Hawaii Prep’s drought did not last long.
Ka Makani restored their place atop Division II in The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Boys Soccer Championships with a 2-0 victory over defending champion Kapaa in Saturday’s final at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
The second-seeded BIIF champions dethroned the top-seeded Warriors and handed them their first loss of the season by taking control in all facets of the match. Hawaii Prep (13-3) won D-II state titles in 2016 and ’17 before they moved up to share the 2018 D-I state banner with Baldwin. Ka Makani spent 2019 in the top division before coming back down to D-II.
>> PHOTOS: Hawaii Prep vs. Kapaa
With a masterful defense led by Grayson Phillips and Noah Condon, and an effective control game spearheaded by midfielders Dominick DiDonato and Noah Furchner, Hawaii Prep got the job done.
“Hands down, that was the best, most consistent 80 minutes we’ve put together,” Ka Makani coach James Berry said. “They saved the best for last. We’ve had 70 minutes, 50 minutes, or a great back game, or a great midfield game. Tonight is by far the best this year they’ve played, absolutely, across the board.”
In the ninth minute, Ka Makani struck a fateful blow to the Warriors’ chances of repeating when Conor Hunt dribbled toward the middle from the left corner and deposited a shot into the top right side of the goal for a 1-0 lead.
Before the first half ended, KIF champion Kapaa (10-1-2) nearly tied the score, but Keanu Brown’s free-kick laser from 30 yards out hit the crossbar.
“I was hoping it would drop faster than it did,” Brown said about that shot. “Unlucky on that one. We still had a great season. The team wasn’t playing at its full potential. They (Ka Makani) came out faster than us and scored and got some of our team down and they let it get to their heads.”
With Hawaii Prep playing so strong defensively, any addition to its scoreboard total would be close to doomsday for the Warriors. And that’s just what happened in the 47th minute. This time for Ka Makani, Daniel Jose Vidal Gayoso’s 40-yard high-arcing shot went over the head of Kapaa goalkeeper Dreyden Iwamoto to make it 2-0.
“We knew it was going to be a challenging match,” Warriors coach Kevin Cram said. “We played well, but we had a couple little lapses that allowed them through, and because of that, some of the boys were a little unsettled and didn’t play as our game plan had set it up. We were trying to get a quick goal back over the top. That’s not our style.”
The koa trophy is being transferred from Kauai back to the Big Island.
“We expected at the start of the season to come in to this tournament and compete, and we knew we were going to be going against some good teams like the one we saw tonight,” said Hawaii Prep’s Phillips, who transferred in from Minnesota this season. “Our job as a program is to stay true to our values and to the system in place and we hope to come out with a win. It means a lot to me personally. It’s always been a dream of mine to stand on a field like this, a wonderful facility, and hoist the trophy with my teammates. It’s a dream come true right there.”
