LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors will celebrate their homecoming tonight at the New Kapa‘a Town Park field, when they take on the Waimea Menehune in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation season finale. The final game of the season will be for
LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors will celebrate their homecoming tonight at the New Kapa‘a Town Park field, when they take on the Waimea Menehune in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation season finale.
The final game of the season will be for bragging rights, as Kaua‘i High School has clinched the KIF championship with an undefeated run through its nine-game schedule.
Kapa‘a will be looking to end the season with an even 3-3 mark in KIF play. The Warriors have shown improved offensive output throughout the season, to go along with their trademark hard-nosed defensive front. Quarterback Brehdan Kamibayashi has had some success going up against the Menehune defense in the teams’ two previous meetings, throwing for a combined 259 yards.
It was running back Darren Taylor who got the Warriors rolling in their Oct. 16 26-6 win over the Menehune, piling up 147 rush yards, including an 87-yard touchdown run.
The Menehune will be looking to notch their first win of the season. In these teams’ first matchup, Waimea held Kapa‘a without an offensive touchdown, ultimately falling 7-6 after missing the extra point on a Kaulana Waalani-Arroyo 70-yard touchdown reception from Jenzen Cacal.
Waalani-Arroyo has seen his role increase all season, lining up more in the backfield during the second half of the year. He has become a top rushing threat and handles plenty of snaps as quarterback. His special teams prowess keeps his big-play potential in the opposing team’s sights for basically the entire game.
The Waimea running attack started off very strong in last week’s contest against Kaua‘i, thanks to Waalani-Arroyo, Ikaika Rapacon and Christian Tangalin. Yet the team fell behind quickly and its sustained drives were not able to keep up with Kaua‘i’s quick-strike offense.
If the Menehune are able to run the ball effectively, then the main issue will be their ability to stay away from turnovers. If they can avoid short-field situations, their defense has shown it can make plays.
While it has been a long season for Waimea, it will certainly come in motivated and primed to avoid the loss column for the final week. Kapa‘a will need to continue to spread the ball to its various receivers, which Kamibayashi has become adept at doing, while hoping Taylor is able to create some of the same magic he did in the teams’ previous battle.
Additionally, in JV action, the Waimea squad will be looking to complete an undefeated season. Last week’s 7-0 win over the Raiders bumped the young Menehune to 5-0.
JV will kick off at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7:30 p.m.
