IT’S still early in the 2011 KIF football season, but tomorrow night’s matchup pitting Waimea against Kapa‘a will offer fans a glimpse of what to expect for the rest of the season.
The big headline so far has been the dynamic play of the Menehune. The Westside team has done everything it could to turn heads so far. They’ve done it by putting points on the board and keeping their opponents off of it.
Any doubts as to whether the Menehune’s 2-0 preseason start was legit were put to rest last week after Waimea’s 27-7 statement win over the eight-time defending champion Kaua‘i Red Raiders.
The Menehune played a sound game on offense and defense, but also benefited from several errors by the hands of the Raiders.
In tomorrow’s game against the Warriors, it will be Waimea’s chance to show if it has completely transformed into a frontrunner, or if all three KIF teams will be stuck in a three-month brawl for Island supremacy, with the winner being the one coming out the least bruised.
Kapa‘a is an unknown so far. The Warriors enter Saturday after going 2-1 in preseason play, but the team has lacked consistency. After squeaking out a week one win, the Warriors dominated in week two, but looked sloppy at times.
In their final game before last week’s bye, the Warriors were edged out by a talented team from Canada.
How Kapa‘a’s preseason pits them against what we’ve seen so far from Waimea and Kaua‘i is hard to tell.
What is known, is that albeit early, this KIF season is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in years. If tomorrow’s game is close, we could be in store for an exciting battle between all three teams all season.
Yes, I said three-team race.
Although Kaua‘i struggled last week, the Red Raiders have a roster laden with talent and may just need to shake the growing pains of adjusting to a new coach before hitting their stride.
However it all turns out, what is known is that tomorrow night is the beginning of what should be a season’s worth of exciting football games here on Kaua‘i.
