Na Ali’i Prepares For Big Match Against Leilehua
By Jack Danilewicz
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The Aiea football team’s playoff hopes may be hanging in the balance this week, but in a sense, the players have been in post-season mode for three weeks already.
A schedule that features games with Mililani,Waianae and Leilehua in successive weeks pretty much assured that Na Ali’i would need a strong finish to move on.
“We know to get into the playoffs our performance has to be good these next few weeks,” said Aiea coach Wendell Say.“The kids are still confident. They know they’re capable of playing well. We just have to cut down on our mistakes.From this point forward, the teams that make the least amount of mistakes are going to be the ones who are successful. The playoffs are the second season, and the kids are focused on that.”
Na Ali’i, which lost a heartbreaker to Mililani 21-14 on Sept. 21 in the first of its “three-game season,“was to play Waianae over the weekend. The outcome of that encounter aside, Say’s team regards Friday night’s Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West regular-season finale at Leilehua (7 p.m.) as a must-win. Because Aiea’s bye week falls in the last week of the West’s season, Na Ali’i likely won’t know their fate until after all league games have been played on Oct. 13. The top five teams from the Red West make the OIA playoffs.
For the present, Aiea is focused only on the matter at hand - getting past Leilehua. Na Ali’i has beaten Campbell and Radford for its two league wins. The loss to Mililani was Aiea’s only “on-field"setback, with a forfeit to Kapolei accounting for the other. That had been the result of Na Ali’i's part in a melee that took place in the final minute of their game with Campbell Aug. 25 when numerous members of both teams came onto the playing field,prompting the OIA to enforce its standard one-game suspension.
“Up to the Campbell game, we were improving every day,“Say said. “The setback could have been a blessing injury-wise, because we got some people back, but I think the mental aspect set them back a little.”
One area that has never wavered for Na Ali’i is behind center, where quarterback Keenan Naeole has remained steady.
“He’s been very consistent,” Say said of Naeole, who suffered a season-ending injury as a junior in 2006. “He’s having the year we expected.”
Na Ali’i's receiving corps also has lived up to pre-season expectations with James Buchanan and Aldodius Colquitt both enjoying stellar seasons.
“The wide receivers have stepped it up,“Say said of a unit that returned eight of its top 10 players from last year. “If one is having a bad day, another has always been able to pick up the slack, and having (running back) Daniel (Liilii) back (from injury) gives us an added dimension to the run.”
Naeole and Na Ali’i's pass-catching corps versus the Leilehua secondary is an intriguing matchup to watch on Friday night.
Equally important to Aiea’s chances will be how well its defense fares against the Mule offense, which utilizes several different formations.
“They’re multi-dimensional,” Say admitted. “When we watched them play against Mililani,they came out in empty sets (no running back in the backfield) in the first quarter and the power I-formation in the second quarter. In the third and fourth, they went with what worked best. Offensively, they come at you with a lot and try and stretch you out - same as Mililani.”
Special teams have played no small role in Red West encounters to date, and Aiea hopes to make strides in that area after conceding a long punt return and being victimized on a blocked punt in their loss to Mililani. Both of those miscues led to Mililani touchdowns.
“We’ve worked a lot on special teams, and we’ll continue to work a lot on them to make sure that we’re covered,” Say said. “We all have to focus more on that area.”
Leilehua won last year’s game 24-20 at Aiea.
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