After four years under head coach Amosa Amosa and his staff, the Campbell football team is ready to graduate into the best of the West.

The Sabers won the OIA White in Amosa’s first year as head coach in 2008, but muddled through two years in the Red before breaking through with an 8-3 record last year. That performance has Campbell No. 9 in the Star-Advertiser’s preseason poll.

Now it is time for the next step.

"When I started here, I told the players and coaches that it had to start from the bottom up," Amosa said. "We now have kids who have been with us from JV and up, and we keep the same offense and defense (schemes) every year, we should get better. But we need to do the work."

Part of the improvement is seen in the passion around the school. Amosa has already had to turn kids away this year and is looking at a few more tough cuts. Amosa had a line of eager players ready when he opened the weight room during the hot summer months.

"The biggest difference this year is the commitment to the summer program," Amosa said. "In years past, you see a kid hanging out saying he is training with his uncles — we all have those uncles, don’t we? — but coming back out of shape. This year almost all of the returnees were here for the summer program, and that makes the new kids better."

Justin Tago-Su‘e is in his third year behind center for Campbell’s pass-heavy attack, throwing for 123.6 yards per game last year and appearing in every game. Like all of the Sabers who have been listening to Amosa’s message for four years, expect his performance to rise. Isaac Hurd performed admirably as Tago-Su‘e’s backup last year, getting into nearly every game, and expects to do the same this year. But the offense begins and ends with Tago-Su‘e.

"At this point, after three years, there is not much more I can teach him," Amosa said. "He knows our offense in and out. Last year we were more balanced, but I am hoping we will be able to air it out more a little bit."

Paul-Andrew Rhoden is back to carry the ball in the running game and Amosa Amosa Jr. and Dahsten Kekiwi will be asked to step up and take the place of Keoni Piceno, who moved over to Leilehua. Galuega Castro and Cody Bantolina are the favorites to win the jobs in the slots.

But Campbell’s offense is not going to work unless the offensive line comes together, with Logan Santiago and David Ontai leading the team in the trenches. The Sabers are already nursing injuries on the offensive line, meaning sophomores Miki Fifita and Isaac Kelly will be asked to carry some of the load this year.

"I believe in them," Tago-Su‘e said. "It is strange. I actually coached (the sophomores) in outside leagues, so I know what they can do. Our line will do the job."

That offensive line will find out what it has on Thursday, when state champion Kahuku makes its annual visit for a scrimmage. The Sabers have tested themselves against the Red Raiders, as well as state power Kamehameha, in the preseason in each of the past three years. No score is kept, but the experience has helped Campbell go 10-2 in August in Amosa’s reign.

"We’ve got Kahuku coming in Thursday and we have had barely enough time to teach them anything," Amosa said. "This is our third year scrimmaging them, and we like it because it is a good indication of how well we do. Last year the biggest difference was, for us, we had a good scrimmage against them and it was a good start for us and told the kids they have to get to work."

Amosa has his team preaching one game at a time, but Leilehua dealt Campbell its first loss last season and beat the Sabers again in the OIA third-place game to end the Sabers’ season and deny them their first Division I state berth. The Mules will play Campbell in the Sabers’ homecoming game Sept. 21.

"I would really like to win homecoming for the seniors," Amosa said. "But we have to go through Leilehua. They have won the state title, they have been there every year. They know what they are doing. You know how they say, ‘imitate success’? They are one of the teams we have to get over."

Tia Toese mans the nose for Campbell’s blitzing 3-4 package, tying up the offensive line to give the linebackers the freedom to stunt. Amate Savusa returns to handle one defensive end spot, with Devon Briones starting on the other side. The defensive line is undersized, but built for speed.

Linebacker Solomon Leaeno leads the way from the mike spot, with Donovan Poniatowski, Jerney Tago and Guy Silva taking turns teeing off on quarterbacks. Because the defense is so often in attack mode, the backfield is asked almost exclusively to cover. Joshua Forte and Jared Thomas are penciled in as the safeties, with Corian Reyes-Thomas and Makaio Hopeau-Lampitoc on the corners.

Leaeno, a Star-Advertiser third-team all-state pick last year, will be counted on to lead a group that suffered plenty of defections to graduation last year, including Giovanni Stevenson, Joshua Torres and Romelo Wilson.

"I am excited to see our defense," Amosa said. "I know they worked on some blitzing over the summer and in pass league, but I can’t wait to see them get after it and hit somebody. We don’t have a lot of bulk, but we have speed."

That is all well and good, but the Sabers’ defense hasn’t hit anyone yet, preferring to spend the early days of camp on fundamentals. That will just make the defense that much hungrier when Kahuku visits Ewa on Thursday.

"I didn’t get to hit anyone today," Leaeno said after Monday’s first full-pads session. "But tomorrow is another opportunity."