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Former teammate Amosa of Campbell spoils Miano’s Kaiser debut

When Amosa Amosa arrived on the University of Hawaii campus as a freshman, Rich Miano was among the senior role models he looked up to.

On Friday, it was Amosa who helped welcome Miano into the high school coaching fraternity.

With both head coaches leading their high school alma maters, Amosa’s Campbell team opened the season with a 34-6 win over Kaiser in Miano’s head coaching debut.

Campbell’s defense accounted for the first and last touchdowns of an often ragged game and the ninth-ranked Sabers pulled away in the second half.

“It was kind of the first game I expected,” said Amosa, now in his fifth year at Campbell. “We have a lot of returnees but we also have a lot of new players. Tonight was just a matter of putting some things together and trying to be a little more consistent with what we do.”

Campbell linebacker Solomon Leaeno scored the Sabers’ first touchdown of the season when he recovered an errant snap in the end zone. Kaiser hung around, trailing 12-6 at halftime, before Campbell put the game away, capping the win with linebacker Donovan Poniatowski’s 80-yard return for a score after he intercepted a pitch intended for a Kaiser running back.

“These guys worked very hard over the summer and they really bring the intensity when they play,” Amosa said of the defense’s senior captains.

Campbell running back Paul-Andrew Rhoden scored rushing and receiving touchdowns as quarterbacks Justin Tago-Su’e and Isaac Hurd shared time in leading the offense.

While Campbell looks to continue building upon recent successes, Miano is in the early stages of implementing his program at Kaiser after being named head coach earlier this summer.

“I normally don’t get nervous for anything, and I’ve been around football long enough. But it is different having to make calls and decisions all those type  of things. It’s a great learning experience,” said Miano, who spent the previous 13 seasons as an assistant coach at UH.

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