Kaimuki Is Favored To Win Final Games
By Jack Danilewicz
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The Kaimuki football team will ride out the last three weeks of its 2007 regular season on “upset alert.”
With the Bulldogs’ last three opponents - Waialua, Nanakuli and Kalani - a combined 3-12 heading into last weekend, Kaimuki High figures to be a heavy favorite in each of its final three games. All the more reason for Darren Johnson’s team to count on getting the opposition’s best effort. Kaimuki, which was to meet Roosevelt last weekend in a key Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference game, will be making its longest trek of the season at 7 p.m. Friday when it visits Waialua for a game.
A year after a break-through season that saw his team qualify for the DII playoffs, Waialua coach Lincoln Barit has been as concerned with injury reports as scouting reports. His team lost a pair of defensive linemen early in the season, and the secondary has been hit hard by the injury bug lately as well. On that note, Barit expects his defensive backs to all be back in the fold for Friday’s game, having healed last week when Waialua had an open date on its schedule. A healthy secondary could be a huge boost for Waialua, which is hoping to win the individual matchups between both teams’ skilled players.
“We’re small up front, so we have to match them by putting eight people into the box,” said Barit of his defense. “Their quarterback is back - they have a good passing attack, but they depend on the run. We know they’re going to test us there to see how physical we are.”
Waialua plays an aggressive 4-3 defense that includes a lot of stunting in order to take advantage of Kaimuki’s quickness.
“If we just sit back, they’ll run all over us,” Barit said of Kaimuki’s offense, which averages 189 yards rushing per game and 312 yards of total offense. “Our linebackers are not that big, but they love to hit.”
Like its offense, Kaimuki’s defense is also rated first in the White statistically. They are giving up only 123.8 total yards a game and a scant 50.1 yards per game on the ground.
Waialua - also known as the Bulldogs - has gone with a pair of senior quarterbacks in Donovan Matas and Shane Tyler to date, and both figure to play behind center against Kaimuki, according to Barit. The fourth-leading ground gainer in the White last season as a running back, Matas had converted to quarterback during spring practice and led Waialua to a 35-21 win over Honokaa in his debut Aug. 18, but he moves back and forth now to make way for Tyler.
“Right now, Tyler is improving every game and gaining confidence. Donovan is a double threat. He can run and throw. Tyler’s a good passer, but he’s not a speedster.”
Matas is the White Conference’s leading rusher, averaging 156.3 yards per game.
Kaimuki running back Justin Paderes and quarterback Kapono Kaiwi-Barrionuebo have helped carry the load for the offense so far in 2007. Paderes entered last weekend as the league’s fourth-leading rusher, at 109 yards per game, while Kaiwi-Barrionuebo had thrown for a league-high 497 yards with five touchdown passes against only one interception. The offensive line - Robert Pologa (6-1, 285), Chauncy Nicola (6-1, 270), Dustin Uyeda (6-1, 250), Albert Iokepa (6-1, 245) and Alex Foster-Laifa (6-3, 290), and tight end Kyle Ikeda (5-10, 205) - remains a big key to their success, in Barit’s view: “They’re very physical, and they’re huge.”
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