Q&A
Red-hot Cougars eye defending champ Roosevelt




There are still three weekends remaining in the Oahu Interscholastic Association regular season, but Friday night could provide a preview of a potential postseason matchup in the Division II ranks.

Undefeated Kaiser, which debuted in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Football Power Rankings at No. 14 this week, will visit Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium for a showdown against reigning league champion Roosevelt.
 
The Cougars (7-0 overall, 5-0 league) are in sole possession of first place in the nine-team OIA D2 standings and enter the weekend with a one-half game lead on both the Rough Riders (5-1, 4-1) and Kaimuki.

Kaiser, which owns the distinction of being the lone undefeated D2 team in the state, handed the Bulldogs (5-2, 4-1) their lone league loss of the season two weeks ago and is coming off of a 34-point win over Waialua last Saturday.

Roosevelt opened the season by winning its first five games before coming up two points short in a loss to Kaimuki last Friday and will be seeking a bounce-back win on homecoming night.

Both offenses have been prolific in 2019. The Cougars are averaging 35.6 points per game, while the Rough Riders are just behind them at 35.5.

The defenses are also two of the best, with opponents averaging just 9.9 points and 167 yards per game against Kaiser and 7.8 points and 127.8 yards versus Roosevelt.

Among the players to watch in the matchup are quarterbacks Easton Yoshino (1,249 pass yards, 16 TDs, 5 INTs) of Kaiser and Sky Ogata (1,460 pass yards, 14 TDs, 6 INTs) of Roosevelt, the reigning league Offensive Player of the Year.

We caught up with the coaches of both teams a few days before their face off in Makiki.


ScoringLive: Describe your team's current situation in one word and explain.

Tim Seaman, Kaiser coach: "Driven. Our team is working hard to get better each week."

Kui Kahooilihala, Roosevelt coach: "Getting to the top in our division is our goal and trying to repeat. Repeat, that's the word. These kids, even the transfers that came in, they're trying to be on the same page from the start. Our goal was to get to the top, climb that hill in our division and at the same time just doing everything together to reach that goal. For us, it's getting to the top."


How near or far is your team from playing at its full potential?

Seaman: "While we have improved from the beginning of the year, there are still many areas that we can improve on. We're headed in the right direction, but not where we need to be yet."

Kahooilihala: "We're getting there. We tell the kids we're not there yet, but we're getting there. As far as our full potential, we're not there, but we're getting there. Like I said, we're still climbing that hill and we need everybody on the same page. On the field, offense doing their job as far as execution and defense taking care of their assignments and special teams, of course, gotta go down and make plays, so we just gotta execute on all three phases to get there. The kids got the potential, but again we need to take care of these three phases."


Which game this season has proved to be most beneficial for your team, regardless of result?

Seaman: "Honestly can't point to one game and say that was it. We have grown from game to game. Every opportunity to get out there and compete has benefitted us."

Kahooilihala: "To me it's been the PAC-5 game. It was 21-6 (final) score, but I think the kids, they were upset. A lot of the kids were frustrated just by the way they played on both sides of the ball and they were mad, like our running backs weren't taking care of the ball — ball security — defense wasn't taking care of their assignments and we gotta do a better job of that, so I say PAC-5."


Who has been a pleasant surprise among your players?

Seaman: "The biggest surprises among the players on our team has been the growth of our seven sophomores — Kamakana Mahiko, Justin Kanekoa, Makani Sua, Payton Perry, Nick Wild, Hopo Aholelei, Josh Okamoto — and one freshman, Easton Yoshino. They could have stayed down and played a lot of minutes on the junior varsity, but they took a chance and challenged themselves. Each one of them has played an important role for our team and we would not be where we are today without them."

Kahooilihala: "I got a couple kids. These guys, we're blessed to have them and I'm blessed to have these seniors, these transfers that came from Saint Francis — the Akana brothers, Chase and Kaeo, Shepherd Kekahuna — they just give effort and they put in work from day one. They've been a big surprise and we got our senior leadership guys like Isaac Kaleikau, Myka Kukahiwa, Scotty Chung, a whole bunch of them just put in work from summer ball, our offseason workouts, a lot of them are our captains and their leadership style is lead-by-example, all these guys."


What are your thoughts on this week's opponent and how do you feel your team matches up?

Seaman: "Roosevelt presents a big challenge for us this week. They are the defending champions, it's their homecoming and they are a really good football team. Coach Kui and his staff do a great job of preparing their team every week. Offense, defense and special teams are all well-coached. Their quarterback (Sky Ogata) does an outstanding job of running their offense and he's tough to stop. They've got a great group of skill position players and a solid offensive line. Defensively, they have playmakers at all three levels. To top it off, they've got a great set of return guys on special teams. It's going to be a big test for us."

Kahooilihala: "I think we matchup pretty good pound-for-pound, skill-for-skill with our guys and their guys. I'll tell you, Kaiser is a good team. They're undefeated, that tells you something. Tim is doing a great job at Kaiser; they're awesome. Those kids are athletes, they got good kids on both sides of the ball. I love that freshman quarterback (Easton Yoshino), he's a good one, man. He can throw it, he's very athletic and his brother (Mason) at wideout is a good one, too, and of course his defense is mobile, their linebackers can run, their defensive line is quick, so we got a big test ahead of us and we got guys that can run, too. Our offense and our offensive guys, we matchup pretty good and our defense, too. It's gonna be a good one, it's gonna be exciting."


Fill in the blank: We will win Friday night's game if __________.

Seaman: "It's really not about the scoreboard for us in terms of where we are as a program. We talk about taking care of the three E's. We need to play with great effort for four quarters, we need to control our emotions, especially when situations get tight and we need to execute at a high level in all three phases of the game. If we do those things, we'll feel like we're getting better. One thing is for sure, a tough task is ahead of us."

Kahooilihala: "If we take care of the ball — ball security — and play with some urgency. I always tell the kids about playing with urgency, but we need to take care of ball security and take care of the ball."

Roosevelt beat Kaiser in their last meeting, 15-6, on Sept. 15, 2018.

The top four teams in the final standings qualify for the OIA tournament, with the semifinal winners punching their ticket to the five-team state tournament.

Kickoff between the Cougars and Rough Riders is scheduled for approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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