If there were any bells or whistles that came with being the first coach to bring a state football championship to the Big Island, Kaeo Drummondo’s not showing them off.
He sits comfortably in the office shack next to Hilo High’s practice field, but it’s cramped and could almost double as a team sauna, and the Vikings’ weight room remains the same as it has since Drummondo arrived as an assistant in 2012.
Not much has changed with the defending HHSAA Division I champions save for the usual drill of having to replace a slew of talented graduates, though this year the task might be more daunting, and perhaps – perhaps that is – reduced expectations.
Hilo is capable, Drummondo said, but how far the team goes is in contingent on development because “the theme of the year is we’re just a little bit raw, a little bit inexperienced.”
Junior linebacker/safety Kalen White said the Vikings make a point not to talk too much about last season, and these days Drummondo boils down the program’s signature accomplishment to this: “We never take anything for granted, but all we did last year was what we were supposed to do. We didn’t accomplish anything special.
“So as far as this year goes, how hungry are you to create an identity and how motivated are you to try and uphold a championship standard.”
Last preseason, one got the sense that Hilo had become bored with merely ruling the BIIF, that a fifth consecutive league title was expected and wouldn’t feel as sweet if state championship success didn’t follow.
“Not the case this year,” junior Kyler Aguiar said. “We can tell, last year we had the size, we knew our team was bigger and more physical. This year, we’re going to have to use technique.”
Aguiar could help provide an answer to the obvious question around these parts: Who is going to replace touchdown-maker supreme Kahale Huddleston?
Along with all his gaudy statistics and 35 touchdowns, Huddleston, just one of 12 all-BIIF players who needs to be replaced, was simply a safety blanket at running back who Hilo could depend on again and again when the offense bogged down, which will inevitably happen at times this season.
“If you try to think about how you make for up for it, you start to stress yourself out,” Drummondo said. “The only way to make up for it is we have to give our playmakers the ball and let them make plays.”
Last season, the offensive strengths were the running game and the offensive line that paved its way, but this season Hilo may find an advantage out wide at receiver and a passing game under the controls of junior quarterback Kyan Miyasato.
“You might not have as much explosive plays in the run game, but can we eventually develop to create those in the passing game.” Drummondo said. “If not, can we just control the ball and control the clock and prolong drives that way?”
Miyasato already has an ample amount of seasoning, performing admirably in a relief role as a freshman and sharing in the quarterback duties early on 2017. He has full control of the offense now, so much so that one of the preferred backups, sophomore Kaimi Tiogangco, will lead the junior varsity offense.
Miyasato’s first task is to be a game manager and ball distributor while protecting the football, and his safety blanket is a deep and talented core of receivers that goes about seven deep.
Guyson Ogata is a all-BIIF returnee, and Aguiar showed what he could do in Hilo’s only nonleague game, a 54-14 loss to Campbell in which he accounted for both touchdowns, including a 75-yard touchdown run.
“It brought me back to when I was younger playing (Pop Warner), because I was pretty much everything on the field,” Aguiar said. “It made me feel good I was finally coming out and showing something.”
The Vikings’ base set features four receivers, and other pass-catchers looking to make their mark include seniors Kalae Akui, Hunter Pulgados, Joshua Rosario and Legend Figueroa and sophomore Kapana Kanae-Kane.
The running game will be led by committee. Kaleo Ramos spelled Huddleston last season in blowouts but is recovering from a lower leg injury, and the Vikings hope to have him back by the regular-season opener Aug. 31 against Hawaii Prep. Freshman Lyle Silva already is capable ball-carrier, Drummondo said, but he’s also needed on defense, and junior Keola Balga and Aguiar also will get carries.
The offensive line needs to be rebuilt and returns only a few contributors. Junior Sione Holani will get reps at guard and center and senior Lawaia Enos will see time and center and tackle. Among the players Hilo would like to see step are senior Storm Kapeliela and junior Lola Holika as well as tackle candidates Kaz Kua and Kawika Leehong, both juniors.
“We’re not as comfortable as previous years, but that’s what we have,” Drummondo said. “They’re capable and have to develop.”
Freshman Tysen Kaniaupio could lend a hand on the offensive line, but he’s also needed at nose tackle, where he’ll anchor a new starting defensive line and try to fill the shoes vacated by BIIF Defensive Player of the Year Kuresa Toledo.
What the line lacks in technique it may be able to make up for with other attributes.
“Our line is not as big, but we still play fast,” White.
The strength of the defense is the back seven thanks to the four returning starters, juniors Elijah Apao, Kainalu Lewis and White and sophomore Kahiau Walker. Apao, a potential shutdown cornerback, and Walker made all-BIIF last season, and he, White and Lewis are hybrid players well-suited to playing at any of the three levels of defense and coming off the edge.
“We’ve been trying to push the younger kids and work them as hard as we’ve been working,” White said.
Junior Kaoha Wilson will shift between end and linebacker, and Drummondo is hopeful that with juniors Kayden Alameda and Joshua Niro and senior Malu Wong in tow that the Vikings will be able to continually rotate ends to keep everyone fresh.
“This group offers something we haven’t had, which is a lot of length and athleticism,” Drummondo said.
Joining Silva at linebacker are sophomores Mana Price (middle) and Isiah Toki (strongside)
Depending on how matters shake out, Aguiar could be a defensive playmaker, too, at safety, and he’s an option to lend a hand in the return game, as are Apao, Ogata and Lewis.
Rosario will handle all of the kicking and punting duties.
That the Vikings took one on the chin against an Oahu power is consistent with how many of their past seasons have started, and none of those failed to produce a BIIF championship.
“We’re tougher than we looked,” White said. “We have to try and keep the six-peat.”
One difference this time around is the team has 27 days between games to get ready for BIIF play, and it’s an advantageous position for this group. The roster size is a bit smaller than past season, setting at 40-45, and Drummondo and his staff can spend that time molding and motivating players to embrace the grind.
The journey may continue at Wong Stadium and the goal is to end up at Aloha Stadium, but “everything starts and the standard is set at Waianuenue Avenue,” Drummondo said.
“It has to be ingrained in the DNA, we’re here, this is what we do when we’re here, let’s make the most of our time,” he said. “I’m excited to see where we can go.”
