Kealakehe and Waiakea; KSH and HPA will face off today in boys’ soccer championship

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TIM WRIGHT/Special to the Tribune-Herald Waiakea's Sebastian Ortiz-Bloom and Hilo's Channing Oda chase after a loose ball during Monday's soccer match. Waiakea secured victory in the BIIF semifinal with a final score of 2-1.
Kelsey Walling/Hawaii Tribune-Herald Waiakea midfielder Kira Kuramoto takes the ball away from Kapolei during the first round of the HHSAA girls soccer championship tournament in Hilo on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. The Warriors won the match 3-0 and will play Campbell in the second round at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex in Oahu on Thursday.
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Kealakehe High, Waiakea High, KS-Hawai‘i and Hawaii Prep’s boys soccer teams recorded victories in the Central Pacific Bank/BIIF semifinals on Monday, and will play in the Div.-I and Div.-II title matches today at Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium.

All four boys teams will get to play in their respective divisions’ state championships next week.

Additionally, Waiakea’s girls soccer team downed Kapolei High Monday afternoon at home to advance to the HHSAA Div.-I state championship quarterfinals.

Today, KSH and HPA will face off at 1 p.m. — followed by Kealakehe and Waiakea at 3 p.m.

The girls’ teams will play their quarterfinal matches today on O‘ahu — with BIIF champion Hilo High going up against Mililani High, Waiakea playing against Campbell High and, in Div.-II, HPA will play against on Seabury Hall.

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GIRLS: WAIAKEA 3 – KAPOLEI 0

WHS’ girls soccer team found redemption on its home field, shutting out Kapolei 3-0 on Monday afternoon to advance to the HHSAA DI state championship quarterfinals.

The playoff game was the Warriors’ first home outing since suffering a 3-1 loss to rival Hilo in the BIIF DI title round last Wednesday.

Goalkeeper Journey Morimoto was credited with the shutout. Goals were scored by Elina Salai, Kira Kuramoto and Ailani Franklin.

Next, the Warriors will travel to O‘ahu to take on No. 2 seeded OIA champion Campbell High at 3 p.m. today at the Waipi‘o Soccer Complex in Waipahu.

Also in the HHSAA DI first round, Mililani defeated Kaiser 5-3, KS-Kapalama routed Waipahu 5-0 and Baldwin beat Moanalua 4-2.

By winning in the first round, Waiakea and the other aforementioned schools will be able to enter the consolation bracket if they lose in the quarterfinals.

All quarterfinal matchups are: No. 4 Hilo vs. Mililani, Waiakea vs. No. 2 Campbell, KS-Kapalama vs. No. 3 KS-Maui and No. 1 Punahou vs. Baldwin.

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BOYS: WAIAKEA 2 – HILO 1

The No. 3-seeded Warriors got the last word in the cross-town rivalry, upsetting the No. 2-seeded Vikings 2-1 to secure berths in the BIIF DI and state championships.

Today will be WHS’ second straight BIIF DI championship appearance. Last year, Waiakea fell 3-2 to Hilo in the title matchup. At the 2023 state championship, the Warriors defeated Kaiser High 3-2 in double overtime before suffering two straight losses — 3-2 in OT to ‘Iolani and 3-1 to Baldwin — and dropping from the tourney.

Austin Mohica and Sebastian Ortiz-Bloom scored Waiakea’s goals on Monday, and Noeau Betts scored Hilo’s lone goal.

The Warriors are now set to play against No. 1 Kealakehe, which handed them their only shutout loss of the season — 3-0 in late December.

Just like their girls’ team did last week, Waiakea has a chance to win a title on its home field.

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BOYS: KEALAKEHE 5 – KEA‘AU 0

The Waveriders handled business, routing No. 4 Kea‘au High 5-0 on their home field in Kailua-Kona.

Now, Kealakehe is primed to return to the leeward side to chase its first BIIF title in years.

Kealakehe’s scorers were not submitted.

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BOYS: KS-HAWAI‘I 8 – PARKER 2

No. 1 seed Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i confirmed its third straight trip to the BIIF DII championship since the end of the pandemic, crushing No. 4 Parker School 8-2 on Monday in Kea‘au.

The Warriors got ahead 3-0 by the end of the first period, then knocked in five more goals in the second as the Bulls eked out two.

Micah Chung led they way for KSH with two goals — while William Henderson, Reef Vasquez, Connor Gonzalez, Iopa Quintana, Lucas Kay-Wong and Malachi Thorton-Fukui each notched one goal. The names of Parker’s scorers were not reported, just their jersey numbers — No. 9 and No. 12.

Now 10-0, the Warriors will enter today their third consecutive title matchup against HPA, and look to make it a repeat. In 2022, HPA beat KSH 2-1 — but the Warriors bounced back to win the state title. Last year, the Warriors blanked Ka Makani 3-0 and went on to win their second straight state title.

Having qualified again for the state playoffs, the Warriors have an opportunity to go for a state crown three-peat.

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BOYS: HAWAII PREP 3 – HONOKA‘A 1

Ka Makani kept ahead of a scrappy Honoka‘a team to defend its No. 2 seed and earn another shot at the BIIF DII title.

Dani Habiak led HPA with two goals and Skye Raymond scored the other. The Dragons’ scorers were not identified.

HPA moved to 4-5-1, and now has a chance to reclaim the BIIF title. Ka Makani gave KSH one of its closest games this season, falling 2-1 after the Warriors scored a goal late in the second half to break a tie.