By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
The Waiakea girls didn’t need to play pass-and-possess soccer, not when Sabrina Scott provided long-distance goals with her strong right leg.
Scott got a hat trick and the Warriors won a 4-1 Big Island Interscholastic Federation game that resembled a kickball derby to debut the beautiful Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium.
Next year, bleachers will be added for football. The track will later have a Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium spray painting, and then an official dedication will take place.
Yamase, the former Waiakea athletic director, died in September, 2008. He was 59. Under his watch, he worked to improve athletic facilities, including the softball field and all-weather track. He also started the Waiakea Athletic Wall of Fame.
Neither team was able to string together three straight passes on the ground. Each half is 40 minutes. That’s 1 hour and 20 minutes of battling for air-balls, not exactly a 50-50 proposition with the physicality of the Warriors (2-0).
When the Vikings (1-1) managed to trap a ball, they got bumped and often lost possession or fell into a bad habit of rushing and one-timing another air-ball.
Scott’s three goals were all precision strikes, sneaking each shot over Hilo goalie Jordyn Breitbarth’s outstretched hands and under the 8-foot crossbar.
The first, a sky-high rainbow, was from 35 yards, just seven minutes into the game. About five minutes later, the Warrior junior took a free kick from 25 yards out and converted again.
Hilo junior Savannah Toussiant-Adviento scored with 20 minutes left until halftime.
Scott gave Waiakea a 3-1 lead with another long-range score, just eight minutes into the second half. Each time she had just enough room to unleash a shot.
“The first one the defender was coming toward me and the ball was bouncing, but it tipped through Jordyn’s fingers,” Scott said. “The free kick went right over her hands again in the right corner. The third a defender went to kick the ball, but it hit my foot. I made a run and it popped over her hands again in the middle.
“I hit it as hard as I can, back up at the same time, but place it in a way. I love the field. The ball moves fast and we’ve got a bit of a home-field advantage. We didn’t possess as much. We didn’t work the ball down the line, but that’s something we can work on.”
Later, she showed her wheels, making a good run down the right wing and firing over the crossbar, missing her first four-hat performance by a few inches.
Cierra Toledo-Muragin capped the Warrior kick-and-run scoring output with a rocket from the right sideline with four minutes left.
The boomball strategy — kicking the ball as far as possible and running for a fast-break opportunity — was by design, at least on Waiakea’s part.
“The field is nice, but it’s not as fast as Kam’s,” Waiakea coach Jason Nakayama said. “Sabrina was phenomenal. We knew Hilo would target Cheylee Octavio and Kylie Robertson. We had to use different scoring options.
“Hilo has speed and we wanted to spread the field to avoid their speed. We wanted to spread the field as much as we could and attack. All our hard work paid off and I’m thankful for my coaching staff. They really helped me with every single aspect of the game.”
Waiakea goalie Jordan Melchor didn’t get a shutout, but at she produced one brilliant save when Hilo crossed the ball late in the second half, took a shot at point-blank range that she blocked with her body, and gathered the rebound.
Meanwhile, the Vikings were on the wrong end of a kickball battle, a style of play that coach Paul Bello hoped to avoid.
There was not one instance when a player — either a Viking or Warrior — trapped a ball, settled it and made either a diagonal pass or run to open space — the basics of beautiful pass-and-possess soccer.
In fact, Scott made the game’s only backward pass, but the ball was immediately one-timed for another air-ball. It wasn’t exactly a game of beauty, but it worked for the Warriors and only frustrated the Vikings.
“We didn’t give our best effort,” Bello said. “Waiakea outplayed us in every phase of the game. We had a couple of chances, but didn’t finish.
“We became them. That’s our bad. As coaches we’ve got to fix that. I think we will. This is possibly the worst game we’ve played so far. Credit Waiakea, they brought it.”
Honokaa 6, Kohala 0: Nina Cardoza’s two goals helped carry the homestanding Dragons to a 2-0 start to the season.
Ashlynn Kaiamakini, Sarah Sedillo, Hia Kapu and Cydne Correia also found the back of the net in support of goalkeeper Hailey Paglinawan.
The Cowgirls fell to 0-3.
Keaau 4, East-Pac 0: Tiani Teanio scored twice at Keaau High and Charnalyn Crivello and Tori Teanio added goals as the Cougars won their opener.
Savannah Hester shut out East-Pac (1-2) in goal.
Boys
Hilo 3, Waiakea 2: Jace Taka scored in the final five minutes as the visiting Vikings edged their crosstown rival.
Kalei Perry and Dylan Silva also scored for Hilo (2-0).
Hajime Hayano and Jamal Marshall netted goals for the Warriors (1-1).
Honokaa 7, Kohala 0: Sean Quinlan scored five goals as the host Dragons ran their record to 2-0.
Kyle Ohta and Sean Simmerman also scored for Honokaa, but Quinlan was the story
“He had a field day,” coach Maurice Miranda said. “He scored early and often.”
Goalkeeper Elzer Maltezo and Halana Birch shared in shutting out the Cowboys (0-3).
Christian Liberty 9, Keaau 0: The visiting Canefire notched a TKO victory in their opener, but goal scorers were not available at press time.
Keaau saw its record fall to 1-1.