Expect another wild OIA West
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Perhaps even more than last year, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's West Side Story should be another interesting one this football season.
There was very little separation between the top five OIA Red Conference Western Division teams — Mililani, Wai'anae, Kapolei, 'Aiea and Leilehua — in 2005, and now those same teams are joined by two new division contenders in Campbell and Radford, both promoted from the White Conference.
The West regular season kicks off Friday with Wai'anae (0-2 overall) traveling to Mililani (2-0). On Saturday, 'Aiea (1-1) visits Campbell (2-0) and Leilehua (1-1) faces Radford (1-1) at Mililani.
Campbell has looked impressive in non-league victories over Castle, 17-6, and Damien, 38-7.
"I've always said Campbell was a Red team playing in the White," said Castle coach Nelson Maeda, after watching the Sabers pound out 189 rushing yards against his Knights on Aug. 18. "They're a bruising, physical team, and they ran the ball on us almost at will. I think they'll do well on the West side."
Radford also showed it is preparing well for Red competition, defeating an improved Pac-Five team, 31-23, last weekend.
"This will be a challenging year for us because we're rebuilding, we lost a lot of seniors," Radford coach Fred Salanoa said. "But we still gotta prove ourselves at this higher level. Our goal is to compete and win in the West. We respect all of the Red teams, but we don't fear any of them."
Three-time defending West champ Mililani beat Kaimuki, 34-12, and Iolani, 26-23. The Trojans rushed for 296 yards against Iolani but also lost three fumbles — including two in the red zone.
"Our offensive line is working hard to get us down there, so we need to take care of the ball better," Trojans coach James Millwood said.
'Aiea and Leilehua opened with victories over Waipahu and Kailua, respectively, but then lost to Kamehameha and Saint Louis.
Kapolei (0-2) and Wai'anae lost to East counterparts McKinley and Farrington, respectively, and to Damien and Punahou.
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.
