Micah Cabagbag knows long distance well.
The ‘Iolani fullback boomed a 40-yard goal and delivered a perfect pass to teammate Spencer Ho from midfield as the Raiders edged Kamehameha 2-0 Friday at Kunuiakea Stadium.
Cabagbag was at his offensive best in the first half, and ‘Iolani’s air-tight defense withstood the Warriors’ attack after the break. The Raiders improved to 2-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. Along with a 1-0 win over Mid-pacific on Tuesday, ‘Iolani has not permitted a goal in league play yet.
“It’s a young group but willing to learn and they work hard. They’re willing to play together as a team,” ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee said.
“The ILH is really tough. The first game was tough against MidPacific — it was 1-0 — so that’s just an indication of how tough the league is. We’ve got tough games in front of us, PacFive, Saint Louis.”
Kamehameha slipped to 1-1, scarcely able to get a clean look on goal against ‘Iolani’s Josh Adachi. Coach Jorge Barbosa was anxious to get back to practice, noting ‘Iolani’s persistence and quickness.
“They’re small, but they have good technical attributes. Coach Lee does a good way of making sure those boys have good touches and their touches were better than ours,” Barbosa said. “They were quicker. We found ourselves watching and reacting instead of anticipating. They were all over the ball, we reacted and they were gone. We’ll work on always being on the move instead of flat-footed.”
‘Iolani didn’t get a lot of easy opportunities, either, against a bigger, physical Kamehameha defense. But Cabagbag’s speed and precision were unmatched.
“Micah’s a special player, but it’s a team game,” said Lee, who guided the Raiders to a state title in 2009. “Micah, from last year to this year, playing outside, he’s a much more comfortable player. We’ve just got to continue to execute better.”
Lee gave his team a Bplus for the match.
“It’s a tough place to come and play. You know every time you come here, you’re going to have a tough game,” Lee said.
Cabagbag’s goal came in the 21st minute, a launch from near the right sideline that bent left and out of the reach of Kamehameha goalkeeper Chad Nishimura.
“I got a clear out and it went to Casey Chun, my defender. He passed it back to me and I turned from 40 yards out. I was open,” Cabagbag said. “I got lucky. It went in. I was aiming for the left corner.”
The game remained locked at 1-0 until late in the first half, when Cabagbag found Ho, a freshman midfielder, on the left side.
“I was just hanging out on the outside and I saw that the defense was set up kind of flat. Micah was dribbling down and got a nice through ball to me. It was nice chemistry there. I took a touch and aimed for the far post,” Ho said.
“I heard Spence calling for it,” Cabagbag added.
That gave the Raiders a 2-0 lead in the 36th minute.
With two round-robin swings, each ILH team will have 10 matches. Four of the six teams are in Division I; two will qualify for the D-I state tournament.