Don’t Call It A Transition Year For New Saber’s Coach

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Top running back Samson Anguay curbs his need for speed during a drill at Campbell High School’s recent practice. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

One in a series of spring football reports.

Although his Sabers will be implementing the run-and-shoot offense in the coming weeks, first-year Campbell football coach Amosa Amosa stops well short of calling 2008 a transition year.

Installing the offense has become second nature to the veteran coach, who brought his version of the run-and-shoot to his former coaching stops at Punahou, Campbell and Aiea, where he spent the last eight years coordinating the offense under the dean of Oahu Interscholastic Association coaches,Wendell Say.

“I’ve done it so many times now that the only thing I’m trying to do is to coach up my coaches and make sure that we’re all on the same page,” laughed Amosa, who also tutored an all-star team from Hawaii that played in the 2006 Samoa Bowl.

Amosa’s reputation is invariably tied to his mastery of the offense, which he learned from UH assistants Dan Morrison (UH, SMU) and Ron Lee (UH). The run-and-shoot will be in stark contrast to the run-oriented wing-T that the Sabers have run the last six seasons under Amosa’s predecessor, Tumoana Kenessey.

“Campbell hasn’t thrown the ball for a long time, so we’ll have to see if we can find some receivers,” he mused. “The key is to make sure we have a line that can protect, but we think we have some good kids coming back there (up front). The kids are excited about the offense, and that makes it easier. They always say (of the run-and-shoot), ‘Give the ball to your best player in space and let ‘em go.’ We think we have some play-makers.”

Campbell, which finished 3-4-1 in 2007, was to begin spring drills Tuesday with practices over the ensuing seven days. The Sabers will be only in shells throughout the spring and won’t hold any live contact drills and won’t have a spring game, according to Amosa.

“It will be more of a time to teach our schemes,” he said, “a lot of X’s and O’s relating to our offense and defense.”

Defensively, they’ll run “a variation of the 4-2 or 4-3,” said Amosa, who has put defense in the hands of new defensive coordinator Viavia Manuma, who coached the secondary at Campbell for the last three years.

“We’ll do more attacking and try to create some things, instead of letting it come to us.”

The offensive coordinator will be Amosa, who has spent the last eight seasons calling the plays for both Aiea’s JV and varsity.

“The ultimate goal is to give it to an assistant coach someday, but for now, I’ll do it. We have a lot of talent - it’s a matter of finding the right combination and letting them have fun.”

For their part, the Sabers return one of the most exciting players in the state in junior-tobe, Samson Anguay, who finished his sophomore season with 555 yards on the ground, including a state-best 13.5 yards-per-carry to go with eight rushing touch-downs. A projected starter at running back, he’ll also return kickoffs and punts.

“He has great feet, he’s fast and he’s quick,“Amosa said of Anguay, who put on 15 pounds in the off-season.“He’s also a strong kid and an awesome student.”

Senior wide receivers Daniel Masifilo and Nicholas Daniels should help balance out the offensive attack.

“Daniel’s a guy whose talents we’d like to try and exploit. He has good size, he’s very athletic and he’s fast. We’re excited about Nicholas, too. He’s an awesome kid and he’s athletic.”

In the trenches, the team will be anchored by senior Tyler Tiqui-Tagura and junior Mason Mau, who started every game as a sophomore last fall.

“Those guys have been leaders in the off-season,” Amosa said. “We’re expecting them to handle the load.”

Senior Lalo Respicio, meanwhile, has the inside track to be starting quarterback.

“He can move, he can run and he has a nice, strong arm with good mechanics,” said Amosa. “He’ll give us a chance not only to hurt people with his throwing, but with his feet as well.”

After spending the last two seasons in Division I, Campbell moves down to DII this fall. Campbell won a DII state title under Kenessey in 2004.