WAIMEA — It’s all starting to take shape for Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
WAIMEA — It’s all starting to take shape for Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
Behind a pair of first half goals from Jake Schneider and tallies from three other players, Ka Makani downed Makua Lani 5-0 in a BIIF Division II semifinal game on Thursday.
“We have been working a lot on shape and knocking the ball around,” Hawaii Prep head coach Richard Braithwaite said. “Right from the start, we found a lot of success keeping the ball in the back and finding our forwards’ feet. If we can keep successfully finding those feet, the game opens up for us. Makua Lani is a very well-coached team, so this was big for us.”
With the win, Hawaii Prep advances to its third consecutive BIIF championship game. The team last brought home a banner in 2014.
“It’s real exciting,” Hawaii Prep senior Zen Simone said. “We have been thinking about getting to this game all season. We had a great result two years ago, but it could have been better last season. Hopefully we can do more of what we did today.”
Hawaii Prep will challenge Honokaa in the DII title bout, slated for 5 p.m. at Kealakehe on Saturday. The Dragons knocked off Kamehameha-Hawaii 2-0 in the other semifinal to set up the first all-North Hawaii championship since 2011.
It also eliminated the revenge factor — at least for Hawaii Prep. The Warriors were the only team to best Ka Makani in the regular season, and have won three straight against Hawaii Prep — including last year’s BIIF championship.
Hawaii Prep beat Honokaa 3-0 in the regular season.
“We have been keeping our focus on the BIIF,” Braithwaite said. “It will be a big moment for us, but I think these boys are ready.”
All is not lost for the Lions, who will face Kamehameha in the BIIF third place game at 3 p.m. on Saturday with a state spot on the line. The teams played to a scoreless tie in the regular season.
While it’s not the easiest route to a state title, three of the final four teams standing at the DII state tournament have been out of the BIIF the last two seasons.
“It was a really fiery game when we played (Kamehameha) earlier this season. We know it’s going to be physical,” Makua Lani head coach Alex Dong said. “Since I have been coaching, we have tied Kamehameha, tied Hawaii Prep and lost to Kealakehe a bunch of times. We are trying to at least get a win against every team on the island. We are just going to go at them.”
Schneider started the scoring early for Hawaii Prep, executing a header from inside the 6-yard box off a beautiful pass from Alex Brost. The speedy freshman forward scored again just minutes later to give Ka Makani a two-goal lead.
“We were trying to move the ball around, hold our shape and keep possession in our favor,” Simone said. “When we do those things, we have the most opportunity to score.”
The opportunities definitely came, and Makua Lani couldn’t do much to rebuttal with their own attack.
“We knew they were going to run at us and I think we were scared and pretty timid,” Dong said. “I think we played afraid.”
Kama Morrison padded the home team’s lead with a rocket from just outside the 18, and Hawaii Prep entered the break with a 3-0 advantage.
Makua Lani mustered a little more offense in the second half, but not enough. The team’s best chance came on a free kick by DJ Madigan that hit the Hawaii Prep wall.
“Defensively we wanted to make sure we kept guys in behind DJ and we wanted to take away their outside middies,” Braithwaite said. “Our outside backs were pressing, and we wanted to lock them in as much as possible.”
Second half strikes from Mateo Batol and Toby Balaam secured the 5-0 win.
Hawaii Prep won the BIIF regular season title and has already clinched a spot in the HHSAA tournament later this month. But with two-time Division II state champion Mid Pac moving up to Division I this season, the No. 1 seed in the state tournament could certainly be up for grabs at Waverider Stadium on Saturday.
“I feel we were one of the top teams in the state the last two years, but Mid Pac was just one step ahead of everyone else,” Braithwaite said. “They were very, very good, but now with them gone, it’s really anyone’s game. If we play well, all the games will be ours to lose.”
Honokaa 2, Kamehameha 0: The Dragons used goals from Kyle Ohta and Kauiki Feliciano and a strong performance from goalkeeper Isaac Aguilar on their field to clinch an HHSAA berth and end a mini-drought of BIIF title game appearances.
Reminded that Honokaa (11-3-0) hadn’t played for the BIIF championship since 2012, coach Maurice Miranda said, “The good news is every time we go we win.”
“That has to be a good omen.”
Not as good an omen for Honokaa heading into a match against Hawaii Prep was the 3-0 loss at HPA on Jan. 20. That defeat combined with 7-0 shellacking at Kealakehe a week later prompted Miranda to make strategical changes to the lineup, and the Dragons haven’t allowed a goal since.
“We had a long way to go and we’re almost there,” Miranda said. “HPA started great and they are still great.”
Ohta scored about 10 minutes into the match, and Aguilar helped keep the Warriors (9-4-2) in check as they tried to gain the equalizer in the second half, earning a number of free kicks.
“Isaac played a great game,” Miranda said. “We weren’t comfortable until the goal by Kauiki (approximately the 70th minute).”
Honokaa has been to states eight of the past nine years.
Playoff glance
DIVISION I
Wednesday
Semifinals
Hilo 8, Waiakea 1
Kealakehe 3, Konawaena 0
Saturday
At Kealakehe
Championship
No. 1 Kealakehe (12-0-2) vs. No. 1 Hilo (11-3-0), 7 p.m.
DIVISION II
Tuesday
Thursday
Semifinals
Honokaa 2, Kamehameha 0
Hawaii Prep 5, Makua Lani 0
Saturday
At Kealakehe
Championship
No. 1 HPA (12-1-1) vs. No. 2 Honokaa (11-3-0), 5 p.m.
Third place
No. 3 Kamehameha (9-4-2) vs. No. 4 Makua Lani (7-5-2), 3 p.m.