KEAAU – It’s tough to have an old score stuck in your mind during a pandemic.
Settling it can take some time.
Such is the case for Kamehameha’s girls soccer team, which will have to sit around another year to try and get the BIIF Division II title back after being thoroughly defeated by Hawaii Prep last season.
While she’s waiting, Warriors sophomore Sophia Wilson figures she’ll use that old score to try and make her stronger.
“I think I’ll hold in that 7-2 loss, that feeling of losing, because it just makes me want to perform so much better than what I did in that match,” Wilson said.
While BIIF competition is still on hold, rivalries are not.
For 80 minutes of back-and-forth action during a pleasant Friday afternoon at Paiea Stadium, it felt like old times. Ka Makani and the Warriors are always the last two teams playing in BIIF girls D-II, and these days they are two of the only high school teams on the island playing period.
“Every time Kamehameha and HPA play together, there is some kind of edge, a rivalry is going on,” said coach Gene Okamura, who is back for another tour of duty at Kamehameha. “I thought the energy was good, I thought the play was good.”
The new score: HPA 3, Kamehameha 2.
It’s a start, Wilson said, and enough of a reason for her to take heart when looking toward next season.
“Coming back and getting a one-goal differential, and we had so many opportunities to score,” said Wilson, who tallied her team’s two goals. “I’m really happy with how the team is looking, and I thing with all the work and great coaching that we have, I think we’ll come out with a win.”
Senior Alianna West scored twice for HPA, which improved to 2-1 during a modified winter season that is being hosted by the two private schools, and senior Bella Police also found the back of the net.
Wilson’s first goal came on a corner kick, and her second – assisted by Nanea Wong Yuen – came in the final 75 seconds of the match. As the Warriors (0-1) celebrated, Okamura hurriedly tried to get his team ready for the kickoff. This was their first of two games with HPA. They play again Thursday in Waimea.
“Coming back from so many months playing, we really wanted to prove something and prove that we worked really hard to get here to play,” Wilson said.
Call it an exhibition if you will, but it mattered.
“I think just being in the venue, getting in the uniform and preparing as you would for a normal game, you just want to have the mentality that it’s a normal game,” Police said. “It’s what you have, and you have to play with what you have and appreciate it.
“It felt very close. It felt like a rivalry.”
The teams have met in the past nine BIIF D-II title games, and the Warriors can call it a true rivalry thanks to triumphs in 2018 and 2019.
When it comes to extending dynasties and traditions, few if any teams in the state lost a bigger opportunity when the HHSAA tournament and BIIF season were canceled because of the pandemic than seven-time state champion HPA. Winning four state titles in a career had practically become a senior birthright.
“It’s heartbreaking in a way, it’s an adjustment,” Police said. “But at the end of the day, you have to turn it around and appreciate what you have and understand that everyone is going through this and there are bigger problems in the world.
“Being able to just play is very important.”
As is putting on her high school jersey one last time.
Police (Kona Crush) and Wilson (Surf) each are busy with the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association season, but they said club play doesn’t provide the same experience.
“High school soccer is a more team-oriented game,” Police said. “I think the level of play is similar, but it’s the camaraderie of your teammates and the feeling of playing for your high school.’
Said Wilson: “Putting on the Kamehameha jersey, you play for your school, you play for your team, you play for pride.”
Barring an unforeseen circumstance, Police and Wilson also are set to miss a second consecutive chance to compete in BIIF track and field. Police is still the reigning 200-meter champion. She upset Kamehameha’s Chenoa Frederick as a sophomore at the 2019 finals, but likely will never have a chance to defend that title.
Considering the state of the two teams’ rosters, it would be fair for Kamehameha to look ahead to next season and think it’s the team to beat in 2022.
The Warriors will lose only one senior, Anela Manuia, and they are set to return three 2020 all-BIIF first-teamers in Wilson and juniors Wong Yuen and Kastle Lyman. HPA, meanwhile, will lose three all-BIIF stalwarts: Police, West and Malia Brost, the 2020 co-BIIF player of the year.
“I think there is quality within (our) group. There is definitely a lot of potential,” Okamura said.
Considering their pedigree, it would be just as fair for Ka Makani to expect to come back as locked and loaded as they always are.
“Our team is going to have to work just as hard as any other team to keep it up, but I think we have very strong juniors, and sophomores and freshmen, and that they can keep the legacy alive,” Police said.
