Q&A
Damien opens with road test against Lahainaluna




Eddie Klaneski knows that as far as football goes, (West) Maui no ka oi. That's why Klaneski, who begins his ninth season as Damien head coach, did all he could to get his team on the same field as Lahainaluna.

Klaneski's wish will be granted this weekend, when the three-time defending Division II-state champion Lunas host the D1-Monarchs at Sue D. Cooley Saturday night.

Lahainaluna is coming off an 11-0 season in 2018 and has won 21 consecutive games. The last time it was defeated was on Aug. 12, 2017 at Kamehameha-Kapalama, by a score of 34-10.

While the Lunas return a bevy of talent — including running back Josh Tihada, last year's All-Hawaii D2 Offensive Player of the Year — they saw 23 players graduate in the spring after completing their eligibility. In addition, longtime co-head coach Garret Tihada stepped down for personal reasons. Filling Garret Tihada's role is another veteran Lunas' coach in Dean Rickard, who will handle the offensive coordinator duties, while Bobby Watson embarks on his 31st season with the program and will once again handle the defense.

Tihada, who carried 162 times for 1,097 yards and 19 TDs in 2018, was selected as Preseason All-Hawaii D2 Offensive Player of the Year. However, Lahainaluna will be without several other skill-position players this weekend for various reasons.

Damien posted a 5-4 overall record (5-3 league) and fell short of qualifying for the state tournament one year after a run to the D1 state final. Among the top returnees for the Monarchs is senior running back Aperamo Sulu (537 rush yards, 4 TDs in 2018), quarterback Jake Holtz (1,220 pass yards, 9 TDs) and WR/DB Jarvis Natividad (18 receptions for 192 yards, TD).

The teams open the season separated by just one spot in this week's ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings: Damien is ranked 14th, while Lahainaluna is 13th.

We caught up with the head coaches of both teams a few days before they face off on the Valley Isle.

ScoringLive: What's the feeling like in practice this week leading up to Saturday's season opener?
Eddie Klaneski, Damien coach: "I think we're just really excited about the opportunity. Our boys have been working hard against each other and they had a couple scrimmages last week, but knowing that we're going into — I guess they call it 'The Imu' — they're just excited about playing the three-time defending state champions and we know we gotta get ready for them, but we're just excited about the opportunity to go play a good team."
Dean Rickard, Lahainaluna co-coach: "Optimism, I guess, and a little bit of — well, a lot of questions to be answered. We're coming in kind of shorthanded so to speak, compared to years past. We're gonna be looking at a lot of players going two ways this year. It's still early in the season and we just got back from doing some controlled scrimmages against Keaau, Kamehameha-Hawaii and Waiakea on the Big Island. It went well. We came out injury-free, but at the same time, depth is a concern for us because you'll see a lot of our players going two-way action this early in the season."

How did the summer and offseason training go?
Klaneski: "It went pretty well. I mean, we didn't have like a 100 percent participation, but overall the majority of the team, most of the guys trained very hard and right now it's just about making sure we're staying healthy going into the season, but it was a lot of work, a lot of things we needed to work on and it was a long summer for sure and we're just ready to get the season going."
Rickard: "Actually, I think we're in pretty good shape. You know, a lot of the kids were involved throughout the summer — attending camps up on the mainland, as well as around the state — so coming in, conditioning-wise we're coming in better at this point in the season than we've been, but again, at the same time because of our lack of depth, they gotta realize they're gonna have to step up and play ball because we've got guys going two ways because we got some guys on (academic probation) right now, so that's the reason we're shorthanded."

How did the 2018 season and how it played out factor into your team's preparations for this year, if at all?
Klaneski: "I think it factored a lot just knowing the fact that we didn't qualify for the state tournament and the way we approached things this year was by kind of looking back at how we did things, even this summer, and just the mindset with the kids, knowing what we can do better in the offseason to better prepare us and just using that as motivation. With the training sessions and practices — whatever it may be — understanding what the difference needs to be in order for us to be more successful this year."
Rickard: "We always try to tell our kids that whatever happened the year before, you enjoy it at the end of that season and whenever you're done celebrating whatever accomplishments you were able to do last year, forget about it and move on and get ready for next season. That's what the senior leadership did (last year) and we always look for senior leadership to take it on and this year is no different. A lot of guys have been with us since seventh grade, so they know what we expect, how to be a good teammate, how to focus and help us get back to the goal — which is to get back into the (state) championship game — so whatever happened last year, we tell the kids that we need to focus on this season to get back to where we were."

