Kaua’i head coach Keli’i Morgado did not mix words.
Last Wednesday, two days before the Red Raiders’ preseason opener at Maui, the coach grinned wide and said his team was ready. Then he said, “We just need to find the winners’ mentality. Our kids are from Lihu’e. They don’t know what it’s like to win on the football field.”
Friday night those kids got their first lesson, as Kaua’i shocked a sluggish Maui 21-13 at War Memorial Stadium. The Sabres were champions of the Maui Interscholastic League last season and compiled an 8-1-1 record.
It’s safe to say, no matter what prognosticators think of Maui this season, that the win was Kaua’i’s biggest in quite some time. In fact, it was the Red Raiders’ first win since the 1999 season.
And it came because Kaua’i played within itself, peppering its offensive play with an improved aerial attack while pounding ahead behind Jameson Smith on the ground. Rodney Yap, a sports writer who covered the game for the Maui News, described a Red Raiders’ defense drastically different from the 2000 version.
“They were quick to the ball, very quick,” Yap said. “And they gang tackled. Every time [Andrew] Malafu got the ball, there were guys on him. And they hit him below the knees, instead of trying to hold on to his shoulders.”
A gang-tackling Raider defense?
Last year, Kaua’i was lucky to get one defender on the ball.
Yap also said the Raiders appeared disciplined. Proof of that was found in their approach to Malafu, the MIL’s top rusher last season.
“He’s the key to our defensive attack,” Morgado said Wednesday. “We stop him, we’ve got a chance.”
Kaua’i held him to 50 yards on 20-25 carries, using its superior speed to penetrate a big, but slow, Maui offensive line and limit Malafu’s ability to pick up steam.
The Sabres got off to a strong start. They scored on back-to-back first-quarter possessions to take a 13-0 lead.
Instead of burying its head in the sand, Kaua’i kept its composure and settled down. The Red Raiders recognized their speed advantage and began to use it.
Third-string quarterback Rejis Canales scampered in for Kaua’i’s first score midway through the second quarter. He added another touchdown run in the second half and sealed the Red Raiders’ win with a nine-yard pass to Bryson Semana in the fourth quarter.
