In terms of trophies and titles, Kamehameha won’t have anything to show for coach Doug Cosbie‘s first season as head football coach.
To say it wasn’t a success, however, would be just plain wrong.
Kamehameha began the year regarded as the third-best ILH Division I team. When it’s all said and done, there’s a chance Kamehameha ends up ranked as the second-best team in the entire state when the final Star-Advertiser Top 10 poll comes out.
The Warriors did it with defense and a power running game, led by senior Kainoa Simao, who finishes the year with 1,195 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in 10 games, averaging a staggering 7.4 yards per carry. That 7.4 yards per carry number is better than any year Kahuku’s Aofaga Wily, who is No. 2 all-time in career rushing among Hawaii high school running backs, had.
When you add up the numbers Simao and Brandon Kahookele, who missed the last five games of the season, had, Kamehameha finished with over 2,000 yards rushing easy. It translated to wins as the Warriors finished 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the ILH regular season. Kamehameha’s only two losses of the season came against Punahou, which exploited the Warriors’ weakness in their passing game. Kamehameha didn’t allow an offensive touchdown by the Warriors in eight quarters, putting everything they had in stopping the run.
Sophomore quarterback Noah Sua-Godinet stepped in for Makoa Camanse-Stevens this season and threw nine touchdown passes, but only averaged 84.4 passing yards a game. The run game was good enough against just about everyone, except for the top-ranked Buffanblu.
That should change next season as Sua-Godinet will only be a junior and Cosbie will have a full year to get everything he wants installed in the Kamehameha offense. The Warriors had less than two months under their new coach to prepare for the season, but it didn’t stop them from an impressive 38-3 stomping of Farrington the second week of the season. That win looks a lot better now as the Govs play Mililani on Friday for the OIA Red title.
Defensively, the Warriors held teams to seven points or less five times and allowed more than 17 points five times. It’s a unit that will take some hits to graduation, but will have DL Mika Tafua, a BYU commit, and 6-foot-3 DB Dylan Kane back. They’ve also got plenty of contributors ready to step into new roles.
Five days later and the sting of last Friday’s loss to Punahou is probably still there for this year’s group of Warriors. However, considering all the coaching changes in the offseason and where the Warriors were ranked heading into the season, Kamehameha had a pretty darn good first year under Cosbie.
And now that Cosbie is hopefully here to stay, with a full offseason to prepare for 2014, the Warriors can set their sights on those titles and trophies.
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