Surfriders Practice Hard For Post-season Football Play
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.usFor the Kailua High team, the byproduct of a three-day break in practice at the beginning of their bye week was a return to “pre-season-style” conditioning last Tuesday.
Asked late last week about the mood of his football team, which has won two of its last three games entering the post-season, Kailua head coach Gary Rosolowich said, “pure exhaustion.”
“We ran,and we ran,and we ran,” he said of the their return to work last week in preparation for this weekend’s Oahu Interscholastic Association first-round playoff game. “They knew it was coming. We had talked to them about the need to step up, and how there would be more (conditioning) and not less.”
Kailua was to learn of its first-round opponent last Sunday when the OIA released its pairings. Regardless of the opposition, the Surfriders are eager to make an impact, following a regular season marked by its share of ebb and flow.
“We had some off-the-field challenges that took us off track, but that’s behind us now, and we’re progressing,” Rosolowich said. “Our sophomores are battle-tested - they’ve had six or seven games under their belts now, and so overall, we’re pleased with being in the playoffs. We’re ready to take this team as far as it wants to go.”
As Kailua enters the post-season, its defensive mind-set remains intact, according the coach, whose team finished OIA Red East play 3-3 this fall,including a 27-18 win over Moanalua in its last outing Oct. 6.
“Our defense has been the more consistent aspect of our play. They’ve played very well at times. With no superstar linebacker this season, nor a humongous defensive end, they’ve really been forced to play well as a team. When they do that, it works for us.”
Offensively, quarterback Zach Akamine returned to the lineup late in the season after missing a game-and-a-half for “disciplinary reasons” and is one of the up-and-comers of the league. Less settled has been the line,which was among the “most affected by injuries,” according to Rosolowich.
“How healthy we stay and how well they perform will determine how well the offense does,” he said of his O line, which starts a pair of sophomores.“They’re the key to our being able to go far (in the playoffs). We’re trying to get them to the next level of play.By that,we mean a three or four yard gain becoming an eight or nine yard gain. That can make a dramatic difference in output.”
Special teams play will likely be a big factor in Kailua’s post-season fate. Rosolowich said it was a point of emphasis last week during the Surfriders’ off-week.
“Special teams have been good - not great, but I’ll take good,” he said.“Good means not doing anything dumb.If you catch every punt, it can give your offense a huge advantage.Not catching a punt (and electing instead to let the ball be downed by the punting team) is one of my bugaboos. If you add up the yardage during a season from simply not catching the ball (on a punt), it’s huge.And we’re still having some problems on point-after-kicks, but we’re working on it.”
Injuries have also been an issue for much of the season. Heading into their bye week, they were getting close to being the healthiest they’d been in a number of weeks before “a few (injury-related) incidents over the weekend"slowed their progress.
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
