LIHU‘E — Having played its last game on Oct. 30, Kaua‘i High is now glad to be able to set its eyes squarely on an opponent. After Friday night’s surprising first-round result saw Hawai‘i Prep notch a 17-14 win over
LIHU‘E — Having played its last game on Oct. 30, Kaua‘i High is now glad to be able to set its eyes squarely on an opponent.
After Friday night’s surprising first-round result saw Hawai‘i Prep notch a 17-14 win over No. 3-seeded Moanalua, the Red Raiders know who their opposition will be when they hit the field at 7 p.m., Friday night at Vidinha Stadium.
HPA, which came to Kaua‘i in August and left with an up-and-down 14-6 win over Waimea, is now the only thing standing in the way of Kaua‘i and another trip to Aloha Stadium to play for a Div. II championship. But head coach Derek Borrero knows that overlooking any team at this stage could mean the end of your season.
“I strongly think that they (Moanalua) were overconfident and that’s why they lost,” he said Saturday.
While he said that he and the coaching staff were “surprised” to see HPA come away with the win and had been expecting Moanalua to be their opponent, after watching the game film, he felt HPA was the more deserving team.
“They showed to be the team that wanted it more,” he said.
Borrero indicated that most observers and coaches expected the bigger team would just roll over the smaller HPA squad, but that they were a spirited group and had a scrappiness that was able to overcome their size disadvantage.
So now that the Raiders can focus on a single team, Borrero says the coaches are very familiar with what HPA brings to the table, both offensively and defensively. But their first concern is adjusting to the quickness they saw in Friday’s first-round game.
“That was not the offense we saw in August,” he said.
They run a straight-forward version of the Run and Shoot offense, a staple of the KIF. Yet in this system, the quarterback will typically key on one receiver per play and not go through progressions looking for holes in the defense. They are throwing the ball more than they did early in the season, which Borrero thinks could provide opportunities for his secondary.
“Our defensive backs want a chance to make plays,” he said.
The one wrinkle that Borrero is concerned about from Ka Makani quarterback Keanu Yamamoto, who threw for 150 yards and a touchdown Friday, is also his ability to make plays with his feet.
He said that the Raiders defensive ends are going to have to be disciplined in their lanes and not allow the quarterback to break the pocket and escape to the outside.
What the film sessions will do for the coaches and players is prepare the defense for how they will need to be lined up. That’s where they are spending most of their time, putting themselves in the best position to make plays and then allowing the players to then be instinctive.
Defensively, HPA runs a Cover 3, zone style defense that Kaua‘i has seen plenty of throughout the season.
Something the Raiders coaches are trying to impress upon their players is the importance of getting off to a fast start. While he was hesitant to go into detail on how they may accomplish that goal offensively, Borrero did say that they are “intending to start off at a high pace.”
Practices will be toned down after Saturday, the final full practice the team will go through. Borrero said he intends to scale back practices and limit the exertion in both contact and running drills.
“We look good, we’re right where we need to be,” he said during Saturday’s practice, which focused on special teams and defense.
The team’s goal before the season was to play its final game at Aloha Stadium. The Raiders are one win away from that opportunity. Borrero is hoping that all the necessary elements cooperate to make that happen.
“Now we just need good weather,” he said.
