There will certainly be no secrets when No. 5 Waianae visits fellow unbeaten Aiea on Saturday night.
The game features two coaches who have been going at it ever since Danny Matsumoto took over at Waianae in 2000. Wendell Say has been at Aiea since 1991.
Despite Waianae’s reputation as a perennial power, Say has always had his team prepared for the tough-running bunch. Matsumoto holds the career edge 7-5 and has won in each of the past two years by a combined score of 41-20.
Waianae has made its reputation with a hard running game in Matsumoto’s reign, but Say seems to have the antidote for that. Na Alii’s defense has only allowed two Seariders to go over the century mark against them in Say’s time in charge — Ben McQuown with 159 in a loss in 2007 and Lono Manners with 127 in the first meeting in 2000.
Matsumoto vs. Say
(Waianae’s leading rusher in parentheses)
2012: Waianae 35, Aiea 20 (Alakai Kealoha, 84)
2011: Waianae 6, Aiea 0 (Sean Stevens-Sadamaru, 36)
2010: Aiea 9, Waianae 6 (Puletua Wilson, 44)
2007: Aiea 30, Waianae 20 (Ben McQuown, 159)
2006: Waianae 34, Aiea 21 (Ben McQuown, 51)
2006: Waianae 46, Aiea 0 (Joe Abell, 51)
2005: Waianae 25, Aiea 6 (Darius Fuller, 72)
2005: Aiea 26, Waianae 15 (Curtis Jones, Nui Stevens, 27)
2004: Aiea 21, Waianae 17 (Darius Fuller, 33)
2002: Waianae 23, Aiea 7 (Chad Rodrigues, 67)
2001: Aiea 21, Waianae 0 (Kawena Rosario, 28)
2000: Waianae 27, Aiea 0 (Lono Manners, 127)
So Jemery Willes, who has gained 237 yards in Waianae’s first two games this year, better be wary. Say might have an idea how to stop him and he might have the talent to do it since his defense has given up only a total of eight points in blowout wins over Kailua and Pac-Five this year.
But Matsumoto seems to know something about stopping Say’s running game as well, since Say has NEVER had a runner break 100 yards against Waianae’s stout defense. But that is to be expected, since Say seems to like to air it out.
Matsumoto has as much a grasp on stopping that as Say knows how to stop Waianae from doing what it likes. Na Alii have only had three quarterbacks exceed 200 yards against the Seariders: Alfredo Higa with 313 in 2006, Kali Kuia with 284 in 2005 and Dustin Grace with 249 in 2002. Aiea is 2-1 in those games.
Other coaches going head-to-head this week:
Campbell vs. Leilehua
Amosa Amosa beat Nolan Tokuda for the first time in four tries last year during homecoming.
Kaimuki at Kahuku
Reggie Torres is 2-0 against Clint Onigama, winning 42-7 last year and 28-0 in 2009.
Mililani at Kapolei
It seems Kapolei’s Darren Hernandez has beaten every coach in his day. But he hasn’t managed to handle Rod York, losing to him 45-0 last year, 34-0 in 2011 and 34-7 in 2010.
Kailua vs. Castle
Nelson Maeda began his career on the other side of this rivalry, and has quite a little row going with Kailua’s Gary Rosolowich. The coaches have squared off every year since Rosolowich took over the Surfriders in 2004. Rosolowich has a 5-4 edge and has not lost to Kailua’s rival since 2010. No team has won more than two years in a row in the rivalry.
Moanalua vs. McKinley
Arnold Martinez has won both times he has stared across a sideline at Joe Cho, beating the Tigers 42-13 last year and 28-20 in Cho’s debut season in 2010.
Kalaheo vs. Anuenue
Kalaheo coach Darrell Poole beat Anuenue 44-28 last year, his first meeting against Kealoha Wengler.
Matsumoto has been the head coach for 13 years with no OIA championship, time to get rid of the bum.
Amosa Amosa has beaten Nolan Tokuda. He did at home in a thrilling 35-34 OT victory for the Sabers homecoming last year.
Hernandez has scored against Rod York, it might not have been in the past two years, but in 2010 when Rod York took over and Trent Mckinney was still playing, Kapolei scored a touchdown.
Thank you, Helping Hand.
I rushed through those notes at the end and you were right on both counts. It has been fixed, thanks to you. Did you know the facts by memory, or did you check out our engine on this site?
I knew the Campbell one right away, the Kapolei one was fishy to me cause I knew Hernandez won against Mililani in the past 5 years at least.
Sorry Jerry, the stats engine is confusing at times. I just googled “Kapolei Mililani football 2010” and a ScoringLive page came up so I used their site to double check before posting.
No worries, you have to get used to the sorts and I actually used the original spreadsheet whenever I do something like this because it is easier to search/replace.
But having all of these games in one place is invaluable and the best thing about this, in my opinion. I just hope someone someday comes along and improves upon it.