Todd Takeno won an OIA boys soccer title as a sophomore. As a senior, he added a second championship.
The senior goalkeeper helped Roosevelt defeat Waialua 4-1 in Saturday’s OIA Division II championship game at Kapolei. The Rough Riders (8-2-2) scored early in the first half and pulled away with three goals in the second.
“I was a sophomore back then, so it didn’t mean as much to me,” said Takeno, who was also the starting goalkeeper in 2014. “As a senior now, I wanted to finish strong. It feels pretty good.”
The Rough Riders have just a handful of players remaining from the 2014 squad and lost several key players from last year’s team. This year’s team, which went 3-2-2 against OIA East D-I teams in the regular season, was balanced — evident by four different players scoring on Saturday.
“This team is more passionate,” Takeno said. “We lost a couple of our key players last year — everyone had to really step up and everyone improved so much.”
Takeno helped Roosevelt protect its lead with two big saves late in the second half. Takeno stopped a shot from point-blank range in the 68th minute and two minutes later, smothered a penalty kick attempt by Alberto Araiz.
“Most of the guys are pretty new to this,” Takeno said. “Thursday, we didn’t handle the pressure very well (in the semifinals), but today we came out really strong.”
Noah Aghdasi scored in the second minute, taking the ball down the field after Roosevelt cleared a Waialua corner kick. Aghdasi shot from the right side of the box and the ball rolled by Waialua goalkeeper Holten Bjur.
Brandon Sunderland’s goal in the 46th minute put the Rough Riders ahead 2-0. Seiki Nguyen made it 3-0 in the 57th minute by converting a penalty kick. Temujin Greywolf’s goal made it 4-0. Greywolf is one of several Roosevelt players with no soccer experience, but coach Francis Pena used Greywolf’s strengths throughout the season.
“Some of the players have never played soccer before,” Pena said. “Temujin, he’s a football player and we just had him for two seasons. We used his speed and strength.”
Ethan Grubbs converted a penalty kick for Waialua (5-6-1) in the 74th minute. Both teams have this week off to prepare for the state tournament that starts Feb. 25.
“We just have to talk to these guys on what’s going on and work on a lot of stuff,” Waialua coach John Rosa said. “Right back to basics and prepare ourselves for states. Hopefully we can do better.”
Both teams played the final 30 minutes without one player after Roosevelt’s Alex Panduro and Waialua’s Kamea Iona received red cards during a scuffle in the 50th minute. Aghdasi and Waialua’s Jason Langaman received yellow cards. Panduro and Iona won’t be eligible for their team’s first game in the state tournament.