Kaua’i High School does not lack for will to win. There’s little doubt that the Red Raiders would love to get into the ‘W’ column. Unfortunately for KHS, Friday will bring a matchup with another sort of W — Waimea.
Kaua’i High School does not lack for will to win. There’s little doubt
that the Red Raiders would love to get into the ‘W’ column.
Unfortunately
for KHS, Friday will bring a matchup with another sort of W — Waimea. And the
battle comes as the Red Raiders are trying to piece together a lineup from the
sick and injured.
“We’re only suiting 22 guys for Friday,” Raiders coach
Kelli’i Morgado said. “But we’re just not dealing with a lot of depth, and some
of what we do have is banged up or sick.
“But we’re as ready as we’ll ever
be.”
Kaua’i looked ready early in last week’s 34-7 loss to Kapa’a. The Red
Raiders moved the ball well against the same Warrior defense that held Waimea
at relative bay two weeks ago.
“Last week was the first time our offense
was clicking,” Morgado said. “We’re just going to continue working on
that.”
As for the Menehunes, they were off last week, and, according to
head coach Jon Kobayashi, spent the down time working on their running
game.
“We’re going to try and improve on that,” the coach said. “Kapa’a did
a good job defensively, so we went back to the fundamentals.”
Kapa’a held
the historically-potent Waimea running game to 76 yards in September 29’s 14-0
loss.
But, as has been the case all season, the Menehunes’ defense proved
good enough to bail out the offense. Waimea has shut out four of its five foes
this season, and may be staring at a fifth blanking Friday against Kaua’i. The
Red Raiders fell 29-0 in the teams’ first meeting on September 22.
“We’re
looking forward to laying everything on the line,” Morgado said. “We’re just
going to go out there and battle.”
