Striving for excellence

Campbell is on everyone’s radar screens now, a football force to be reckoned with across the state.

And the ascent wasn’t an accident. Rather, it was the result of a step-by-step plan of action put in place by head coach Amosa Amosa, who is starting his seventh year at the helm.

And this is a pivotal year for the Sabers, who will try to go as far or farther than a year ago, when they reached the state Division I semifinals.

Getting that far once is one thing. Sustaining that level of succes is another. Amosa believes Campbell is on the right track.

"The integrity of every phase of our program is really good right now," Amosa said. "The environment we’ve created allows the players to work on getting better in football, as students and as sons. We talk about character and we’ve established that part. The kids buy in to our system and so far we’ve been fortunate to have athletes who get it done."

Replacing prolific quarterback Isaac Hurd, now at Southern Oregon, will be one of the biggest challenges for Campbell, coming off a 9-4 season.

In the early going, senior Abiel Taito, an athletic speed burner, will take the reins in the run-and-shoot offense.

Taito is one of the essential parts of the defense, too, at free safety and the plan is for the quarterback job to fall into the hands of 6-foot-3 sophomore Ezra Savea, the long-term answer to Hurd’s departure.

"I’ve had sophomore quarterbacks before — Hurd and (Justin) Tago-Sue — and the asset that Ezra has that beats the other two is accuracy," Amosa said. "I have never seen a sophomore with that kind of pinpoint accuracy. If he misses a throw, he will never miss that same throw the next time."

Among the team’s other offensive weapons are running back Austin May, slotback Kona Reiny-Aloy and wide receiver Jayce Bantolina.

"We’re looking for a blowout year from Bantolina and we are really high on May’s ability," Amosa said.

After analyzing the Sabers’ state semifinal loss to Mililani, Amosa realized the game was decided on the line.

"We got dominated in the trenches," he said. "I watched their front seven control our guys, so I knew that I wanted our guys to get into the weight room. This is something I feel can be a steppingstone, the next phase to our program. We wanted to get physically stronger, and I’ve seen tremendous changes in our strength this offseason, thanks to the work of coach Kenneth Rossi.

"That’s the goal — to dominate the trenches because the line is the foundation."

Arona Amosa, a senior guard and the coach’s son, said this year’s O-line wants to be one of Campbell’s strengths.

"Our O-line was one of our weaknesses," he said. "We were not strong enough physically and our technique was not good enough. As a team, everyone has gotten stronger and our technique is almost perfected. I don’t think there will be too many games where we’re dominated in the trenches.

"We’re really hungry to make it to the states again."

Tackle James Copelan and center Atapana Amosa are among the other cogs along the line.

Summarizing the Campbell defense without mentioning three important components — strong safety Solomon Matautia, middle linebacker Kea Cambra and Taito at safety — would be doing a disservice.

The list of Division I college scouts who have visited Matautia at Campbell’s Ewa Beach campus is long and it includes USC, Texas Tech, Kansas and Colorado. He made the Star-Advertiser All-State first team as a junior.

Taito has committed to Nevada.

"I feel like we are a lot farther along at this point than we were last season," said Cambra, an undersized player at 5-foot-9 who led the team in tackles in 2013. "We are super close. The vibe coming into practice is that we’ve got a brotherhood over here.

"We’re going to be smarter players this year. Our whole defense is physical and nasty and likes to hit."

Amosa Amosa talked about Cambra’s heart at Tuesday’s practice.

"Kea is a spark plug. He makes up for his small size with heart. He is a great leader and role mode."

Tristan Ludiazo, a 6-4 defensive end, is another menace on defense. He beat All-State linebacker Dayton Furuta of Mililani for the 220-pound wrestling state title in February.

Two slogans are guiding Campbell this season.

The first is "Win the Day," which helps each kid remember to focus more on what is directly in front of him rather than the future or past.

The second is "Commitment to Excellence," borrowed from the Oakland Raiders.

"At first, I thought about a theme for this year based on our success of last year," Amosa Amosa said. "Maybe something like ‘Repeating History’ because of all we accomplished, but then I was thinking that I don’t want them thinking and worrying about what happened last year. And I also would like to see the kids commit to trying to be excellent at what they do, to be the best they can be, in football, at home and in their lives on campus."