There is work to be done, Makoa Freitas said.
In fact, more than once, the first-year head coach at Kahuku pointed out that video tape of Friday’s battle at Waianae will be combed through. Mistakes will be fixed. Freitas wasn’t quite somber after No. 2 Kahuku’s 37-0 win at No. 8 Waianae — the first meeting at Raymond Torii Field since 1975 between two of the most historically-prominent football programs in the OIA — but he was not overly enthused about what he saw.
“It was a good effort. We persevered through some early problems. We’ll have to watch the film. There’s a lot of things we have to work on, I’m sure,” Freitas said, referring to 19 penalties for 160 yards.
Kahuku improved to 2-0 in OIA regular-season play while Waianae, which has the most difficult early-season schedule in the state, dropped to 0-2 (0-3 overall). The return of an experienced, talented offensive line — four of the starters did not play against Leilehua last week — gave Kahuku a big edge on a fairly young Waianae defense. But Freitas expected more.
“There’s some plays we messed up on. All five of our guys have to block,” he said.
Much of Kahuku’s offensive success was drawn up and executed according to where Waianae’s All-State defensive standout Kana‘i Mauga lined up. During the Red Raiders’ second scoring drive, they ran precisely to the opposite side of Mauga, which led to explosive runs of 11, 14 and 34 yards by running back Enoch Nawahine, who scored his second TD on the latter carry.
“Oh yeah, Kana‘i is a great player. He goes full speed all the time. We made sure that we limited his influence on us,” Freitas said.
With Duke Heffernan blasting kickoffs inside the 10-yard line and adding a 28-yard field goal before the half, and Miki Ah You returning a punt 53 yards for a TD, it was advantage Kahuku in special teams, offense and defense. Oh, that defense. Four different Red Raiders were credited with sacks, bringing down a tough playmaker in running back-turned-QB Rico Rosario.
Defensive lineman Samson Kapule-Si‘ilata (6-3, 255), sophomore linebacker Aaron Fonoimoana-Vaomu (5-11, 180), defensive end Samson Reed (6-3, 264) and linebacker Fatu Atuaia (6-0, 225) brought Rosario down.
“We have to fix mistakes and penalties. We’re all excited to start playing, we get over-excited, jumping (over the line of scrimmage,” said Reed, who has eight scholarship offers and committed to Virginia in late June. “We tell our guys to calm down, relax, breathe, read your keys, read the ball and play smart. It’s being disciplined, really.”
Offensively, no surprises in the game playbook by Kahuku. Sol-Jay Maiava was efficient, taking deep shots, enough to keep the Waianae defense honest. He hooked up with Peter John Mataira on a nice 28-yard deep throw for a TD, and his lone interception came when a reserve wide receiver appeared to make the wrong read on a deep pass to the pylon. In all, Kahuku ran the ball 26 times, aired it out 18 times (for a 59-41 run-pass ratio) and turned the ball over just once.
What a robust audience at Waianae saw was a defense that pinned down the Seariders, who finished with 15 yards of total offense. Kahuku’s dominance wasn’t entirely a surprise. With a healthy balance of returning starters on both sides of the ball, the Red Raiders were in constant pursuit of Rosario, the Waianae All-State running back who filled in at quarterback on Friday. Rosario had nowhere to go against a big, fast, disciplined Big Red defense.
“Our defense, we got after the ball. Timed our blitzes really well. We kind of had a hunch (Rosario) would play QB. He throws the ball fairly well,” Freitas said.
“He’s a great runner,” Reed said of Rosario. “We just played the run.”
It looked entirely like the kind of defensive performance turned in by Kahuku during the two seasons that former coach Vavae Tata was in charge. At least, if those yellow flags can be ignored.
*crickets* from da rest of da island…especially Manoa.
Hyn – as you were saying?
RRFL.
Toomeke- good win from the best competition you guys will face in the oia till the playoffs. You talking about St. Louis playing inferior teams who do you guys play besides the mainland team that will test you? Crickets………
You two need to get a room already and practice blocking eachadas kicks….
