St. Louis won't overlook Waimea

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

But don't count St. Louis coach Delbert Tengan among them.

"People think I'm just blowing smoke, but I'm serious when I say we're definitely not looking past Waimea," Tengan said. "They've beaten the runner-up in the (O'ahu Interscholastic Association) three times in this tournament, so they've proven they're a solid program. The bottom line is they're here, and they've been here before. We'll have our hands full."

St. Louis (9-2) would appear to have the advantage in team size, speed and athleticism, but then so did Kailua last week. Waimea (8-1) defeated the Surfriders, 24-21, after taking advantage of seven Kailua turnovers.

The turnovers were not just luck, as the Menehune defense showed great anticipation and quickness to the ball in carrying out a well-designed game plan.

Like St. Louis, Kailua broke off big plays in most of its games this season, but against Waimea's quickness on the perimeter, most of those big plays never materialized.

"They're just like Castle," Tengan said. "They swarm to the ball, and their players are very active. We have to make sure we block them, because if we don't, we're not gonna go anywhere."

The Menehune were successful at stopping Kailua's running attack, but the Surfriders were hampered because their top two runners sat out most of the first half. Starting tailback Nathan Leaver was nursing a hip flexor and was limited to 8 yards on four carries in the first two quarters.

His backup, Bronson Kamaka, sat out the entire first half because he missed a couple of practices last week to attend to academic matters. Kamaka got only one carry — for zero yards — in the second half as Kailua threw the ball 23 times in trying to overcome a 24-7 deficit.

St. Louis' top two running backs, Justin Cabansag and B.J. Batts, are healthy and running well. Batts rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries in the Crusaders' 41-23 quarterfinal victory over Farrington last Friday.

Cabansag contributed 61 yards on 10 carries. They complement each other, as Batts is a scatback-type who has the speed to turn the corner and Cabansag offers power up the middle.

"They keep the defense honest," Tengan said. "The defense can't just pin their ears back and rush (quarterback) Bobby (George)."

Waimea has its own strong runner in 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior Jordon Dizon. Although Dizon was held to 59 yards on 23 carries against Kailua, he displayed power on many short-yardage situations — such as his two 1-yard touchdown runs — and showed good open-field moves on a 10-yard reception in which he shook a cornerback in the flat.

"He's a bigger, stronger version of (Farrington's) Matt Bell," Tengan said. "And they have other weapons besides him, too. We can't think we're just going to overpower them because they line up in formations we're not used to seeing. We just have to play assignment football."

Tengan said St. Louis is "a little banged up" after playing Kamehameha twice and Farrington in the past three weeks, but "when you get this far in the season, you have to play with some injuries."

Waimea does not present the same kind of physical challenge as Kamehameha or Farrington, but Tengan said the Menehune are just as dangerous because of their efficient and opportunistic approach to football.

"The thing about them is they have a solid system which their players really believe in and execute well," Tengan said. "You see that in any good program, and that's what they have."