KEALAKEKUA — While the girls build from the ground up with a new youth movement, the Konawaena boys soccer program is returning a lot of seniors for what they hope is a strong run at the BIIF title this season.
KEALAKEKUA — While the girls build from the ground up with a new youth movement, the Konawaena boys soccer program is returning a lot of seniors for what they hope is a strong run at the BIIF title this season.
The fight with be an uphill battle, with Kealakehe and Hilo as the early favorites to face off once against in the Division I title match. Waiakea will also be a team to watch in DI.
The experienced Wildcat group is led by senior midfielder Logan Takizawa.
“He is the main guy and he really wants to get the team to the BIIF finals this year,” said Konawaena head coach Keahi Fleming. “He can play all over and is the leader on the field. He is the playmaker.”
Takizawa is one of two senior captains on the squad this year, with the other being Erikc Marban, who will play in the middle and up front this season, once he returns later this week from an injury.
“Erikc can really help with the scoring up front as well once he returns,” Fleming said. “He brings good leadership to the team.”
While the play of the seniors will be key, the Wildcats also have a couple freshmen coming in and making an immediate impact in the starting rotation.
Kekama Makanui and Hunter Tavares are both receiving a lot of playing time in the defense.
“They both look really good and their soccer IQ is really high, even better than some of the upperclassmen,” Fleming said. “They will be very good for the program.”
The Konawaena boys enter the season in the second tier — the White Division — of the new three-tier system being used by the BIIF. While Fleming would prefer to be in the top tier, he blames nobody else for the placement.
“We are in the middle but we made our own bed,” Fleming said. “We will need to work our way up to the top tier. We have a lot of room to grow, but we should be able to get in the mix.”
The biggest challenge Fleming sees for for his team this season is an internal one.
“We will need to play to our level instead of the level of other teams,” he said. “We don’t want to play down or play as individuals. We want to play as one solid team.”
The Wildcats opened the preseason with the tournament in Hilo, but Fleming admitted the team did not do too well. Konawaena opened the regular season on Tuesday with a 7-0 victory over Ka’u. They also played Keaau on Thursday.
“Against Ka‘u the team showed a lot of leadership and the players who came off the bench were ready to go and it was good to see,” Fleming said. “We will need more of that.”
