Baldwin High School’s Elijah Valdez catches a ball thrown down a tunnel of waving hands during a practice Tuesday afternoon at the Bears’ field in Wailuku. The Bears begin the season Aug. 13 with a non-league game at Kauai. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
WAILUKU — Energy levels are high as high school football practices officially start across the state this week.
Over at Baldwin High School’s practice field Tuesday afternoon, there were about 65 student-athletes — with about 10 or so still out completing paperwork — in the middle of drills and exercises when senior Isaac Kaalakea said “it feels pretty good being back here.”
“I’m having fun” said Kaalakea, who fills in at quarterback and wide receiver. “There’s a lot of guys coming out and for some it’s their first time here.”
As practices begin, the Bears are “confident and showing heart, that they’re ready to play,” he said, adding that he hopes that he and other seniors “inspire our team to be better” this season before they graduate.
“The fact that there’s a lot of energy and a lot of kids showing up is a good thing. Creating the buzz around campus and getting some new faces, that’s always exciting, especially for a new coach,” said Cody Nakamura, who is entering his first season as head coach of his alma mater. “We have a lot of athletes that can play football, we just have to make sure we’re dialing them in to do the right things at the right time.”
Maui High receivers work on their downfield blocking technique Tuesday. The Sabers host Nanakuli on Aug. 12 at War Memorial.
Across town, Maui High coach Aylett Wallwork, who makes his debut as the head coach of his alma mater this year after joining the football staff in 2016 as an assistant, said the rivalry with the Bears might be interesting this year with two alumni coaches.
There’s only been two days of practice, though, and so the coaching staff is still figuring out what new or returning players they have. Wallwork said that there’s “still a lot of kinks that need to be worked out.”
“I coached the defense last year, I was a coordinator last year, so we’re keeping the way we play defense the same,” he said. “We want to change some of the things with the offense that tailors to the type of kids we got, rather than run a system. This is really a lot of feeling out to kind of figure out the direction we want to go in.”
All in all, Wallwork plans to “keep things simple” and let the kids just play football.
For Nakamura, who was an offensive coordinator at Baldwin under Pohai Lee in 2017 before taking on the head coach position this season, he’s looking to continue building on the foundation that the football program already established.
Nakamura
“We just want to bring back the tradition that Baldwin football has, which is a good one, so we’re trying to increase the discipline and make sure everyone is on the same page,” Nakamura said. “Not so much change it, but build off of what the coaches have done in the past and try to take it to the next level.”
The Bears will travel to the Garden Isle to play a non-league game against Kauai on Aug. 13, but the focus for now is training and getting back in shape, Nakamura said.
“I think a lot of the boys that sat out the last couple years are just excited to play again,” he said. “There’s a good buzz going around.”
Maui High officially opens the Maui Interscholastic League’s preseason slate on Aug. 12, when the Sabers host Nanakuli at War Memorial Stadium, though they might have a few scrimmages before then to prepare and get more playing time, Wallwork said.
“It’s good. All the boys are back and I get to see them again — haven’t seen them in a while,” Sabers junior Ofa Falekaono said during practice Tuesday. “This year is going to be a good year with them and we’ll have good competition with the other people, especially Lahaina, but yeah, all the boys over here are doing good and we hope to get to the level that we want to get to.”
Wallwork
The linebacker did some summer off-season training in preparation for the MIL season, which, for the first time since 2019, will have a full two-round schedule.
“What I want to shoot for is leadership out there with everybody, be a team player with everybody,” Falekaono said. “None of us are going to be just playing for us, we’re all going to play for each other.”
* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.
Baldwin offensive linemen work on their blocking technique Tuesday afternoon.
Maui High quarterback Evan Tarasenko grabs a drink Tuesday.
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