Aiea Prepares To Face Off With Kapolei, Despite Injuries
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.us
|
Coming out of spring practice, Aiea head football coach Wendell Say knew that depth would be a team strength. What the veteran coach didn’t know was how quickly he would lose some players.
“We’ve gone into the last two games with a lot of kids missing because of injuries,” said Say, whose team defeated Damien (27-7) and Roosevelt (23-6) to move to 2-0 on the season. “Against Damien, we went in with no running backs. We converted a couple of linebackers for that week, and they did a good job. Some of them came back for Roosevelt and they did a good job. Except for Freddie, all of our injuries came the first week in practice. We have a bye week this week so that will help (heal).”
Perhaps the most glaring injury was senior quarterback Freddy Taliulu’s fractured collarbone, suffered in the Roosevelt game. He’s now expected to miss three to four weeks while he recovers. Only last season, he broke his collarbone in the first half of a Roosevelt game.
“We’re hoping for another big recovery from him,” said Say, noting that Taliulu made a near-miraculous recovery last time to return for the season’s second half. “It was tough for him because he worked so hard in the off-season. He had just come off a nice play where he ran up the field for about 30 yards.”
But while Taliulu the quarterback is sidelined, Taliulu the team leader is still very much on the job. “He spoke to the team at half-time of the Roosevelt game and told them, ‘This doesn’t change anything,’” Say said. “He’s tough. He’s been out at practice helping every day, and he’s already throwing. He acts like it’s a bruised shoulder. Most of us would probably be in a sling.”
Junior Duke Spencer will start versus Kapolei Friday, Say said. Spencer stepped in against Roosevelt in the second half in week two and managed the game well, he noted, but completed one of only two passing attempts. “He stepped it up and did a good job, so we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, he can cover until Freddy is back.”
While Say is hoping “to be at full-force” against Kapolei, he also noted that projected starting linebacker Tino Uele is out for the season from a knee injury. “He was having a break-out year. Fortunately for us, we’ve had some depth at linebacker and the others have been stepping up.”
Despite the loss of Uele, Aiea has been stellar on the defensive side, yielding a mere touchdown in each of its first two games.
“Everyone has been solid - the defense has been keeping us in,” Say said.
In Kapolei, Aiea will face the spread option offense.
“I don’t know if it’s a blessing or not to play them early when maybe they don’t have everything in yet,” he said of the Hurricanes. “Like Moanalua last year, they run the option and they run it real well. Our defense will have to play solid and know our assignments. Offensively, we can’t go 3-and-out against them. We have to be able to control the ball and keep our defense fresh.”
Friday’s game begins a brutal stretch in Aiea’s schedule, with games against Waianae, Leilehua and Mililani over the next three weeks.
“The competition will be there - it looks like it’s going to be a fight every week in the West,” Say said. “It’s like a playoff game every week.”
Kapolei entered its game over the weekend with Leilehua at 0-2, having lost to Pearl City (14-7) in preseason play and to Punahou (35-6) Aug. 21.
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
