The two veterans of Kahuku’s bulldozing offense line see a lot of work ahead.
Moments after a 21-13 win over No. 6 Kamehameha, right tackle Micah Soliai-Howlett and right guard Marcus Lombard were brutally frank with their assessment as a unit in the trenches.
“D-minus,” said Soliai-Howlett. “We could have scored on every drive if we didn’t have simple mistakes. We should have double the score we had.”
“I say D-minus, too,” Lombard added. “It was terrible.”
Kahuku entered the regular season of Open Division play ranked No. 5 statewide and did not disappoint. The defense was dominant for 40 minutes and finished with five interceptions and eight sacks. The O-line powered out of pistol and elephant formations and the Red Raiders amassed 215 yards on 47 carries against a stout Kamehameha defense. Zealand Matagi rushed for 87 yards on 19 attempts and Lailo Kaluna tallied 47 yards on nine carries. That production is quite impressive considering Kahuku ran the ball on 81 percent of its offensive snaps.
Soliai-Howlett (6-4, 290) and Lombard (6-0, 285) simply have higher expectations.
It was in the midst of the battle, with Kahuku slowly building a lead, that the two blockers told their coaches that it was time to take the game to the Kamehameha front seven.
“They have a lot of two-way players. We just wanted to not let them rest,” said Soliai-Howlett, who has committed to Arizona State.
“At halftime, we were telling them to start running,” Lombard said. “To run isolations to our side. (Before that) they were bringing the outside ‘backer, stacking the box.”
Soliai-Howlett and Lombard have embraced their roles as leaders.
“We’re trying to teach them technique,” Lombard said.
“It’s still beginning of the season. (Lombard) works with the guards and centers. I work with the tackles,” Soliai-Howlett said. “The expectations, we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to get it done.”
The two trench leaders have a name for their O-line.
“We’re the Sojahs,” Soliai-Howlett said.
Don’t sleep on this team! Don’t ever sleep on dem Red Raiders! Bring it home boys!! All the “Transfers” in the world cant stop dem Red Raiders!
Dang that Defence looks impenetrable, first D of course. Kahuku might pull it off this year they look real good definitely a top 2 defence in the state. That o- line are gonna tire out defenses and score points. Kahuku looks real tough. Kam would not have scored on Kahukus first string defense they only scored on second string defense.
Kahukus first D is impenetrable. Kam only scored on Kahukus sec. D when it was 21-0. Looks like top D in the state. That o- line gonna do damage this year wearing defenses out. Idk Kahuku looks like the team to beat after tonight.
Long way to go Red Raider fans, that was not a strong Kamehameha team, and the interception was caught was out of bounds, that eventually gave them there 1st touchdown which was a bad call, the running back fumbled before the end zone, but the Ref was a blind ref for that bad call, up next, Kahuku at Mililani.
Kahuku looked impressive on Defense tonight, no doubt. Not sure if Kam was a true test for Big Red, as I think they were missing a couple key players. However, props to RR Nation for a stellar performance.
The road gets tougher from here on out. Mililani will be a huge match up, and the gauntlet that awaits them in Sept. is gonna be interesting.
And, ILH, Kam also shot itself in the foot again by tipping away a sure pik from its own DB.
The pass defense for Kahuku needs work if they want to compete for another OIA Title. Thank goodness that Robby S. transferred. Kahuku will do better without a gun shy QB. The O line can take care of the ground and pound stuff. Reggie Torres a Big Asset to the Coaching Staff as he has the experience to aid and assist Coach Carvalho. Good Luck and Best Wishes!
Kahuku D always makes the other team look “off”. Good first game. Coach Carvalho got to rotate the whole bench after a 21 point lead. Yup Mililani will be a slugfest. Good thing York recruited those Crudasers. At one time in the Campbell game their was 6 milz recruits that was not on last year’s team. Wow. NFL action.
