It didn’t sound as if Kahuku coach Siuaki Livai intended to deliver inciting comments, it may have just happened accidentally. But some of what he said managed even to rile the historically straight-edged Jon Kobayashi. When asked about facing a
It didn’t sound as if Kahuku coach Siuaki Livai intended to deliver inciting
comments, it may have just happened accidentally.
But some of what he said
managed even to rile the historically straight-edged Jon Kobayashi.
When
asked about facing a smaller team like Waimea, Livai was quite clear.
“We
have no problem playing smaller teams,” the coach said. “Many of the teams
we’ve played this year have been smaller than us.”
When pressed about the
advantages or disadvantages of battling a squad with smaller players, Livai
delivered an even more poignant message.
“You know, we could make [the
game] boring by just wedge blocking and just running right at them,” Livai
said. “I can guarantee a win if we do that.
“But I don’t want to do that.
It’s not good for the players. It’s not good for the fans.”
That generally
is the kind of quote that ends up on the opponents’ – Waimea in this case –
lockerroom wall an hour before game time.
“That gets us a little excited
over here,” Kobayashi said. “That’s something that might fire the kids
up.”
Livai may very well be able to employ that system of offense.
Four of his lineman weigh in at 300 pounds or more, and another six tip
the scales at no less than 260. By contrast, Waimea’s roster features just
three players weighing at least 260 pounds.
Essentially, Livai seems to be
saying that, push come to shove, Kahuku can literally run over the Menehunes if
need be.
“He did that to Wai’anae in the championship game,” said
Kobayashi, who attended the OIA title contest in Honolulu last Friday. “And
he’s done it before this season.”
So what does the Waimea coach think about
this default gameplan?
“Hey, he’s got the weapons over there,” Kobayashi
said. “And when you’ve got it you can flaunt it. He has the luxury to use the
big bodies.
“I guess that’s part of football, right. But if you shove us,
we’re going to shove right back. We’re going to try and stop them.”
What’s
more, it seems Livai is confident enough in his own team that he doesn’t
necessarily have to prepare for Waimea.
“We don’t have a tape on them
[Waimea],” Livai said, “so I don’t know really anything about them.
“We
just need to take care of things on our end, and then people will have to
adjust to us.”
Perhaps, but when asked if he was implementing a plan of
attack to shut down Menehunes running back Jessie Sablan, Livai wasn’t even
sure who the senior was.
“The names don’t ring a bell because we don’t have
a tape. You just use the video to get an idea of personnel and formations. Like
I said, we’re just concerned about ourselves.”
