Sabers want to keep climbing

KAHULUI - Perhaps the best measure of how far the Maui High School football program has come in a little more than a season is Russell Kaauamo.

The 5-foot-7, 195-pound senior is at the top of the roster, assigned jersey No. 1, and listed as a defensive lineman. He will not play this season, however, because doctors discovered a benign cyst in his brain after an MRI was called for when he took his physical.

The non-life-threatening development will keep him off the field, but not off the sideline - eager for a role with a team that could be returning to its former glory, he enthusiastically accepted the offer of a "player-coach" assignment from second-year head coach David Bui.

Article Photos

Justin McCrary of Maui High School was the Maui Interscholastic League’s eighth-leading rusher last year, gaining 219 yards on an average of 5.1 per carry.
GLEN PASCUAL photo

Malaikini

Fisher

"I'm kind of bummed about not being able to play, but I'm just trying to take a good leadership role," Kaauamo said before practice Monday. "I just want to keep the team going. I just tell them, 'Keep your head up, play your game.' "

Bui was quick to ask Kaauamo if he wanted to stay with the program.

"It feels good to be around the guys," Kaauamo said.

Bui became the fifth head coach for the Sabers since 2004, when Curtis Lee retired as the winningest active coach in the state.

Maui High's 3-5 Maui Interscholastic League mark in 2011 was not what the school was used to when Lee was guiding nine league champions in 21 seasons, but it was the first time the Sabers recorded three league wins since 2005 and their best league winning percentage since their 2000 MIL championship team.

The Sabers were 5-44-1 in the MIL from 2005 to 2010 and three of those wins came in a 3-7 season in 2005.

With a roster of 55 players, the success of last season appears to have the program on the upswing. The roster has only 17 returnees, in part due to the message Bui has stressed.

"I think the culture that we have been trying to set on commitment and dedication and academics and character development is beginning to set its roots in here," Bui said. "So it is getting there, it is not where we are trying to take it yet, but it is getting there."

The roster has 17 players listed at 200 pounds or more and five are 235 or larger.

"We have some big boys, but a lot of them are new," Bui said. "Some of them took last year off as juniors and now they are seniors and some of the other big boys are young. We are optimistic, we have got a good coaching staff who I feel will develop these guys."

The team returns only two offensive starters - tackles Josiah Sodetani (5-7, 235, Sr.) and Kaohu Aki (6-3, 245, Sr.).

"We are just trying to get everybody pumped, show them what we need to do," Sodetani said.

The quarterback battle is ongoing in a position where four players saw action last season.

"Right now it is up in the air - we have a senior in Calvin Aboy, who was projected to be our starter going into the season and we were hoping to groom David Kahaleauki, the JV quarterback last year," Bui said. "Calvin sustained an injury in the preseason and the last two weeks we have been developing David and he is progressing well. Now it is a competition all over again."

Maui High held a 17-13 lead at Konawaena in a preseason game on Saturday in a game that ended 38-17 in favor of the home team.

Junior running back Justin McCrary appears set to be the starting tailback after finishing eighth on the MIL rushing list last season with 219 yards and a 5.1-yard average per carry.

A pair of defensive line sophomores carry a familiar name for the Sabers. Moana Vainikolo and Leka Vainikolo are being coached by their oldest brother, Kamaloni Vainikolo, a 2006 Maui High graduate who played two seasons at Utah State after two standout junior college seasons.

"It is good support for us, he helps us out at home, too," Moana Vainikolo said of Kamaloni's presence. "He tells me if he can do it, I can do it."

Leka Vainikolo added, "He knows what it takes. He expects us to be better because he has trained us since we were young."

Senior Sage Malaikini, a defensive end, will also learn under Kamaloni Vainikolo for a team that returns four defensive starters.

The linebacking corps will be led by junior Tommy Fisher in the middle.

"The coaches expect more out of us this year," Fisher said. "We want to beat last year's record and head to states."

Maui High opens MIL play on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium against Kamehameha Maui.

"I think we are ready, but the MIL is going to be tough," Bui said. "There is not going to be any easy games on the schedule. The goal is to win the MIL, every year."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com