Kahuku’s defense looked impressive. That 80-yd TD came on, for the most part Kahuku’s backups. Hopefully their offense can find some kind of identity.
oh please, ILH. the only reason why the reserves were in was because we knew that we had the game in the bag. when you dominate the other team like we did last night, you can give the reserves some playing time. it’s called “player development.” maybe ILH never hear about that concept before because they just recruit all the players they need. oh, the qb not panning out? just recruit a new one! us public community schools gotta actually do the hard work in developing athletes as football players and as people
Kahuku looked TERRIBLE! Play calling and personnel use was horrendous! The kids deserve better than last night. I mean #1 never came off the field. He was the QB, Punter and starting DB.. This coach knew this kid is coming off of and ankle and knee injury last year but still played this kid like his job depended on it. Defense might look good to everyone else but when all the LBs know how to do is blitz and cannot read the backfield this Defense is going to get embarrassed by a good QB. Good job on the win but the kids deserve better.
Kahuku has to rely on their defense to control the flow of the game. They are not on the same level as the defense Vae Tata had in his first year. But they have the athletes to do it. Missed tackles and over pursuit hurt them when they blitzed. Got to stop leaving the DB’s one-on-one with the receivers. Passing teams like St. Louis, Punahou, and Campbell will exploit this. Grade for the defense: C. Better take care of the shortcomings or else Mililani’s going to give them fits next week.
The O-Line has been the weak point for Kahuku the last several years. Gone are the days when they could just lineup and block man-on-man. Defenses today are much more aggressive and quicker, as evidenced by teams like St. Louis. The return of previous coaches Torres and Spurrier is going to help. But as seen last night they need to be quicker off the ball and maintain their blocks. Even though the rushed for more than 200 yards, once their running game gets shut down they need to protect the QB if they want to have even a simple passing game. Grade: D-. Got to pound the ball on the ground. Play action, short, quicker passes to keep the defense honest. Can’t fall behind and try to catch up. Mililani’s defense will test them.
Kahuku 31
Millville 0
I called it.
Millville will not be able to run against Kahuku front 7 and Millville can’t pass this year. sorry but the only team that will match Kahuku is St. Louis maybee.
Big red is done. St Louis is coming to town just like last year. Even mililani is done, they almost lost to Campbell and the only team in the state that’s on the too level besides St. Louis, is Punahou. It’s been proven.
BangkokJoe — Longshoreman make around $40/hr. so if it was your intent to throw shade at these young men, that wasn’t it chief.
St. Louis gotta get through some tuff teams before they can come for Big Red. DaFun might be Nofun by the time they come for Kahuku. We never even saw this St. Louis team yet. New year, new team. Just wait an see then talk ish. Till den sssssshhhhhhhh. We chat later.RR4L
Dafun a.k.a. Education First, keep hating. we took down the richest private school in the country. we’re coming for you next
Lol idk but by the look of the fans in the stands at your games, looks like attendance is down. Didn’t see you guys show up when you guys got blown out 49-14 last year against St. Louis…
Everyone can keep saying that Kam only scored on kahuku’s 2nd string defense. But Kahuku only scored 1 offensive touchdown, score should’ve been 14-13 and it was at kahuku’s home field! How you guys gonna talk smack about how unstoppable Kahuku is after that? Who cares if kam’s Offense couldn’t score, they are always weak on offense anyway.
Where my elephant package at? We dont need quarterbacks… We are bigger and or stronger than everyone else plain and simple? Where is my man Larry Price to back me up on this… Physical Superiority cancels out… I cant remember but IFYKYK.
@robocoop Kahuku goin smash Millville and St. Louis this year. Just accept the reality of it. I know acceptance is hard at times. But it is what it is.
BangkokJoe August 11, 2019 12:37 pm
“D- minus, could have scored on every play, should have doubled the score”….pretty big talk for someone who’ll be working the docks 10 years from now.
Wow!! Criticizing high school kids that’s got D1 offers and are going to be more successful. Ah haters going to hate!