Kapolei’s shocking sixth-place finish in the OIA playoffs was exactly what OIA runner-up Kaiser did not want to see.

A game worthy of taking place at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium under the lights this weekend was instead held at Kaiser on Monday night in the first round of The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships.

Sean Yoshida’s goal in the seventh minute kickstarted the Hurricanes, who outscored Kaiser’s last 13 opponents combined in a 3-1 victory to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal round against MIL champion Baldwin.

Kapolei junior Sam Wren added a goal off a set piece in the 32nd minute and sophomore Joseph Wren sealed the victory with a goal in the final two minutes for the Hurricanes (11-3), who have advanced to the final four of the state tournament in each of the past two years.

“What we wanted to take away from the OIA tournament was we wanted to make sure the state saw the best of what we are capable of and we thought we had not done that this year,” Kapolei coach Ryan Lau said. “As far as the time of the year and being at this stage, I think this is the best game we have played.”

That was the biggest fear for Kaiser coach Layne Abalos, whose team gave up only one goal in the entire regular season and one in the OIA playoffs.

That goal was in a 1-0 loss to Kalani in the OIA title game, leaving Kaiser (11-2-1) with the unfortunate draw of getting Kapolei, which finished second in the West in the regular season, but lost to Moanalua in the OIA quarterfinals and Pearl City in the fifth-place game.

“I said it from the beginning. That’s the team you don’t want to play,” Abalos said. “That’s the worst time you want to play a team like that.”

It got worse less than 10 minutes in when Yoshida was on the receiving end of a cross that he one-timed into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Kaiser, which hadn’t given up a goal on a set piece the entire season, let one in off a throw-in when Yoshida flicked a header to Wren, who was able to blast a header off his own into the back of the net for a 2-0 score in the first half.

“We’ve been practicing that every day,” Yoshida said. “The first thing we do after our warm-ups was practice that set piece.”

Kapolei dominated the game for the first part of the second half and had numerous chances to increase the lead.

The Cougars somehow managed to keep the score at 2-0 and then got a break when senior Bay Nickerson beat two defenders down the left side and crossed the ball to the foot of Noah Mokulehua in the middle. Mokulehua found the net for a goal in the 50th minute.

Kaiser pressed forward with senior Makana Srivongsana moving to the outside and Mokulehua up top, which got the Cougars multiple looks at the goal.

They converted the one opportunity, but that was it, as Kapolei held them off the rest of the game.

“We were able to move the ball forward, but we made some mistakes,” Abalos said. “We gifted them one (at the end), but give Kapolei credit. They are a good team. They are not (seeded) where they should be.”

‘Iolani 4, Moanalua 0

Cole Motooka scored two goals as the host Raiders (9-2-2) beat Na Menehune (8-5-2). Brandon Simon and Jonah Kawamura also scored for ‘Iolani.

King Kekaulike 2, Pearl City 1

Zakariya Woolley scored in the 12th and 15th minutes as Na Alii (8-0-3) beat the Chargers (10-4-1) at War Memorial Stadium.

Zeth Bolosan scored for Pearl City.

Mililani 3, Waiakea 1

Sean Donaldson, Dane Little and Cy Kuboyama-Hayashi scored as the Trojans (12-1-1) defeated the host Warriors (6-5-2).

John Grover scored for Waiakea.