After a week off, the Kapaa Warriors enter the month of October with a clear edge in the standings and an opportunity to clinch their second straight KIF championship with three weeks of the season still remaining. Kauai High’s 17-0
After a week off, the Kapaa Warriors enter the month of October with a clear edge in the standings and an opportunity to clinch their second straight KIF championship with three weeks of the season still remaining.
Kauai High’s 17-0 win over Waimea last week moved Kapaa into this advantageous position. If the Warriors (5-0, 3-0 KIF) continue their winning ways and manage to edge the Menehune (3-3, 1-2) on Saturday (2:30 p.m., Hanapepe Stadium), they lock up a berth in the Division II state championship tournament and can focus on continuing to impress the seeding committee in their final two contests.
Three weeks ago, Waimea had no answer for Kapaa’s passing game in a 68-0 result. But the Menehune have been very solid aside from that outing. They’re allowing only 8.2 points per game in their five other contests and pitched a pair of shutouts in their first four games.
That illustrates just how well Kapaa executed to earn the result they did. The Menehune will obviously be focused on correcting the errors in their defensive secondary that allowed Kapaa to consistently attack the seam, but identifying the problem is often easier than correcting it. At least now Waimea knows what it will be up against. Two teams playing a second time is usually a completely different game than the first.
Just ask Kauai High, which lost 17-0 to Waimea in their previous meeting and flipped the script completely in last week’s tilt for their first KIF victory of the season.
Other than the conference title, at stake for the Warriors is their shutout streak. Kapaa is yet to allow a point in KIF play, outscoring their opponents 145-0 in their three wins. You don’t get extra credit for a shutout, but that’s certainly a point of pride for the defense and I’m sure they want to preserve that additional bragging right for as long as possible.
The calendar has barely turned past September and we may already have a KIF champion determined this weekend.
Hawaii needs quick start against Broncos
I don’t think there’s a coach in the country who wouldn’t rather play with a lead than face an early deficit. But getting off to a good start against Boise State (3-1) is essential for the Rainbow Warriors in this week’s conference opener.
Hawaii (2-2) heads to Idaho to begin Mountain West play as an even bigger underdog than last week at No. 22 Wisconsin. Whether Boise State has earned that much respect so far is debatable, but the Broncos have put up more than 50 points in each of their past two games and maintain a considerable home-field advantage. UH is in store for a long evening if they don’t control the flow of the game in the first half.
While quarterback Max Wittek keeps showing that he’s a legitimate signal caller with a quality arm, asking him to keep pace with Boise State’s offensive attack is an unrealistic request. The offensive line and running back Paul Harris need to relieve Wittek of some of that burden by winning at the line of scrimmage and grinding out some sustained possessions. Three and outs are killers on the road and even more magnified against this type of opponent.
Boise State’s freshman quarterback Brett Rypien was lights out in his first career start last week at Virginia, finishing with 321 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. UH has shown good pressure from its front seven to this point and will need that to continue in order to disrupt the neophyte’s comfort in the pocket. If he goes mostly untouched, things will get away from the ‘Bows in a hurry.
Hawaii won its conference opener last season, but this is an entirely different endeavor. To move back over .500 for the year and begin at the top of the MWC West standings, they must win the time of possession battle and put some blue stains on Rypien’s uniform.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
