Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Sabers dedicate season to Wojcik, face Hurricanes Friday




The Campbell football team will take the field with heavy hearts Friday night.

Linebackers' coach Dave Wojcik passed away suddenly Saturday, just one day after the Sabers' 44-0 win at Kailua.

"On Monday we addressed the team and talked about what happened to coach Dave," Campbell coach Amosa Amosa said. "I wanted them to focus on the good we shared with him and I asked our players to look at what he shared with us and to allow his memory to hopefully encourage our players to do better for themselves, their families, our school and our football team."

In addition to serving on the coaching staff the past two seasons, Wojcik was also a teacher on campus. The Chicago-native left behind a wife.

"He was such a nice guy, wonderful guy and really humble. We were all blessed to have known him," Amosa said. "It really put things into perspective for us. It reminds us to be grateful for the blessing of being able to wake up the next day, breathe, come to practice and better ourselves in everything we do."

While still in the grieving process, the Sabers have had to prepare for a road game at Kapolei Friday, which Amosa calls their toughest test yet.

"I keep telling the kids that with the way our schedule is, the teams that we play are going to be better and tougher and the caliber of opponent gets better and better each week," Amosa said. "So it's been very important that we improve in each game and make the corrections that we need to. Right now we're going to start four games in a row that is the meat of our schedule."

In its first three games, Campbell has hardly been challenged. The Sabers have scored at least 34 points in each game and won each by at least 22 points.

"So far I'm happy with the way things are going," Amosa said. "I really feel like the boys have put in great effort and good work throughout the last three weeks that we played."

The offense, at the controls of sophomore quarterback Ezra Savea (477 pass yds, 8 TD, INT) is averaging nearly 38 points and 476 yards per game while the defense, which is anchored by a pair of Division-I bound safeties in Abiel Taito (Nevada) and Solomon Matautia (Oregon State), allows less than 7 points and just 171 yards per game.

"This is really your typical Campbell team that can run, can pass, and plays tough defense," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. "Ezra Savea is very accurate and can scramble, they have two really good running backs in Terrell Johnson and Austin May and they're solid on defense."

The Hurricanes' schedule, unlike the Sabers', was heavily front-loaded. They opened the year 0-3 after the daunting task of playing Kahuku, Farrington and Mililani on consecutive weeks.

"We feel like we're battled-tested because of our early-season schedule," Hernandez said. "We also managed to come away pretty much unscathed health-wise and I credit that to our offseason conditioning and strength program that helped us get through that gauntlet of teams. We're hoping we can regroup and come back and play better than we did last week — we had a lot of penalties against Moanalua — so we're hoping we can execute this week without the way we played last week and give ourselves a chance to win."

Despite a multitude of infractions last week, Kapolei pulled off the 25-14 road win at Moanalua to snap the losing skid.

"It was a big thing, especially with the playoff implications, so that was a must-win game for us," Hernandez said. "(0-4) is a situation no coach wants to ever be in. We were already behind the eight-ball of an 0-3 start, so I think that win really went a long way in helping the confidence of our players."

The Hurricanes managed just 17 rushing yards in a 41-14 loss to Mililani one week prior, but ran wild for 275 against Na Menehune.

"They have some big guys up front and with the way (offensive coordinator) Darren Johnson runs the offense, they're looking to pound the ball down your throat and beat with you play-action, so our defense has to be disciplined," Amosa said.

Accounting for most of the Hurricanes' offensive production is trio of seniors in quarterback Alton Julius (447 pass yds, 6 TD, 2 INT) and running backs Trensten Spragling (244 rush yds, 2 TD) and Ronald Matautia (131 rush yds, 3 TD). As a unit the offense averages 21 points and 249 yards per game.

"They have a fast, quick running back in Spragling and their quarterback, Julius, is pretty athletic, too," Amosa said.

The defense, whose experience lies in the secondary, allows 29 points and 347 yards per game.

"They don't get too fancy on defense. There's not too much stunting or blitzing, so for us offensively we have to sustain drives and punch in some points," Amosa said. "If our offensive line allows us to execute our run game and our passing attack, I think we have a good chance of coming out victorious."

Like Amosa's Sabers, Hernandez's team also suffered a tragic blow when the father of sophomore offensive lineman Noah Mahelona died in the stands of the Hurricanes' season-opener at Kahuku nearly a month ago.

"I can understand what they're going through," Hernandez said of Campbell. "It was tough for us and it really put football into perspective. This is one of those life-and-death type of things, but we just play a game. When someone passes away — whether it's a coach or a close parent — it really puts things into perspective of what is really important in life and it's not a football game."

Amosa said the team has dedicated the rest of its season to Wojcik. Each player on both the JV and the varsity will have a "DW" sticker on his helmet and the coaches will don a shirt honoring his memory.

Kickoff between the sixth-ranked Sabers (3-0) and the ninth-ranked Hurricanes (1-3) is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Other games of interest this weekend:

-Radford vs. Kalani, 7:30 p.m. Friday at Kaiser Stadium
The Rams (3-1 overall, 3-0 OIA D2), who are ranked seventh in the ScoringLive/OC16 Division II Football Power Rankings, are one of three remaining unbeatens in what used to be known as the OIA White Division. RB Chance Cacatian scored on two first-quarter runs and LB Jordan Walker made a game-high seven tackles, including two sacks, in a 41-9 win over Kaimuki Saturday. The Falcons (3-1) have won two straight since a 6-3 loss to Kalaheo. RB Ace Faumui scored five rushing touchdowns in wins over Anuenue and Roosevelt.

-Saint Louis at Iolani, 1 p.m. Saturday at Kozuki Stadium
The Crusaders (1-3 overall, 1-1 ILH) remained at the No. 8 spot in the SL/OC16 DI Power Rankings with a 60-13 win over Pac-Five Friday. QB Tua Tagovailoa threw for 430 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-25 passing and also ran for a 55-yard score. The Raiders (2-0, 1-1) were idle last week and come in at No. 2 in the D2 power rankings. QB Austin Jim On has thrown for 333 yards and three touchdowns with a 71 percent completion percentage and RBs KJ Pasua (250 rush yards, 6.4 yards per carry) and Storm Lotomau (123 rush yards, 6.8 ypc) have rushed for three touchdowns each.

-Maui vs. Lahainaluna, 7 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium
The Sabers (3-0 overall, 2-0 MIL) are coming off their bye week. They made the program's first-ever appearance in the SL/OC16 D1 Power Rankings following their come-from-behind 20-17 win over Baldwin on Aug. 29. RB Daniel Kelley ranks second in D1 with 416 rushing yards (8.0 yards per carry, 4 TDs). The Lunas (4-0, 3-0) are No. 1 in the D2 power rankings and have won three of their four games by 30 or more points, including a 42-7 thrashing of Baldwin Saturday. QB Makoa Filikitonga-Lukea has rushed for eight touchdowns and thrown for six.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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