Friday Gridiron Action For Windward High School Teams
The prep football season is officially in full swing with Castle, Kalaheo and Kailua entering OIA play Friday. (Kahuku is idle this week and returns to action Aug. 31 when it hosts Kailua in an OIA East Red game). A look at this week- end’s games follows.
Castle versus Farrington— 7 p.m. at Roosevelt.
This marks the beginning of a demanding four-game stretch in Red East confer- ence play for the Knights, who next will play games at Moanalua, at Kahuku and at rival Kailua. They already played Kamehameha and Red West foe Aiea. Those games should be good preparation for Farrington, which has been one of the state’s most consistent programs over the past five years.
Castle’s defensive task here begins by trying to contain Farrington running back Abraham Silva, who shredded a very good Waianae defense for 7.9 yards per carry in week one. (Farrington averaged 6.4 yards per rush in last year’s meeting with the Knights, so Castle will look to improve on those numbers this time.) The Governors also are stellar against the run defensively, and yielded only 63 yards on the ground in the Waianae game. Look for the Knights to try to get the matchups they want via the passing game and senior quarterback Kela Shea when Castle is on offense.
Moanalua at Kailua — 7 p.m.
This is the third straight home game for the Surfriders, who opened with Kealakehe, followed by an encounter with Campbell last weekend. With a road date against defending Division I state champion Kahuku next week, this game is akin to a must-win for Kailua, which hopes to build on last year’s solid 4- 2 Red East record. The
Surfriders’ prevailing theme for this game should be to finish drives after mustering only three points in week one against Kealakehe. Possessing the ball will be a key, given Moanalua’s ability to do the same.
Among the bright spots in the loss to Kealakehe was the play of its backfield, as running backs Micah Kaimana and William Kailimai both averaged 5.1 and 5.8 yards, respectively, per rushing attempt. Moana- lua running back Ishmil Scott will be a focal point for the Kailua defense after rushing for 99 yards on just nine carries in Na Menehune’s opening day loss (31-21) to Mililani of the Red West. The Moanalua defense yielded only 2.6 yards per carry to the Trojans.
Nanakuli versus Kalaheo— 6 p.m.
at Kailua High School. This is the third straight game for Kalaheo at Kailua High, following dates with Damien Aug. 11 and Kaiser last weekend. (Another home date with Waialua follows next week before back-to-back road games against Radford and Pearl City.) Kalaheo will look to get its offense un- tracked this week, having been hard-pressed to move the ball in the Damien loss.
Unlike most of their OIA White colleagues, Nanakuli was idle Aug. 10-11 and opened its season last week- end at Kaiser. In last year’s match, Nanakuli took a 14- 0 lead into halftime and scored late to stun the Mustangs in a 21-20 thriller at Kailua High.