I think it’s good that Makoa Freitas is working on the passing game because it will set kahuku up for success in the coming years even though their passing game is EXTREMELY ugly right now. but a passing game isn’t something that happens overnight. Basically, Kahuku will go unchallenged throughout their regular season, so might as well work on things during live game time situations. It’ll help them immensely during the playoffs when they play better competition (the ILH).
Big Red is Rumbling through competition this year and to pull a shut out on a Powerhouse like Waianae… You coaches better get your teams into rugby, that’s why Kahuku dominates in Defense they hit harder without pads. Your program will never compete against a program like that, and if your coaches say that’s not makes Kahuku so tough, then how is that working for you?
And no, waianae is not very good this year but they’re the toughest team on kahuku’s schedule
The last time I looked, ILH only has 6 participating schools. So….. is there any competition in the ILH, I think not! I mean, they play each other twice during the football season until playoffs! hyn….. CRICKETS?
Hyn – correct my memory please… because just a few days ago you were inferring that Waianae was not an inferior team. And I seem to remember saying they wouldn’t cross the 50.
Or am I not remembering that correctly…?
We still in for St LuLu vs Puns? Cause Puns O-line is right there with Kahuku’s. Just saying.
RRFL.
“RR August 19, 2017 9:21 am
The last time I looked, ILH only has 6 participating schools. So….. is there any competition in the ILH, I think not! I mean, they play each other twice during the football season until playoffs! hyn….. CRICKETS?”
What is this crap logic? Size of the league doesn’t necessarily have any relationship to the quality of the teams.
Crickets
Toomeke- you better go check your post because you said Waianae wasn’t an inferior team.
RR- moanalua,aiea,kaiser and radford is not even close to kamehameha and punahou.
quality of teams in the ILH? hahahahahahahaha!
I’m out….. hahahahahahahaha!
RR- don’t get me wrong oia does have good teams but it’s just that kahuku is not playing them. You guys can pad up your stats till the oia playoffs when you’ll actually play better teams like kapolei and mililani.
Hyn – same song, different year… our schedule is weak… yada yada yada…
And yet…we still in the The Ship the last 2 years.
Hmmmm…?
Kahuku does need to work on passing, but they should stick to passing out of their traditional formations that they most likely will fall back to once Solnay graduates. Unfortunately, we don’t breed passers in our area, we breed linemen, rb’s and lb’ s. Our struggles are going to be worked out eventually but why fix something that ain’t broke? Pass more out of what we do, keep your identity with more options.
Complete overhauls like this and we now look like most of the state…and playing to their strengths…pass defense.
If they truly stay as they are showing they plan to do, the excitement of Red Raider smash mouth will become an endangered species like many other endemic and indigenous things here in Hawaii.
Good luck to all and see you in the open playoffs.
Toomeke- yup just so happen it’s only you guys with the weaker schedule. Hmmmmmm………..
Hyn – and likewise only us in da ship from oia.
Meanwhile… how come all da ILH boys come onto KHS stories all day long. And yet nothing on mililani or kapolei stories. Why the obsession boys??? Lol.
RRFL.
Toomeke-because it’s you and anywaays always talking crap about the ILH . You don’t see anyone else from other schools being negative but you two guys.
Toomeke- believe me when I say I like high school football and the competition. I look forward watching any high school game wether it’s oia or ILH . I just hate it when ILH wins and you guys always have something negative to say. When kahuku wins the first thing come to mind is they were the better team and not because of transfers or any other excuse. I guarantee you if both you guys stop being negative all this crap would stop and just be positive for all the boys wether it’s oia or ILH .
I would agree with you Hyn except for the fact that Kahuku beats EVERY school in the OIA on a regular basis. You said Kahuku pads there stats until the Playoffs when they face kapolei and Mililani. Well, lets see their record in the playoffs against these 2 teams the past 2 years. In 2015 Kahuku played Kapolei in the regular season as well as the playoffs. The result? 27-7 kahuku in the first game and 56-10 in the second. They also played Mililani for the OIA Title that same year and won 20-7. In 2016 Kahuku beat kapolei AGAIN in the playoffs 54-7. Kahuku didn’t get to play Mililani in 2016 because Mililani could get past Waianae in the Playoffs. Yeah the same Waianae that beat both Kapolei and Mililani in 2016 and just happens to belong to the same division as Kahuku. So how is Kahukus schedule weak if they continually beat EVERY team in the OIA?
