Chargers A Mystery On The Gridiron
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usAs first-year Pearl City coach Kai Kamaka watched film of his team’s preseason game with Castle, the image of Cyrus Coen seemed to be everywhere. Not that Kamaka is very surprised at the play of Coen, a senior linebacker and standout kicker.
“He had a good camp, and the other night (versus Castle), he had a couple of sacks and some solo tackles. All in all, he’s just a great athlete and one of those kids who is easy to coach. He does everything that you ask and doesn’t say a word.”
Although early in the season, Coen and the team begin a key stretch in their schedule Friday night when they host Aiea. Games with Radford and Moanalua follow on Sept. 4 and 11, respectively. Kamaka projects all three of those teams to be in the mix for the OIA White Conference championship, so the league race could begin to shape quickly.
“We catch all the good guys early,” admitted Kamaka, “but they’ve never seen us, and they’ll have to adjust to us.”
Indeed, the Chargers are the league’s mystery team, having brought in Kamaka and a new set of schemes in the off-season.With their tendencies less known than many of their league opponents, the element of surprise figures into Pearl City’s play-calling. They spent their bye week trying to tighten up on execution following a 37-7 loss to Castle in their Aug. 15 preseason game.
“We took a step back against Castle, after doing well in our scrimmages against Nanakuli and Roosevelt. But when the clock went to zero (to end the Castle game), we moved on,” Kamaka said. “When the kids watched the film, they saw how many mistakes they made, and they know what they’re capable of ... bottom line is that we just didn’t play Charger football.
“It’s all about execution and playing assignment football,” he added. “We made a lot of mistakes and saw that when we don’t play assignment football, it won’t be a good outcome.”
Although his staff scouted Aiea twice already, Kamaka said the focus this week is all on his own team. “We’re looking at it (Aiea) as just another conference game and a way to get back on track,” he said, underplaying any rivalry between the neighboring programs.“Our basic focus is on what we need to do.”
Despite the self-imposed miscues and the lopsided score, the Chargers found much to build on versus Castle, which is one of the more disciplined teams in the state under longtime coach Nelson Maeda.
“Castle isn’t in the top 10, but they should be,” Kamaka noted.
In addition to Coen, Kamaka also liked the play of running back Ray Cooper, who drew special attention from the Knights’ defense, and slot back Jarrick Duvachelle, a converted corner back, also was solid versus Castle in his debut with 11 catches for more than 100 yards receiving.
“They spied Ray the whole time with (all-conference linebacker Garrett) Paredes. His key was always Ray. He’s strong and fast, and he has the ability to run people over and break tackles.
“I would put him up as one of the top backs in the state,” he added of Cooper, a state champion wrestler in the 152-pound weight class last winter.“When we get our passing game together, it will open up things more for Ray.”
For its part, Aiea was impressive in its opener, earning a 24-3 road win at Roosevelt. The win was bittersweet, however, as Na Ali’i lost senior quarterback Freddy Taliulu on the last play of the first half to a shoulder injury. His status was unknown last week, but Aiea found an able replacement in junior Chucky Kaahaanui, who hit Kekoa Thompson for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
“They throw the ball pretty well, and both of their quarterbacks are mobile,” Kamaka said of Aiea’s offense. “We’ll need to have pressure up front. We can’t let their quarterback sit back and throw. We need to create some movement and use our speed.”
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