With the backdrop of a 51-6 walkover victory the first times the teams met, you might expect Konawaena coach Brad Uemoto would be counting down the minutes for a rematch against Hilo High School, but then you might not know how Uemoto works.
“I expect an absolute battle, for sure,” Uemoto said earlier in the week. “Anytime you face a team two or three times, you know their preparation will be up, and I definitely know (Hilo) will be prepared.”
Reflection, preparation and a return to health has been top-of-mind for Hilo coach Ed Rocha all week.
“It’s been a pretty focused week so far,” he said, adding his players are “upbeat” about playing Konawaena again.
“You know, we scored a touchdown on our opening pass of the game, so we had a good start, and then we went three-and-out in our next three possessions, and that sort of changed everything. We had been hit pretty hard by the flu, but just now we’re getting people back, so that should help.”
Rocha used the lopsided first game as an opportunity to get some varsity game experience for his JV players, who played most of the second half.
“We’ll see what happens,” Rocha said. “I reminded them, nothing of real value comes easy, you have to work for it, you have to figure it out and battle.”
The Vikings will do that offensively with the help of junior quarterback Kaohu Kaluna, who can wear out a defense with his legs.
“He moves around pretty well,” said Rocha. “If he felt the pressure, he’ll move out of there, and he’ll throw it to anyone who’s open.”
The two coaching staffs know each other well, but Rocha said, “We’ll see how it goes, we might have a surprise or two for them this time.”
Pressed on the surprise, Rocha wouldn’t give away anything other than it might have to do with formations.
Uemoto knows all about Kaluna.
“We have to keep him contained somehow,” Uemoto said. “The guy is very active, and he can go wild out there if you aren’t careful. He can force you to break down defensively, and that just creates running lanes for him.
“You have to key in on him,” he said, “because it’s not like he just runs outside, this is he a guy who can run it and he’ll take it inside or outside, you have be ready for that.”
The game will be an unofficial prelude to a potential championship game, with Kona 5-0 and Hilo 5-1, which suggests a third meeting in the weeks ahead.”
Rocha expects his team to face Kona for the championship, which he won 21 years ago when he coached at Waiakea. He knows what it takes.
“I saw the looks on their faces after that game,” Rocha said. “They were sort of stunned, but I told them to show some respect for those guys and for us to come together and help each other, we need the guys who’ve been here a year or two to help the ones who are in their first year, we need to come together and go play our best.”
The first time, Hilo didn’t blitz at all the entire game. This will be different, in that regard.
“We have a healthier team this time, but we have to mix things up, too,” he said. “You have to go after them more than we did the first time.”
Hilo will play at Konawaena at 5 p.m. today.