88- every year is different. I’m not talking about the past I’m talking about this year. I mean C’mon we all knew that mililani and kapolei were going to be the better teams out of the oia. At least schedule one game against either of them. Like I said I like watching competitive oia games not blow outs.
Same old same old every year. Kahuku plays a weak schedule…not there fault, they can only play whomever is in front of them. When they win it all, the excuse is that the losing team didn’t get to play a team with physicality that Big Red has to help them prepare. When Big Red loses, the winning team likes to mouth off about the “superiority ” of the ILH. Blah blah blah.
@ HYN – please, use whatever influence you have to help the OIA prep a more competitive schedule for Kahuku. In regards to mililani and Kapolei being the better teams in the OIA this year, just say no to drugs cause its effecting your mental capacity to think clearly. Canes have no running game to stay in a game with Big Red. Trojans are very talented, but there running game isn’t as good as people like to think, which they’ll need to take a W against Kahuku. Currently, the only Hawaii team that matches up with this year’s Big Red squad is St Louis. It will be another great championship game when these two meet up again. RRFL!!
The only ones mouthing off is kahuku. Like hyn said if toomeke and anywaays didn’t say anything negative about ILH this would be over. He only backing ILH . We’ll see this year because you guys not so smash mouth anymore.
I like how cocky you guys are. We’ll see at the end of the year who’s the last one standing.
@Hyn- I guess Kahuku just padded its stats with the same weak team Kapolei had a good competitive game with the week before.
ILH & Hyn get a room already 😂
@88- if you call that padding stats. St. Louis scored 21 in the first quarter and took out the 1st string by halftime.
“RR August 19, 2017 2:22 pm
quality of teams in the ILH? hahahahahahahaha!”
this is about the quality of kahuku fan posts here. between anywaays writing entire 5000 word essays about ILH recruiting and 88 and toomeke (although to his credit, toomeke isn’t as annoyingly antagonistic to people anymore), they give the impression that the vast majority of kahuku fans just talk crap and love to whine about recruiting.
kahuku is a good team and they always were a good team, year in and year out. their kids are extremely talented and play hard. the fans here, though. no humility. no respect. just whine whine whine about ILH all day long.
I disagree that kahuku just breeds o-line and rbs. that’s just the style of football they play. the talent pool is so large in the north shore area that they could run any offense they wanted and kill it: run and shoot, whatever weird smash mouth football they were playing last year, spread option, etc. they just gotta commit to it
HYN: Kahuku running back had 98 yards on 8 carries. That was against the same D that shut down Kapolei to only 7 points. The RB was taken out of the game midway thru the 2nd quater.
I hate to admit it, but as much as I despise the ILH, I have to agree with them. Week after week you typically see RR fans cluttering the comment section, talking smack about everyone outside of Kahuku.
Toomeke asks why ILH fans always on KHS stories but literally the first comment you read is him basically inviting them for an argument….
“*crickets* from da rest of da island…especially Manoa.
Hyn – as you were saying?
RRFL.”
Omg I just came to read an article and end up reading these negative comments can everyone please just stop come on guys what you guys think the boys don’t read these comments also? It’s setting a bad example for everyone on all sides just stop and be pono everyone
I think that its the general lack of humility that is irritating. We know that you dont represent the whole RR nation but lets be real, most, not all RR fans act like you guys. Might be unpopular to say this but even some of my humblest, level headed, active LDS, good natured kahuku friends just turn into douche-bags when they talk about RR football. BTW, this isnt a new phenomenon, always been this way.
I Just read all the comments. Not a real name attached to any of them.
Imagin “Kahuku fans cluttering up” the message boards on articles about their team they cheer for? Where else would they talk about their team?
I promise you I have never read an article involving an opposing team on this site. Why? Because I don’t care about what is written about other teams.
Thank you for reading about our team.