Kahuku quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi makes a throw in a game against Kapolei. The senior signal caller has thrown for 429 yards and 3 touchdowns this year in an offense that is much more balanced than you might think. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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For a quarter and a half, Castle gave third-ranked Kahuku a run for its money. The Knights held a 7-6 lead at the end of the first and later took a 19-18 lead with 5:33 to play in the second quarter. Sure Kahuku outscored Castle 38-0 the rest of the way, but the slow start might be of concern for a team that has championship aspirations. Fortunately a postgame chat with Kahuku coach Lee Leslie painted a brighter picture on the issue.

“It’s a good win. We had a couple of games where we didn’t get to play our kids in the second half, and then we had a bye week so we wanted to throw a little bit more of the playbook out there and see what it looked like. We made a couple of silly mistakes early, but at the end of the day we know what works for us and we’ll go right to it when we need it,” explained Leslie.

So Kahuku was delving into its playbook a little bit more in the contest. Understandable. This Red Raider offense isn’t your traditional student body right, student body left, dive up the middle type of offense. With Leslie at the helm the Red Raiders will employ a diverse amount of personnel grouping and formations.

One of the common themes I’ve noticed in the new offense was the use of a slotback or H-back lined up next to the offensive line. I’ve seen players in this position carry the ball in a jet sweep play and also motion into a empty backfield to take a dive play up the middle.

A lot is also being asked of quarterback Tuli Wily-Matagi. The 6-foot-3 senior is getting a variety of work as an actual quarterback and not just a handoff machine. Some examples include: completing his first pass against the Knights while on the run, throwing a perfect strike to Soli Afalava in the left seam, and also targeting Chance Maghanoy on deep post route. Wily-Matagi also has designed run plays (non draws) to take advantage of his big body. 

“This is a whole different animal for Tuli to wrap his mind around so it’s going to take him some time. We just have to be patient and take care of business,” Leslie said on Wily-Matagi.

Even though this Kahuku offense is heavily different from years past, the Red Raiders still have a knack for running the football. Against the Knights Kahuku finished with 234 yards on the ground led by fullback Salanoa-Alo Wily’s 118 yards on five carries.

So why not just run the ball until their opponents figure out a way to stop it? Leslie is looking at the grand scheme of things. 

“Somebody is going to load up eight, maybe nine guys in the box and we’re going to need to have an answer to that when we get into the playoffs,” explained Leslie. “We know what we do really well, but we still have to know what we can do (for the future). If I stay with what we can do well now we might get into trouble here in a couple of weeks.”

Leslie also says the best is yet to come for Kahuku and its offense.

“We’re a long way from our potential honestly. We’re not trying to put up crazy stats, (running back) Kesi (Ah Hoy) could have ended up with 300 yards rushing yards in these last three games,” said Leslie. “I’ve been (coaching) for 30 years so I know everything matters once we get to the playoffs and that’s what we want to be ready for.”

The resume speaks for itself. In his coaching career at the professional and high school level, Leslie has guided 17 teams to championships. The man clearly has a formula for success.

Kahuku will travel to Kaiser (2-2) Friday before hosting seventh-ranked Leilehua for first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Division.