By MATT GERHART
By MATT GERHART
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Size matters in football, and Kohala doesn’t have it — not in terms of its roster and bulk.
Coach Reggie Tolentino knows that, realistically, the Cowboys only will be able to match the strength of one of their opponents this season, Ka’u.
“The rest have size and numbers,” Tolentino said. “But we can bring speed and a lot of conditioning. We can mix up with our speed because we got a whole lot of that.”
Armed with the smallest roster (31, and just six are listed at over 200 pounds) in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, Kohala will once again try to go around and not through most of its opponents.
“What we did last year was put speed on the big boys, kind of wear them out and run side to side,” Tolentino said.
Fullback/linebacker Dakota Tolentino, the coach’s son, said that made for some interesting encounters in the trenches.
“It’s not always the greatest, but it works,” he said.
There are a couple of intangibles that Kohala will bank on to overcome mismatches as well: heart and hustle.
“Our team has to work hard, practice hard, do the best we can out there and give it 110 percent,” junior wide receiver/safety Ricky Ching said.
The strength and experience of the offense is at the skill positions. When Kohala does try to test the middle of the line, it will hand the ball off to the 5-foot-6, 210-pound Tolentino, a senior. The rest of the focus will be to get the ball in space to Ching and its two starting slot backs, junior Trenton Akamu-Lorenzo and sophomore Willy Perez.
The offensive line will try to hold the point of attack and is keyed by sophomore Brayden Torres, senior Jake Ball and sophomore Peter Fong. Torres (5-9, 246) is a transfer from Kamehameha and is Kohala’s biggest player, while Ball (6-0, 220) returns to the lineup after playing in 2010.
The line and the skill players will be counted on heavily as freshman quarterback Kainalu Emeliano-Solomon adjusts to play at the high school level.
“Kainalu is good with seeing the windows and has a good head on his shoulders,” the coach said. “We just have to create one-on-one matchups and get separation with our speed out there. Try to run as much deceptions as we can.”
It should help that Emeliano-Solomon has experience working with Ching and others in the past at the Pop Warner level.
“He’s got a good arm and he listens,” Dakota Tolentino said.
The defense returns five starters and Kohala will often load the box with a 4-4 look to keep teams from bullying them with the inside run game. If the Cowboys can hang their hat on one of their defensive units this season it figures to be at linebacker.
Seniors Isaiah Mamhot and Casey Stevens join Tolentino and Lorenzo to form a corp that has plenty of experience playing together. Junior Coby Amar, Ball and Torres will work the trenches to give the linebackers room to roam and make plays, while Ching will be joined in the secondary by cornerbacks Daylan Higa, a junior, and sophomore Dalyn Kupukaa.
The Cowboys are coming off a 1-9 season and they’ve won three games the past three seasons. In addition, they’ve already forfeited today’s opener at Kamehameha as they gear up for a Sept. 8 game at Hawaii Prep.
Still, Tolentino says practices are as spirited as ever and that morale is never a problem in Kapaau.
“We’re just coming to play. I told the boys that it’s going to be hard, just bring our best,” Tolentino said. “Some of them came up from Pop Warner, some from Parks and Recreation leagues. They love it.”