SOUTH KONA — High school football season has finally arrived to the Big Island once again.
The defending Division I state champion Konawaena will kick off its 2023 season Friday night in a non-conference matchup against Long Beach Poly (California) at home. With offseason training camp nearing conclusion, Wildcats head coach Brad Uemoto has been satisfied with his group’s progression.
“It’s been intense,” Uemoto said of recent practices. “They’ve been in the weight room to start the day off and I know they go hard in there — we’ve also been just trying to catch up physically by just doing a lot of foreign tackling stuff, and some live tackling reps just to get acclimated to real-game situations.
“We have a lot of two-way guys, so they’re just getting in a ton of work, but the intensity has definitely improved. And I think we’re just sort of wrapping up into Friday night.”
Konawaena’s opening opponent will present a tall task. The Jackrabbits finished 10-1 overall and undefeated in their conference (Moore Football League) in 2022. The powerhouse averaged 46 points and allowed just 11 points per game.
“Teams from that area are usually going to have a lot of size in the trenches and a lot of speed at the skill positions,” Uemoto said of Long Beach Poly. “We’re gonna have to be able to stop the run up front and play good defense on the back end.”
Offensively, Uemoto plans to play with speed to use as an advantage over a more physically-imposing opponent — expecting quarterback Keoki Alani to run the unit with urgency down the field.
“Offensively, we’re going to have to use tempo to wear out bigger opponents as we usually do,” he said. “And so that’s something that we’ve been working on quite a bit, and we’re gonna have to just execute.”
Regardless of Friday’s outcome, Uemoto wants to use the game as a building block to start the season. He noted that figuring out how his team plays as a group will be one of the more important factors to take away from opening night.
“We’re looking for execution from our players — we’re looking for our players to compete,” he said. “Just putting together the entirety of our summer and leaning on each other, playing with each other, going into battle and starting to learn what our identity is for the rest of the season.”
Kickoff for Friday’s game will be at 6 p.m.
