Now, the Cougars have some hardware of their own.

The Kaiser boys soccer team sat at home and watched rival Kalani take states last year, believing in their hearts that they were equals.

"It was pretty bad," Kaiser’s Thomas Buntenbah-Leong. "We beat them in the regular season and they ended up going on farther than us and it irritated us because it could have been us."

Taylor Shota Takada scored in the 56th minute and Buntenbah-Leong added another a minute later to lead the Cougars over the Falcons 3-1 in the OIA Red championship on Friday night.

Kaiser took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but Kalani tied it with 29 minutes left on a header off a rebound by Marc Teshima. Then the Cougars took over on the fast turf.

Less than a minute after a foul call that had Kalani coach Michael Ching wandering around on the track staring up at the sky, Buntenbah-Leong slotted a pass to the top of the box about 35 yards from the goal. Takada blasted the ball with his left foot that Kalani keeper Michael Stafford had no chance at. Takada was born lefty but has done most of his damage this year with his right after working on both.

"It was a good battle," Ching said. "Unfortunately they put in three nice goals. I thought once we made that equalizer we were good, but he made that shot. We made one yesterday, he made one today. What can you do?"

Kaiser struck the first blow between the rivals in the 22nd minute when Buntenbah-Leong threaded a throw from the corner through traffic and to teammate Christian Longnecker. The Cougars’ leading scorer let the ball land harmlessly on the turf at his feet, turned his hips and rocketed the ball into the net over leaping Kalani keeper Michael Stafford. Longnecker’s back was to the goal when he started his shot, leaving Stafford unsure where the shot was going to come from.

"We had to double them up on the back and double them up on the front," Kaiser coach Marco Antonio Gloria said. "We wanted to expose their errors, and when they made one we came at them quick."

The Cougars will get the OIA’s seeded berth in the state tournament and the bye that comes with it while Kalani, which has never had much success in the OIA tournament despite seven wins at states the past two years, plays in the first round yet again. Mililani, Kapolei, Moanalua and Pearl City will join the finalists at states.

It is Kaiser’s first OIA or state title after reaching the OIA final in 2007 but losing. For Gloria, that is all in the past. Either Mililani or Kapolei had won every OIA title since 2002 and they have met each other in four of the past six OIA finals.

"I’m glad it was an East side championship," Gloria said. "It’s no longer Mililani or Kapolei, the East side is here for a long time. We were honored when they won last year, they are a great team, just different styles. It’s all about East."