Football preview
Lunas leave the past in the past
LAHAINA — For the first time, the Lahainaluna High School football team returned to practice this summer as the defending Division II state champions.
Not that it makes much difference for these Lunas, who open Maui Interscholastic League play tonight against King Kekaulike.
“No difference,” Lahainaluna cohead coach Garret Tihada said at practice Monday. “The only difference is we keep hearing that we’re the returning champions, but other than that, these kids have moved past it, we’ve moved past it as coaches. There is no difference in how we approach things or how we have for these X amount of years.”
One thing that did develop last season was the Lunas morphing from their traditional shotgun wing T offense into multiple sets during the season. It added up to a 6-1 run to the state title after beginning the season 3-3.
“What we learned from last year — because we weren’t a very good team last year — so we had to go multiple, use a lot of different personnel groupings,” Tihada said. “We found that it got way more kids involved, the kids were excited (with) the fact that they could actually get a lot of playing time, and it kept the defenses guessing.
“I’ve been told it’s hard to prepare for multiple offenses, multiple sets, multiple personnel groupings, so I’m like, ‘OK, let’s see if we can just continue that.’ ”
As offensive coordinator, Tihada has been busy putting in several sets again this season.
“Like everybody else in this league, we’ve got the spread, we’re in the shotgun throwing the ball, we’ve still got our shotgun wing T, we’ve got our option,” he said. “Those are our main ones right there.”
On offense, junior quarterback Etuati Storer returns to the starting spot after he threw for 264 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions last season in league play, while running for 278 yards and three touchdowns on just 31 carries. Bailey Honda, Nainoa Irish and Kamahao Acpal will also see time at quarterback.
Senior running back Elijah Ragudo ran for 393 yards, three touchdowns and an average of 8.5 yards per carry last season, while wide receiver Siale Hafoka led the Lunas with seven receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Dalton Lins, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior, is the most experienced member of the offensive line.
“Dalton is the only real steady guy we’ve got right now,” Tihada said. “He will spot play on defense, too.”
Honda, Siale Hafoka, Tausinga Hafoka, Elijah Moritz and Laakea Shim return for a defense that gave up just 157.4 yards per league game last season.
Honda said that the state title is well in the rearview mirror.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a different attitude, I believe it’s the same with our team,” Honda said. “We try to think that we haven’t even won one in the first place, so it moves us even more to get another one.”
Tausinga Hafoka and Moritz were in the backfield for much of the first three quarters of a 34-10 loss to Kamehameha Kapalama on Saturday in a game that was 13-10 with 8 minutes to play.
“I thought we played very well for three quarters,” Tihada said. “Offensively we did some things for three quarters, but not enough to keep the ball away from their offense. We put our defense on the field way too much during the game and eventually it took its toll.”
Lins said it always comes down to fundamentals for the Lunas.
“This team right now can be very good at blocking and tackling,” he said. “We definitely want to focus on our fundamentals for sure and that’s something that caused us to fail in that fourth quarter last game against Kapalama, but if we just focus on our fundamentals we can be a great team for sure this year.”
Storer was 5-for-12 for 74 yards passing against Kamehameha Kapalama. Siale Hafoka caught three passes for 38 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown, and junior William Kai Bookland had two catches for 36 yards, and also had a would-be touchdown reception called back by a penalty.
“He’s a very good, young wide receiver,” Tihada said of Bookland. “He worked hard in the offseason, got in the weight room, ran track — he was already a pretty good receiver, but he just got a lot better. On top of that, he’s just an outstanding young man.”