KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a Warriors have faced adversity all season. They’ve faced must-win games, weather and darkness postponements and carried a 21-year-old “silverback gorilla” on their backs all season. That gorilla, as Kapa‘a head coach Keli‘i Morgado called it, is
KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a Warriors have faced adversity all season. They’ve faced must-win games, weather and darkness postponements and carried a 21-year-old “silverback gorilla” on their backs all season.
That gorilla, as Kapa‘a head coach Keli‘i Morgado called it, is no longer weighing down the Warriors after Kapa‘a defeated the Waimea Menehune two weeks ago for the school’s first KIF title since 1989.
Good thing, because now the Warriors face a giant.
Kapa‘a faces the five-time Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II champion ‘Iolani Raiders, today at 2 p.m. in Honolulu.
Morgado said the Warriors have overcome their fair share of obstacles this season, but the Raiders may prove to be the toughest challenge yet.
“They’re not so much of a powerhouse as they are an incredibly efficient machine,” Morgado said of the top-ranked Raiders. “They’re a dangerous, quick striking team on offense and swarm very quick on defense.”
Morgado said the Raiders are a team that plays much bigger than its size. ‘Iolani doesn’t pack a front like quite like the Warriors, but the Raiders have one big edge on the Warriors: experience.
The Raiders played a schedule this season that included games against Punahou, St. Louis and Kamehameha — all Division I teams.
And while all of those games resulted in losses for ‘Iolani, Raiders head coach Wendell Look said the lessons learned were invaluable.
“It’s nice to play the bigger schools because we’re going to be facing teams that are always going to be physically bigger than us,” Look said. “It’s a test of survival for our kids. If they play a D-I school and survive they start to think they might be able to play with them.”
Look said the Raiders will try to keep a balanced attack in today’s game, running a double-slot offense and using their fast defenders and a four-man front on defense.
After looking at game film of the Raiders, Morgado said the team is very good at adjusting on the fly.
“They’re kind of like an Auburn or Oregon offense in which they’ll get to the line, read the play and then audible,” he said. “They find your weakness and then find the right play.”
Morgado said he expects the Raiders to bring in an aerial attack. If so, the Warriors will try to repeat their effort from last Saturday’s quarterfinal game against Pearl City. Against the top-ranked Charger offense, the Warriors came up with a shutout. Morgado hopes his team can come up big again today.
“Our game plan is no big secret,” he said. “We run the ball behind our big offensive line and control the ball. On defense we’ll do the best to corral them.”
There isn’t a player on the Warriors roster that has been to the state playoffs before. Last week the Warriors got their feet wet, but Morgado said that was in the comforts of a home crowd. Today the Warriors will be a plane flight away from home, playing against a Division II dynasty.
Not to worry, he said. Ever since the Warriors beat Waimea two weeks ago, Morgado said the Warriors are playing stress-free football for the first time all season.
“There’s no pressure,” he said. “The pressure was in winning the KIF for the first time in 21 years.”
This is compared to the Raiders, who have the history of success.
“It serves as good motivation, especially for the seniors,” Look said. “They have to live up to that standard of excellence. It puts some pressure on them to not break the streak.”
The Warriors know of ‘Iolani’s success and the aura that surrounds the giant, but after everything Kapa‘a went through to get to today’s game, Morgado said anything can happen.
“We’re happy to be playing football late in November,” he said. “We’re up for the challenge and excited to see where we match up.”
