Knights Stay Alert To Trojan Attack
By Jack Danilewicz
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With a coaching change at Mililani High during the off-season, Nelson Maeda and his Castle coaching staff have been hard-pressed to produce a scouting report for Friday night’s pre-season opener against the Trojans.
One thing they’re sure of, however, is that Mililani quarterback Rustin Funakoshi figures to be the focal point of new Trojan coach Darnell Arceneaux’s offense.
“We don’t know much about them, but we think they’ll open it up more this year under Darnell,” Maeda said of the game, which kicks off at approximately 6:30 p.m. at Mililani. “Their quarterback played very well as a junior.
Anytime you have experience at that position, it adds another expectation.”
Friday’s game is the first step in what Castle hopes will be a championship-caliber season. The Knights finished a disappointing 3-6 last year (3-4 in league play), after having compiled an 11-1 record in the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s Red East Conference in 2004 and 2005. For a team with a chip on its shoulder, the Knights’ non-conference schedule can only be considered ideal. In addition to the Mililani contest, Castle will play Interscholastic League of Honolulu power Kamehameha in its inter-league encounter next week.
“They’ll both be good tests for us - it forces you to bring your ‘A game’ (right away). It’s easy to play at home. We think traveling in the pre-season will help us (down the road).”
While challenged to reproduce Mililani’s tendencies in practice this week, Maeda expects the prototypical Trojan team to show up, in terms of skill level. Although the Trojans return Funakoshi, they must replace two of the top players in the state at their positions from a year ago - running back Jordan Torres and linebacker Josh Andrews.
“It’s always been a battle with them,“Maeda said.“They’ve always had a lot of talent, and they’re always very physical up front, which is kind of good for us. That’s the kind of team we’d like to face in the pre-season. They always have good numbers, and they’re always good at the skilled positions.”
For their part, the Knights return 21 lettermen from a year ago, led by two-way stand-out Solomon Koehler. Currently among the most sought-after recruits in the nation, according to analysts, Koehler packs 315 pounds into his well-chiseled 6-foot-2 inch frame.
Along with Koehler, two-way lineman Tauoli Maae and line-backer Kawehi Sablan lead the way defensively.
On the offensive side, Friday’s game could shed light on the ongoing battle for starting quarterback between senior Thomas Ilae and junior Blake Rapozo. Ilae is coming off a junior season in which he appeared in only one game because of injuries, but he was the starting quarterback for Castle’s junior varsity in 2005. Rapozo had a strong summer in which he took all the snaps in Castle’s 7-on-7 scrimmages. Maeda has said both could end up on the field at the same time in an effort to take advantage of their athleticism.
In fact, collectively, the Knights are eager to begin their season after the drudgery of weight training and conditioning in the off-season, not to mention spring practice and summer workouts.
“Like everyone else, they’ve been working hard all year, and now the moment is finally here,” Maeda said.“There’s nothing like Friday night under the lights.”
Contact Jack Danilewicz at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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