Nick Joersz did the heavy lifting. Then Avery Hardie-Jordan made his hard work pay off Thursday on Oahu.
Nick Joersz did the heavy lifting. Then Avery Hardie-Jordan made his hard work pay off Thursday on Oahu.
Hardie-Jordan’s goal in the 44th minute gave Kealakehe’s boys soccer team a 1-0 win over Kapolei in a Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I state quarterfinal at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
“It was just a great victory against a very big and physical Kapolei team,” Waveriders coach Urs Leuenberger said. “We played very well in the middle. We had two good chances, and we managed to put a goal in.”
In today’s state semifinals at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex, Kealakehe (15-0-1) will face Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Punahou (8-1-2) at 7 p.m., with the winner advancing to play in Saturday’s 7 p.m. championship match.
Kealakehe advanced behind Joersz, a sophomore who galloped down the right flank before unleashing a hard shot from about 20 yards out. The Hurricanes’ goalkeeper gave up a rebound, Leuenberger said, and Hardie-Jordan turned it into his seventh postseason goal and 24th overall.
Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Greyson Moore played well, collecting 24 saves.
Leuenberger said Kapolei (12-2-1), the Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up, possessed the ball better than the Waveriders before Hardie-Jordan’s goal and displayed a physical style of play his team hadn’t seen all year. But Leuenberger takes more stock in the desired end result of offensive execution: putting the ball in the back of the net.
“I think we did quite a bit of that in the second half,” Leuenberger said of ball possession. “But until then, the purpose is to score goals, and we really executed well on that today.
“We were surprised by the physicality of the Honolulu boys. What was fantastic is the boys adjusted to it and started to step it up as well.”
c Hilo 2, Campbell 1: Freshman Jace Taka scored in the sixth minute, and sophomore Rayce Takayesu added an insurance goal in the 51st as the BIIF runner-up Vikings advanced to the tournament’s seventh-place match.
Hilo (9-6-2) will face Maui Interscholastic League runner-up King Kekaulike (12-3-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Tevin Salas scored for OIA No. 4 seed Campbell (8-7-1) in the 68th minute.
Division II
c Konawaena 1, Farrington 0: Jarry Southerland scored his fourth goal of the season in the 65th minute, lifting the BIIF Division II champion Wildcats into today’s state semifinals.
Konawaena (12-3-2) will take on ILH champion Mid-Pacific (3-7-1) — a 3-0 winner over Seabury Hall in another state quarterfinal on Thursday — at 3 p.m. today.
OIA runner-up Farrington (5-8-1) will face Seabury Hall (5-8-1) in a 3 p.m. consolation bracket match.
c Kalaheo 4, Christian Liberty 3: Reece DeMello broke a 3-3 tie with a go-ahead goal, sending the OIA champion Mustangs (11-1-1) into the state semifinals.
Junior Nakaiya Kerr had giving the BIIF runner-up Canefire (11-5-1) a 3-2 lead in the 48th minute with the second of his two goals. But Kalaheo’s Cody Inagaki tied the match six minutes later, setting up DeMello’s game-winning goal.
Junior Louis Moylan scored his 20th goal of the season in the 19th minute, while Kerr, who has scored a team-high 25 goals this season, found the back of the net in the 10th minute.
Christian Liberty will take on BIIF No. 3 seed Hawaii Prep (12-3) at 3 p.m. today in a consolation bracket match, while Kalaheo will face Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion Kapaa (9-0-4) at 1 p.m. in the state semifinals.
c Kapaa 4, Hawaii Prep 3 (2 OT): Joshua Cram scored the game-winning goal in the 97th minute as the Warriors overcame three goals by Ka Makani senior Kepa Police to reach the state semis.
Kapaa had taken a 3-1 lead on a Daniel Alonzo goal in the 63rd minute, but Police answered with two goals in a four-minute span. The last one, his 28th of the season, tied the match in the 70th minute.
Michael Alonzo and Tanner Henry also scored for Kapaa.