Baldwin High School’s Antone Sanches is chased by Kamehameha Maui’s Ka‘ula‘ula Ako-Nataniela during an MIL game on Oct. 21. The Bears head into the 2023 season seeking their first win since 2021. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

The Baldwin High School football team will enter the 2023 season on a 14-game overall losing streak, but the future is looking up a bit for the young Bears.

Baldwin’s last win came Oct. 23, 2021, when the Bears beat King Kekaulike 22-0 for the final victory of the Pohai Lee era as head coach.

Last season in Cody Nakamura’s first season as head coach at his alma mater, the Bears struggled to an 0-9 mark, their worst since putting up the same record in 1954.

As the dawn of the 2023 season approaches, Nakamura sees hope for better days after his first season ended with the Bears being outscored 304-34 in eight Maui Interscholastic League games. They led just once, in the final game of the season.

The official start date for practices was Monday — team are in the heat acclimatization phase now with shoulder pads and helmets after practices started with two days of helmets only.

Right now there are about 80 players attending practices and Nakamura said the split between varsity and junior varsity is about 40-40. The team has just eight seniors.

“That’s a little bit less than last year, but the guys who are returning look really good, so we’re pretty excited about that,” Nakamura said. “Very small senior class for us, and then the juniors, sophomores and freshmen kind of make up for it. We’re definitely a little bit ahead of last year as far as our team and our skill level and everything goes.

“School hasn’t started, so we expect a few more JV players to come out when school starts.”

Linebacker Toa Mata’afa-Grove has returned to Baldwin for his senior season after playing two seasons in Pennsylvania due to the pandemic. He is expected to be a leader along with rising sophomores Pita Takafua, a defensive lineman, and Ethan Bacos, a linebacker — both saw significant varsity time last year as freshmen.

“I think we’re a bit better this year, whether that will lead to a bunch of wins or a couple of wins, or even one, I’m not sure yet, but we’re excited to get the full-tackle (practices) and scrimmages going, then we’ll find out a little bit more,” Nakamura said. “I do think we’re a little bit better than last year, we just have to see what happens when we strap up all the pads and start tackling and scrimmaging and whatnot.”

Rising juniors Antone Sanches and Josiah Nakihei, and rising sophomore Kalaheo Kanae-Oliveira are battling for the quarterback spot right now. Sanches saw significant playing time there last season, but will also be counted on heavily in the defensive backfield and will see time at wide receiver when not behind center.

“Right now we’re rotating in three different quarterbacks to see who gives us the best opportunity,” Nakamura said. “The attitude is definitely upbeat, they’re kind of getting it down, they know what to expect now, they’ve been through it for a year.

“We actually had an offseason program this season, so that helped. So everything’s kind of coming together now.”

Nakamura said experience is still coming at a premium with his young squad. The team did not have an offseason program prior to last year’s season and the change has been important, Nakamura said.

“The juniors from last year who are seniors now kind of know what we expect and know the tempo that we like, they know the other stuff that can help you out a bunch,” Nakamura said. “Definitely, we’re a step ahead from last year, but still a long, long, long way to go.”

Nakamura said Brock Toma will be the lead running back and Kason Uedoi, the returning starter at center, will lead the offensive line.

Baldwin will be a little bit smaller in the trenches than they were last season. In 2022, running back/wide receiver Joseph Randolph, a first-team MIL All-Star at utility on offense, was the only Bear to make the All-Star first or second teams.

“We’re going to be a little bit smaller, I think, as far as the O-line, D-line goes, but we’re hoping we can make up for that with some speed, some agility and offensively putting our team in the best position to have a successful play,” Nakamura said.

Randolph, now a freshman at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., won two state sprint titles on the track and was named The Maui News MIL Boy Athlete of the Year in June.

“We did not replace that speed,” Nakamura said “We do have a lot of team speed as you know from our track team, so we’re happy with our team speed, but as far as replacing Joseph Randolph, that’s a once-in-a-generation kind of player. We hope for another one in a little while.”

The Bears will play their only preseason game against California power Edison High School of Huntington Beach on Aug. 12 at 4:30 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium.

“Oh, it’s going to be an extremely tough one,” Nakamura said. “They’re a really good team, really good coaching staff who has been around for a while. So, we’re going to have a few goals during the game and we hope to see those goals accomplished from our players, but it’s definitely going to be tough. Really good team.”

Nakamura and staff are welcoming the huge challenge against Edison, which will stay in town and play Lahainaluna on Aug. 18.

“I think it’s good for our players to play people like that,” Nakamura said. “They’re the same age, they’ve got a bunch of (NCAA) D-I offers on their team. As we’re trying to build this program up and to open their eyes to what’s out there, I think this is a good opportunity for them to learn.

“We’ll have some goals out there that we would like to see and we hopefully achieve those. And like I said, we just have to continue to get better throughout the year.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com