Hawaii Prep and Waiakea hooked up for an intense high noon soccer match Saturday, complete with back-and-forth action, hard fouls and one blown fuse by an assistant on the sidelines.
After Ka Makani’s 6-3 victory at Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium, the coaches shared their admiration for each other and their teams.
HPA’s Rich Braithwaite appreciated Waiakea’s effort so much he’s eagerly anticipating the teams’ rematch later this season in Waimea, while David Urakami can do Braithwaite one better in the compliment department: He wishes his young team could learn from Ka Makani and play them every match.
“A good wakeup call for us and a good experience,” Urakami said.
It’s rare when a match between Kealakehe and Hilo isn’t the biggest BIIF Division I soccer match of the day – or week or season – but HPA (3-0) proved itself to be the unquestionable front-runner and Waiakea (1-1) appears to be a worthy challenger after missing the past five HHSAA tournaments.
“I’ve been surprised,” Braithwaite said, “(Waiakea) is a really, really good team. I think they are tremendous.”
“We got two early goals but the first half was even,” he said. “We just buried our two, and they had their chances.”
“We scored six, but that was an even game. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
So does the rest of Division I to catch up.
Jake Schneider and Bip Padraos each scored two goals and each narrowly missed a chance at a hat trick for Ka Makani, who appear from an outsider’s perspective to be rolling like a Big Red Machine. In its first season in D-I, HPA has handled Hilo, Kamehameha and Waiakea by a combined score of 17-6, all that coming after its victory at Ka Makani Classic.
As for an insider’s perspective?
“You obviously want to get the win, but we’re still trying to get organized in the back,” Braithwaite said. “We have to really work on finishing. We’ve had a lot of chances and we haven’t put as many away as we’d like.”
One of the issues for HPA on the backline is that junior Sihkea Kim, one of the BIIF’s best fullbacks, has missed three matches with a knee injury, though Brendan Moynahan has moved from the midfield and provided a stabilizing force.
“He’s been tremendous,” Braithwaite said.
Conor Hunt’s goal early in the second half was a back-breaker for the Warriors, putting them in a 3-0 hole.
HPA’s Jevon Flippin started the scoring in the first half, and freshman Riley Tamanaha, sophomore Kai Biegler and sophomore John Grover bagged goals for the Warriors, whose only previous game this season was a 5-0 victory against the suddenly vulnerable Waveriders.
“This was a lot faster game than the previous one,” Urakami said.
Waiakea probably could have played conservatively and tried for a lower-scoring game, but instead the Warriors went right at Ka Makani. Tamanaha and Grover each have three goals.
“I like that they were able to possess at moments,” Urakami said. “Yeah, they scored six goals, but it wasn’t a total slaughter. We had a lot of moments and we could have scored a lot more.”
Waiakea doesn’t get HPA again until Jan. 13, but it does welcome Hilo this Saturday.
• Hilo 6, Kealakehe 1: The Vikings beat their tormentors at home for the second consecutive season, this time in easy fashion after taking a 3-1 lead into halftime.
Kainalu Lewis and Logan Mizuba each scored two goals for five-time Division I runner-up Hilo (2-1), and Jack Mann and Riley Patterson had a goal apiece.
Bryson Guanio scored for the six-time D-I champion Waveriders (1-2).
• Kohala 5, Keaau 3: Braddah Arraujo netted a hat trick for the Cowboys, who won at the Cougars stadium to remain unbeaten at 2-0-1.
Miranda Canniff and Alina Viernes also scored for Kohala, while Christian Mamone, Jake Cambia and Analu Kahihikolo scored for Keaau.
• Makua Lani 9, Ka’u 0: Kahoku Benson tallied three goals and Steven Perrino added two to power the Lions (1-1) to a home victory.
Jaden Berney, Isaiah Easley, Taylor Veisauyadra and Kala’i Ballasteros also scored and Dominic Perrino was credited with the shutout of the Trojans (0-3).• Kamehameha 9, Pahoa 0: Jon DeMotta and David Erskine each scored twice at Paiea Stadium and the Warriors (1-1) also got a goal apiece from Tyler Waltjen, Buddy Betts, Nainoa Kalaola-Maruquin, Uzziah Crisostomo-Dizol and Logan Waltjen.Jameson Sato and Makoa Kalaola-Maruquin combined on the shutout of the Daggers (
Girls• Kamehameha 9, Honokaa 0: Hevani Haunga and Kaila Ambrosio each scored hat tricks at Honokaa, Kiara Cuyo found the back of the net twice and Roycie Faye also scored as the Warriors broke a two-game losing streak to start the season.Kiani Troy shut out the Dragons (0-3).