What will be the identity of this year's team, or has that been determined yet? How is that process playing out thus far?
Klaneski: "That's a good question. Just like anything else, it takes time to get your identity and we definitely haven't found that yet. We do have more experience than last year, (but) as far as what we're going to hang out hats on, or be known for, it's still a work in progress and we're still trying to figure that out. We're hoping to find our identity sooner than later before too many games go by, but our guys definitely work hard, they're determined and they want to do better than they did last year."
Rickard: "What we can tell you is that everything is pretty much status quo and what you saw from our team last year is what we're going to continue to keep doing — minus Garret, of course. Our coaching staff has been together so long that we know each other so well and everyone is involved in the game-planning strategy, so it's basically status quo for how we approach this season and week to week; Nothing is going to change as far as this team."

What are your thoughts on this week's opponent and what it presents?
Klaneski: "Lahaina, like I said, is the three-time defending champs and they're really a very disciplined, well-coached football team. They're gonna be at home, in their element, and in order for us to be successful this week, we're gonna have to stick without game plan and be as disciplined as they are. We have a lot of respect for their program and for me, I tried really hard to get this game because it's not just that they're the top team in D2, but one of the top notch programs anywhere in the state, so it will be a challenge for us. Their offense is very compact, they use a lot of misdirection, they have good skill guys, a good quarterback that can throw the football, receivers that can catch and that makes it more difficult to defend the option, the counters, the slot reverses because you also gotta be ready for the play-action pass because they utilize that very well off of the run, so defensively you gotta be disciplined. Same on offense because they're bend, but don't break with their defense. They're very active, very stout on both sides of the ball and it causes a problem because of the way that they're coached and the discipline that they have on both sides and looking back at the things they did in the past, you can never count this time out and you've gotta play all 48 minutes. You can't let off the gas pedal and you just gotta continue to go."
Rickard: "Well, this is the first time that we're gonna be matching up against Damien. It's the first time we're gonna be playing them, but they have a very experienced coaching staff with their head coach, Eddie Klaneski, having played college ball and he has a very experienced staff, too. They're kind of the opposite of us: they like to run versus throw and we like to throw versus run. We know they're gonna be disciplined from the ILH, we know they have good size andI know they had a lot of young players last year in the starting lineup that are coming back, so basically I think this is a good matchup early in the season for us to see how the younger players will respond with a lot of our key starters leaving last year and us having to fill in — especially in the trenches — and it definitely will help us find out where we need to improve upon in the season."

What will be a key matchup within the game Saturday night?
Klaneski: "I think us being able to stop their offense, if we can kind of limit them from holding the football so much. Our front seven (defenders) versus their offense and just being disciplined in doing that, that's going to be huge no matter what. We gotta be able to slow down that offense and not let them eat up yards, but also important is how our front five, our offensive line, how they hold up against Lahainaluna. If our guys up front can block and open up some holes, hopefully we can run the football, so on both sides of the ball, the guys up front will be key."
Rickard: "For us. it's how well our young players are able to adjust to whatever needs to be adjusted. I guess, the big question for us is because of our lack of depth, can our players that are expected to go two ways do it, you know, effectively? I think that's our concern, especially in the trenches, because that's where we lack a lot of experience coming back on both sides of the ball, both defensive line and offensive line. We lost a lot of starters from last year, so that's the big question we gotta answer is how well we can handle the people up front because as far as skill positions on defense, we've got everybody except for Nyles Pokipala from last year coming back, so we're pretty experienced from that aspect with our defensive secondary. Offense, we got our skill-position guys coming back, but our biggest concern is the battle in the trenches, the inside game."


Kickoff between the Monarchs and Lunas is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on radio by ESPN Maui (900 AM, 102.5 FM) with pre-game at 6:50 p.m.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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