KAILUA-KONA – Hawaii Prep made a statement in its first BIIF action of the season Saturday at Kona Community Aquatic Center, reeling off two wins and outscoring its opponents 33-6.
However, Ka Makani waited until after the games were over to make the biggest statement of the day, throwing down the gauntlet to five-time defending BIIF champion Kamehameha.
“We are going to beat Kamehameha this year,” HPA coach Greg McKenna said. “I’m going to throw that out there. I think we have the team to do it this year.”
McKenna has a reason for his line of thought after his squad’s performance on Saturday.
Hawaii Prep handed Konawaena (3-1) its first loss of the season, racing out to a 7-1 halftime lead and finishing strong for a 14-4 win. Sophomore Janelle Laros netted five goals in the season-opening victory for HPA.
“(Janelle) has improved a ton since last year,” McKenna said. “She has taken on a leadership role. In the offseason, she swam instead of wrestling to be in condition for the season and that difference is showing.”
Ka Makani’s encore performance came in the form of a dominating 19-2 win over Waiakea (1-2). Ava Jean Johnson scored six goals, and Laros put away a hat trick.
“I think we are looking really good,” McKenna said. “We had some things we were focusing on — the counter-attacks and defense. This was a good first day to put those things in place and now we can build every week. All of the other teams are going to be getting better, so we are going to have to keep working.”
Despite HPA’s strong showing, Kamehameha proved they are still the team to beat. The Warriors improved to 3-0, beating Waiakea 17-1 and Kealakehe 20-2 on Saturday. The BIIF powerhouse Warriors have already outscored opponents 57-6 this season.
Halia Nahale-a had 10 goals for the day — bringing her season total to 16 — and Pua Wong contributed nine.
Kamehameha and HPA have plenty of time to study each other and improve before meeting up. The teams don’t face off until April 11 at Kamehameha.
“It is always going to be a good game when we play them,” McKenna said. “We have some surprises, and I know they do too, but we are real excited about it. We have got a lot of speed. They have some strength. What we lack in strength we need to make up by using our heads.”
Konawaena bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 10-5 win against a deep Hilo (0-4) squad. Offensive workhorse Mikala Fernandez had eight against the Vikings and one in the lopsided loss to the Warriors earlier in the day. She currently leads the league with 19 tallies.
The Wildcats were also helped by the additions of Kaulana Ruedy and Bailey Walters, but played without star keeper Taiana Tolleson.
Kealakehe (1-3) earned its first win against Hilo behind five goals from its lone returning player Sarah Somsanguansit, who missed the first two games this season.
