Wednesday afternoon was a good time to be wearing a dark blue and white jersey.
The Waiakea High and Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i boys soccer teams won the Central Pacific Bank/BIIF Division I and Division II championships, respectively — downing Kealakehe High and Hawaii Prep at Ken Yamase Memorial Stadium.
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DIVISION I
The No. 3 seed isn’t supposed to win the title, but Waiakea beat the odds for the second time this week, defeating top seed Kealakehe 2-1 in overtime at home.
The fast-paced, white-knuckle match saw the Warriors and Waveriders enter the second half tied 1-1.
Despite numerous shots on both goals, the score remained tied into the end of regulation.
With less than three minutes left in the first overtime period, Waiakea’s Aziah Nelson knocked in the go-ahead.
This was WHS’ second straight BIIF DI title match appearance, but first victory since 2020 — before any of the current players were in high school. That year, the Warriors defeated Hilo 3-2 in double-overtime.
During Monday’s semifinals, Waiakea defeated No. 2-seeded Hilo 2-1 to secure berths in the BIIF title match and state championship.
Now that they have the BIIF title, the Warriors will receive a first-round bye in the state playoffs — which begin next week on O‘ahu.
Though it was a heartbreaking loss for Kealakehe — which spent the season dominating BIIF DI — a new horizon still lies ahead for the ‘Riders. Kealakehe will also enter the state championship, and will host their first-round matchup on Monday against a TBD opponent from O‘ahu.
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DIVISION II
KSH is now the repeat BIIF DII champion, has a shot at a three-peat state title and recorded a perfect BIIF season with no losses.
The Warriors crushed HPA 4-0 in their biggest BIIF title match victory since 2019, when KSH defeated Makua Lani Christian 4-0.
“I expect to win, but I did not expect to win four-to-nothing,” KSH head coach Greg Minato said.
The defending DII state champions are hoping to receive the No. 1 seed in next week’s state tournament, and make another run at the title.
“The hard part is just to keep (the players) focused,” Minato said. “We accomplished our first goal to go undefeated, we won BIIFs, our third goal is to get the No. 1 seed and the fourth is to win states again. I’d like to keep them on track to do that — and they can.”
Micah Chung led the way for the Warriors with two goals. KSH’s other two were notched by William Henderson and Kanoa Honda.
Goalkeeper Jacob Aiona was credited with the shutout.
“Micah stepped up bigtime,” Minato said. “Lucas (Kay-Wong) didn’t score, but he played a terrific defensive game — and Will is Will.
“He’ll distribute, he’ll do the power shots. I’m proud of all of them, they did excellent in this tournament.”