Kaiser Adjusts For Gridiron Action With Fresh Talent, Staff

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Cougar player Todd Takanishi, an incoming senior, participates in spring practice with the team at Kaiser High School. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

To hear Kaiser High School head football coach Pat Samsonas tell it, there will be no losers and only winners when the quarterback battle between Cal Tashiro and Laakea Awong finally runs its course this summer.

“We may possibly be looking at a two-quarterback system, if both grade out high in spring ball,” he said. “Both can do things. Cal is shifty - the kind that can tuck it and run. Laakea has a canon of an arm, and he’ll run over you if he gets the chance.”

The duel is among the more interesting developments at Kaiser, which began spring practice last Tuesday. Under OIA guidelines, they are allotted a three-week period to hold 10 practices. They finish out their spring at 4 p.m. Saturday with the team’s public unveiling at its Blue and Gold game.

While the quarterback situation - among other positions - looks promising for Kaiser, Samsonas entered last week’s series of practices as impressed with his kids’ commitment in the so-called off-season as with the athleticism across the campus. As in past years, the Cougar football team will be heavy in multi-sport athletes.

“We have a corps of ‘great attitude guys,’” he said. “They have good heads on their shoulders, and they’re good people off of the field, too. We’ve definitely gotten a better commitment. We had about 15 kids come regularly and another 30 who were playing other sports, which is good.

“One of the things that’s helped us has been our relationship with the baseball team. They’ve encouraged kids to play football, and we’ve done the same. We have five or six playing with us who are learning the game and who are going to be immediate contributors.”

Kaiser returns 15 starters in all - eight on offense, seven on defense - from last year, when they finished 3-5 overall. They were the White regular-season champion in 2007, finishing 6-1-1, but were hit hard by graduation the following spring, having had 30 players complete their eligibility.

Leading the way among the returnees are linemen Pasi Toetuu, Doug Paahao and Dijon Mostoufi, all of whom will likely go both ways in the fall. At 6-2, 285, Samsonas is expecting Toetuu to be a force from his defensive end position, although he concedes that his star player is likely to be an offensive line-man in college.

“His college ticket will probably be as a center,” Samsonas said of Toetuu. “His strength is his leadership. We let the kids vote on our captain every year during the first week of fall camp, and we (coaches) also vote. Nine times out of 10 we (coaches and players) are on the same page. It says a lot about Pasi that he’s been almost elected captain each year since his sophomore year.

“Doug goes all out,” he added of Paahao, whose father, Doug Sr., was a standout for Kaiser in the 1980s.“His effort and attitude are great. Strength and quickness are Dijon’s strengths. He’s gained probably 30 pounds of muscle since last season.”

All three are drawing interest from college coaches.

“If they can go to college and play, that’s No. 1 with us.”

Samsonas also did some fine-tuning with his staff in the off-season, promoting defensive coordinator Bronson Sismar to co-head coach.

“He’s very smart, and he’s passionate about the game,” Samsonas said. Last year’s offensive coordinator, Akoni Ah-Yat, has left for Damien, where he will be the Monarchs’ new quarterback coach. Filling his slot as offensive coordinator will be Chad Kahale and Jay Marcoulier, who worked with Kaiser’s offensive line and wide receivers, respectively, in 2007.

Former Cougar quarterback B.J. Bernard has returned to the program as the team’s quarterback coach. “We’re happy to have him on staff,” Samsonas said. “I’ve never seen a tougher quarterback.”