If Kamehameha-Maui keeps this up, we may have to rethink which schools are Hawaii’s traditional powers in boys soccer.
The Warriors scored twice in the first seven minutes and held on to shut out Mililani 2-0 in the first round of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Wednesday.
It is Kamehameha-Maui’s second big upset of an Oahu team in as many years at the tournament. The Warriors beat ILH champion ‘Iolani in the quarterfinals last year.
"We were very fortunate today," Kamehameha-Maui coach Kimo Correa said. "We’ll take it. It is never an easy road and it will get even tougher (on Thursday.)"
Kamehameha-Maui moves on to play Kealakehe on Thursday at 1 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s third-place game won by Kamehameha-Maui. The undefeated Waveriders were on the sideline taking in the action, a fact not lost on last year’s surprise team.
"We saw them over there," Kamehameha-Maui junior forward Micah Alo said. "We got a little sloppy in the second half. We are going to have to pick that up. They (the Waveriders) have probably gotten better."
The Warriors jumped on the Trojans from the outset, with Kailoa Akoi booming a ball from about 35 yards out that sailed over the Mililani keeper’s head and into the goal. Alo scored Kamehameha-Maui’s second goal four minutes later on a similar shot over the keeper’s head. The Warriors said they noticed on film that the keeper strays out of the goal a lot and targeted that.
"I just felt very ambitious," Akoi said. "I figured the game just started, why not shoot? I was surprised to get one early. It felt good."
The Trojans suffered a loss even before they lost, when freshman Treyton Kong came down on his head at midfield with 24 minutes, 43 seconds left in the contest. He was taken off the field on the back of a golf cart and later loaded onto an ambulance. Kong’s welfare was foremost on Correa’s mind after the win.
"I hope that kid is OK," Correa said. "That was pretty scary. You never want to see that."
Kalani 3, Moanalua 2, PKs
Junior Marc Teshima buried the Falcons’ final penalty kick and Kalani survived the first round after a furious comeback by Na Menehune.
Teshima, the kicker for the football team in the fall, relishes being last in line for penalty kicks.
"I am used to this kind of pressure, it’s fun," Teshima said. "We just let them in the game all the time. It is always like a dog chase."
Ryan Bui, Toshihiro Kosins, Raymond Alves and Kai Abihai preceded Teshima with successful kicks. David Palalay, Jeffrey Kotani, Dylan Cabalang and Tyler Morton converted for Moanalua, but Treston Ijiri bounced his attempt off the post on Moanalua’s second attempt.
"That’s how it goes," Moanalua coach Spencer Machado said. "I told the kids it’s now or never and they played hard. We were just slacking in the first half, and it takes two halves. Too bad it had to come down to penalty kicks."
The defending state champions improved to 8-1 in the state tournament the past three years after squandering a 2-0 lead at the half. Kyle Ichiyama scored in the 37th minute and Teshima tallied in the 41st before Moanalua stormed back after halftime with goals from Kotani in the 42nd minute and Ijiri in the 69th.
"As soon as that goal goes in (after halftime), I go, ‘Why can’t my life be easy at states?" Kalani coach Michael Ching said. "Moanalua came out and blitzed us and we struggled to keep our composure."
Part of Kalani’s problem was that senior midfielder Shawn Donnelly left the game in the opening minutes after injuring his ankle. At halftime, he went to get X-rays and will probably miss the rest of the tournament. He was Kalani’s starting keeper last year, but got injured a week before states.
"That kind of rattled us, too," Ching said. "He is one of the leaders of our team. I feel so sorry for that kid. You could kind of see the emotion on everybody’s face."
Kapolei 3, Hilo 0
CJ Harvey scored two goals and Marcelo Dadino added another as the Hurricanes overwhelmed the Vikings.
Harvey put his first goal in in the 12th minute and Dadino struck six minutes later. Harvey gave Kapolei a 3-goal advantage in the 33rd minute and the Hurricanes avoided being scored on in the second half. Kapolei moves on to play MIL champion Baldwin at 3 p.m. in the park’s stadium.
"We had to shake off a lot of rust and got to use a lot of guys," Kapolei coach Ryan Lau said. "We were efficient and sloppy at the same time. We have to raise our game. We have to play a lot better than (Wednesday)."
Kapolei, which is making its sixth straight state tournament appearance, lost to King Kekaulike in the quarterfinals last year, but, in two straight years prior to that, the Hurricanes beat Baldwin in the same round. Hilo was knocked out in the first round for the second straight year.
Punahou 3, Pearl City 1
Antonio Espinoza scored the equalizer in the 52nd minute and Kainoa McDonald put the Buffanblu ahead in the 71st to help the ILH runner-up survive a scare.
Luke Wyman scored on a header for Pearl City 21 minutes into the match and the Chargers went into halftime with the lead over Punahou, a state finalist last year.
"We were actually a little nervous," Punahou coach David Trifonovitch said. "You could see the guys came out nervous and a little apprehensive and at halftime we just said, ‘Look guys, have to have confidence. You have to feel that you are better than them.’ "
The Buffanblu were a different team after that, putting it away on a goal by Brian Yanagi in the 75th minute. Punahou moves on to play OIA champ Kaiser today at 5 p.m. The Buffanblu have been knocked out of the tournament by an OIA team (Kalani) in each of the past two years and won the two state titles before that.
"They are a good team," Trifonovitch said. "They are very physical, which could present some problems for us. But you have to beat everybody, so just take it one game at a time."