Last season, Keaau started with a 2-1 record and imagined a major turnaround after consecutive winless years.
It didn’t happen. The Cougars lost their final four BIIF games, but at least progress was made and a hard lesson learned.
“We beat HPA in our first game but set our goal too short. Our goal was to win one game,” coach Leo Abellera said. “We didn’t know where to go. After we won our second game, we got a little carried away. We started looking at the stars with big eyes. We forgot to stick with the basic fundamentals and took too many shortcuts.”
Keaau ran over Hawaii Prep 18-8, lost to Waiakea 42-6 and edged Honokaa 13-12, a three-game run that won’t be easy to repeat.
The Cougars open their BIIF season at Kamehameha, play at Konawaena and host Kealakehe.
Keaau didn’t have a preseason game, so it’s untested, and there’s a new scheme with the spread offense.
“We’re going to try the spread. We ran some crazy power-back offense, but after grades and injuries we weren’t equipped to run that style of offense,” Abellera said. “The kids wanted to try something new. We’ve got a lot more athletes. They put in the time, and we’ll run with that.”
Senior quarterback Caine Lunsford and twin brothers Christopher and Christian Mamone trained at Panaewa.
“Caine put in the work with Maurice Silva and his son Mana. He has better decision-making. The No. 1 goal for our offense is to not beat ourselves,” Abellera said.
That happened too much last year with penalties, turnovers, and fundamental issues such as lining up correctly.
The Mamone twins, both seniors, will be counted on as versatile threats on both sides of the ball.
“They’re the backbone of the team. They’ll play all over — corner, safety, wide receiver, running back,” Abellera said. “They’ll do whatever to help the team and can play anywhere. Now that the system has changed they can show their strength in the open field.”
The team roster has about 35-40 players, including four returning starters on both sides of the ball.
The depth received a boost as school started. A lot of players worked during the summer. And transportation to practice can be a daily battle.
Junior center Adam Antonio and junior tackle Evan McIntosh are returning starters on the offensive line.
Cody Ah Nee, another junior, will start at the other tackle spot. Sophomore Jacob Owens will be at guard and the other spot is a competition between seniors TJ Harris and Vance Rojo-Simer.
Abellera offered a brief description of his four penciled starters:
On Antonio: “He’s coachable.”
On Ah Nee: “He’s got a motor.”
On McIntosh: “He’s a tough guy but real coachable.”
On Owens: “He’s got good feet.”
Junior Santiago, a senior, returns at running back. The Mamone brothers will start at slotback and Iokepa Laa at one wideout spot. The other wide receiver is Paula Tauhelangi, who started at defensive end.
“Junior can do everything. The thing I like most about him is when he doesn’t run he loves to block,” Abellera said. “Paula is our sleeper guy. He worked all day and put in the time.
“It was the first year we had rugby at Keaau High, and he’s a rugby guy. I saw his ball-handling skills and thought he could play wide receiver.”
On the defensive line, Stanley Wilbur was called up from the junior varsity and started late in the season. Bruce Owens, Jacob’s older brother, started at O-line but switched over to the D-line late in the year.
Those two defensive linemen are juniors and so are Hano Sims, a transfer from Texas whose grandmother lives on the Big Island, and Folagi Aumazae-Laulu, a transfer from Las Vegas.
AJ Antonio, Adam’s brother, and Bronson Castro are two returning senior starters at linebacker. The other spot is an open battle between Matt Tilfas and Emelio Acia.
Noa Kaleiwahea and Patrick Mears will start at the corners, and Nathaniel Castillo will be a safety. The Mamone twins will also see time in the secondary.
Last season, the defense struggled with containment. When one or more gaps weren’t closed, opposing ball-carriers went wild.
“We want basic stuff from the defense, line up correctly and know their assignments,” Abellera said. “We want the players to know what their responsibility is and want everybody to know what to do and be accountable for what that assignment was.”
Tauhelangi will be the punter and AJ Antonio the kicker.
There’s a different mindset for the Cougars, who are hard at work.
“We’re just grinding and sticking to fundamentals,” Abellera said. “We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We’re taking it one day at a time.”