KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a Warriors opened up the 2009 preseason football slate with a 16-0 win over the Kalani Falcons, from Honolulu, Saturday night at the New Kapa‘a Town Park. This one was all about the defense for the Warriors,
KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a Warriors opened up the 2009 preseason football slate with a 16-0 win over the Kalani Falcons, from Honolulu, Saturday night at the New Kapa‘a Town Park.
This one was all about the defense for the Warriors, as they held Kalani to minimal yardage throughout the game. The defensive front featuring linebacker Kevin Cremer, defensive end Kaulana Kaui and linebacker Davin Chong held the Falcon rushing attack in check, stopping a number of plays in the backfield.
Defensive lineman Josh Uhatafe came on with a few big plays in the second half, snagging the ball carrier and creating negative yardage.
The Kalani offense could not muster a first down until late in the second quarter, when Kapa‘a gave them a freebie with a personal foul penalty. They managed another first down late in the fourth quarter, but other than that, Kapa‘a seemed to have their offense figured out.
On the other side of the ball, the Warriors’ offense struggled a bit, but connected with the big play. Midway through the first quarter, Kapa‘a had a third down at the Kalani 48-yard line. Quarterback Brehdan Kamibayashi bought himself some time in the pocket, rolled right and found a wide open Awai Dejos down the seam on the right side. Dejos caught it in stride and did the rest himself by outrunning the Falcon secondary. Kapa‘a took a 7-0 lead with 6:47 left in the quarter.
Dejos also wreaked havoc in the kicking game, showing good burst as a returner and forcing Kalani into tough decisions whether to put the ball in his hands.
After some more stout defense, Kapa‘a had two good chances in the red zone, but failed to capitalize on either after missing two field goals from 25 and 26 yards out.
Kamibayashi later found Aaron Nagao down the left sideline on a 36-yard completion to bring up a first and goal at the five yard line. One play later, they got to the one. But an errant pitch on a halfback toss brought up 4th and Goal from the 8-yard line. Coach Keli‘i Morgado elected to go for it after the two missed field goals. An incomplete pass turned the ball over on downs and Kapa‘a held its seven-point lead.
With just under four minutes to go in the first half, Kapa‘a took over on its own 34-yard line. Lined up in the shotgun formation, Kamibayashi handed off to running back Darren Taylor on the draw. He weaved his way to the right side and got good blocking to get to the edge. Taylor made it to the sideline and exploded downfield, outrunning all Kalani players pursuing him. With a 66-yard scamper, the Warriors took a 14-0 lead.
Kapa‘a turned the ball over its first three possessions in the second half, but managed to stuff a Kalani punt attempt from its own end zone to add a safety. No other points were scored, giving the Warriors the 16-0 victory.
Backup quarterback Marshall Adkisson showed some toughness during his limited action in the second half. Adkisson was not afraid to tuck it and run, usually requiring four or five Falcons to bring him down.
After the contest, Coach Morgado said that his team is not as far along as he had expected.
“Defensively, we showed a lot of intensity,” he said. “But offensively, we just had no cohesion. We have a long way to go to get ready for KIF play.”
He said he expected the defense to come out fired up, but hoped for more out of the offense and expected better recognition.
For Kalani, running back Jun Cho handled much of the workload for the run-heavy offense that was without its starting quarterback. Backup Gavin Okada took most of the snaps and 5’3” Wilkins Kato, typically a running back, came in late in the contest and completed a 14-yard pass for the Falcons’ longest pass play of the game.
