LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors rightfully celebrated winning their first KIF championship in 22 years after Monday’s 17-14 win over Waimea, but that elation had to be put on hold this week. After all, the season’s not over. The Warriors
LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors rightfully celebrated winning their first KIF championship in 22 years after Monday’s 17-14 win over Waimea, but that elation had to be put on hold this week.
After all, the season’s not over.
The Warriors take on the Pearl City Chargers this afternoon at 4:30 in the first round of the Division II Hawai‘i state playoffs at Vidinha Stadium.
Kapa‘a head coach Keli‘i Morgado said the Warriors are focused heading into this afternoon, but it took a day to shake off Monday’s win.
“Tuesday the whole team looked like 5-year-olds at a Toys-R-Us for the first time,” Morgado said. “They all had permanent smiles on their faces.”
Tuesday was a walk-through practice, so Morgado let the boys revel in the win, but come Wednesday it was back to business.
And the Warriors will have to treat it as such if they plan on downing the Chargers. The team from O‘ahu brings a vaunted offense led by a strong receiving corps.
Pearl City head coach Kai Kamaka said the Chargers are comfortable spreading the ball out to everyone on the field.
“Every single one of our receivers are returning guys,” Kamaka said. “We rotate them in. We usually have about seven guys that catch a pass. Anyone of those guys can take it down the field.”
The Chargers finished the season 9-2 overall and cruised to a perfect 8-0 conference record. On the season, the Chargers offense averaged a hefty 31 points per game.
“We’re a true run-and-shoot team,” Kamaka said. “We’re very balanced at what we do and are good at creating isolations.”
The Warriors averaged just over 21 points per game en route to a 7-3 overall record (5-2 KIF), but the Kapa‘a defense anchored the team by limiting opponents to just 15 points a game.
While competition in the KIF was fierce this year, the Warriors could face a disadvantage entering the playoffs. Most teams see a variety of different teams and schemes during the season, but on Kaua‘i the teams only see each other. Morgado said that doesn’t come into play today because the Chargers seem familiar.
“Normally it’s a concern. Fortunately they do a lot of what Kaua‘i does offensively,” Morgado said. “There are no real drastic changes. They do a lot of what both Kaua‘i and Waimea do defensively. It’s just been a lot of review.”
Morgado said even against a team other than the Chargers, the Warriors feel like they would know how to react to different things sent at them.
“Honestly Kaua‘i and Waimea threw so many different things at us and with the three team’s we played in the pre season I think we’ve seen the gambit of offenses and defenses.”
The Warriors are fresh off a win in the biggest game Kaua‘i has seen in years. The Warriors won their first title since the 1980s and it wouldn’t seem outlandish for the team to be satisfied with just winning the KIF. But Morgado said the team is ready and hungry for the Chargers, although the attitude heading into today’s game is different than what it was for the KIF title.
“Last week we had so much anxiety and stress. The stress for this game isn’t nearly at the same level,” he said. “But it’s not like we don’t care. This is a big game. There is a lot more excitement and eagerness for this game than nervousness and anxiety like Monday. We’re feeling more positive than stressful.”
