Falcons Developing Strong Defense Under New Coach

Wednesday - September 06, 2006
By Jack Danilewicz
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It isn’t uncommon for a football team’s defense to be ahead of its offense in the early stages of the season. That has certainly been the reality in 2006 for Kalani High School and its first-year head coach Glenn Oshiro.

“Defensively, we’re coming around,” said Oshiro. “We have a new system (in place) there, and we’re excited. They’re picking it up and doing what they need to do to get the job done.

“We’ve really focused a lot of attention on the defense, and it’s paying off. The score against Roosevelt (in a 35-0 regular-season-opening loss) was high, but it was more because our offense made a lot of mental mistakes and put the defense in a bad position.

“We left them on the field a little too long, but they stepped it up.”


Kalani’s defensive progress can also be traced back to a lineup that is heavy with senior leadership, unlike on the offensive side of the ball where five sophomores are currently starting for the Falcons. Oshiro’s confidence in his offense’s future prospects remains high, nevertheless, as the Falcons prepare for Saturday’s game with Anuenue (at approximately 6:30 p.m.) at Kaiser Stadium in Hawaii Kai.

The return of running back Dustin Kimura figures to be a big boost to the Falcon offense. The 5-foot-7-inch, 145-pound senior was injured during Kalani’s summer passing league. However, he is back at 100 percent. He was expected to be in the line-up last Saturday night when Kalani was to play a road game against the Pearl City Chargers.

“He brings a lot of versatility to the backfield,” Oshiro said of Kimura.“He has some experience, which will help him, and he’s a smart runner.”

Turnovers have plagued the Kalani offense in recent weeks. The Falcons had “too many to count” in their pre-season game with Kalaheo on Aug. 19, according to Oshiro, and were intercepted a handful of times in their Aug. 26 loss to Roosevelt.

“It’s just mental errors right now,” said Oshiro, whose team operates the run-and-shoot offense. “We’ve had a problem with our timing between our quarterbacks and receivers, but we’re working hard to execute better and to make better decisions.


“I think we’ll be OK on offense once we get untracked. It’s a rebuilding process.”

Four key senior returnees - linemen Patrick Akau and Sam Tupou as well as linebackers Eben Napolean and Jason Lee - have led the way for the Falcon defense so far this season. Oshiro is hoping that can continue this weekend when the Falcons face Anuenue, which has performed well in its first season in the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s White Conference.

“They’re a very good team, very scrappy, and we know they have a very good (coaching) staff,” Oshiro said of Anuenue. “They have a limited amount of players, so hopefully we can wear them down. We have to execute, and hopefully good things will happen for us.”

In addition to Saturday’s game with Anuenue, the Falcons also have games this month at Waialua

High Sept. 16 and against the Nanakuli Golden Hawks Sept. 23 at home. Kalani’s homecoming game is set for Oct. 23 against Waipahu on the Kaiser football field.

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