He understands our concepts, so by Thursday, he’s pretty much in his own (in play selection).
“We’re doing that with (junior quarterback) Jordan (Kala’au) now, too,” Tokuda added.“We tell him he’s not really a back-up - he’s a Leilehua quarterback. We’ve shortened the play book a little for him, but he’s been really, really good.”
The passing game will benefit from a solid running game. In Austin Schmidt, Carlos Marshall and C.J.
Bailey, the Mules have a lot of weapons to choose from.
Leilehua Notes: Tokuda admitted to being embarrassed by the big scores the Mules rolled up in wins over Nanakuli (47-7) and Waipahu (38-8) and noted his team wasn’t trying to run up the score.“I want to make sure the players and coaches in their community know I have the utmost respect for them. We ran basic plays, and we didn’t want to score (more points). Both staffs do a great job, and their communities are lucky to have them” ... As expected, Tokuda is among those following newly installed UH quarterback Bryant Moniz, a former three-year starter for Leilehua.“Just to see him out there in Aloha Stadium with a UH uniform on was really nice. I’m sure their staff is going to do a great job of coaching him up” ... While Tokuda has high hopes for Kala’au, he stopped short of labeling him the QB-in-waiting. “Nobody’s job is secure - not even mine!”
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