It was a game Kamehameha and Makua Lani have been preparing for all season.
A rematch of last year’s BIIF Division II boys soccer championship game, where the Warriors won the title over the Lions 4-0, Thursday’s semifinal match between the two cross-island teams came down to one thing — momentum.
Unlike last year’s shutout, which saw the Warriors scoring all four of their goals after halftime, this time around the second half of the match swung in Makua Lani’s favor.
“The momentum shift gave us the edge,” Makua Lani head coach Teva Beatty said. “First, we had the momentum and we scored, and then they grabbed the momentum and they scored. In the end we got the momentum back and we kept it and finished off strong and with intensity.”
The No. 2 Lions defeated the No. 3 Warriors 3-2 Thursday at Old Kona Airport Park to advance to the BIIF Division II championship game and secure a spot in the state tournament on Oahu.
“Both teams were phenomenal today,” Beatty said. “Kamehameha came out strong, hard and fierce, and they looked good. Our boys came out hard, strong and fierce too, but for about 20 minutes (the Warriors) looked like the better team. But in the end, you saw our preparation, the excitement and the desire to win. The hunger that came out of Lions today lifted us that one extra goal that got us the win.”
Makua Lani junior Isaiah Easley opened up the scoring in Thursday’s match before Kamehameha quickly answered behind goals from freshman Elijah Dinkel and senior Ethan Shimabukuro, with an assist by Logan Waltjen.
The Warriors had a chance to end the first half with a two-point lead, but a missed penalty kick by senior Buddy Betts had Kamehameha only leading by one headed into halftime.
The Lions came back in the second half, with Kawaihua Paikuli-Campbell and Ka’alelekahaku Fernandez each scoring to secure the win for Makua Lani.
There will be no three-peat for the Warriors this year, who have won the BIIF Division II championship game the last two seasons.
“There was nothing bad about today. It was a good game,” Kamehameha head coach Kevin Waltjen said. “Every game we play is a learning lesson. This is a good lesson on sometimes you can work really hard and the ball doesn’t go the way you want it to go. Which is fine, and that’s life. You’ve got to give these boys credit because they kept their head up, they pushed all the way through the 80 minutes, they never gave up hope, and that in itself is beyond the game of soccer.”
Waltjen isn’t ready to give up on his team yet. The Warriors still have a chance to compete in the state tournament, when they host No. 5 Konawaena on Tuesday in the DII third-place game, with the winner advancing to Oahu.
“We’ve got to recover from today and get ready for Tuesday,” Waltjen said. “We get to go back to our field and our field is a little bigger than this. And we have to recover somewhat because when you play hard games you have to take the time to recover a bit.”
Makua Lani will face Hawaii Prep on Saturday in Waimea. The Lions have not won a BIIF title since 2007, but Beatty said the team is ready to face No. 1 Ka Makani.
“We’re going to go ice up and we’ve got a little tactical practice set for them tomorrow,” Beatty said of his team’s preparations for Saturday’s final. “We’re playing against HPA, and we’re just going to take it to them.”
Hawaii Prep 1, Konawaena 0: No. 1 HPA defeated the No. 5 Wildcats 1-0 Thursday in a BIIF Division II boys soccer semifinal match in Waimea.
HPA clinched a spot in the state tournament with the win.
Ka Makani goalkeeper Zane Willman recorded the shutout for HPA, and Mason Hunt scored HPA’s only goal.