Mililani brings the title back home

Once is enough for the Mililani boys soccer dynasty.

The Trojans beat defending champion Kapolei 2-1 in the OIA Red Division championship at Kapolei on Saturday night, reclaiming a title the Hurricanes had held for a year. The championship had resided in Mililani in 10 of the previous 13 years and had never let another school hold it for more than one year at a time.

"It means quite a bit for us," Mililani coach Jeff Yamamoto said. "We don’t like to lose, Kapolei doesn’t like to lose. It’s become quite a rivalry."

The Trojans scored the game winner in the 67th minute when Douglas Curran served a ball from 40 yards out directly at the goal. Kapolei keeper Preston Wallace-Williams left the goal to track the ball and found himself in the middle of the scrum. He rose above everyone else and got a glove on either side of the ball, but did not come down with it. The sphere flew through his hands and landed in front of the goal, where Mililani’s Ameen Mujtabaa ended the mad scramble in front of the net by booting it in.

"It was just bouncing around and I got to it," Mujtabaa said. "It was all my teammates, they did it all for me. I just kicked it in."

Wallace-Williams was brilliant throughout the game, turning back every shot by Mililani except one, and that one he barely saw.

"He just came out and misplayed it," Kapolei coach Bryce Kaneshiro said. "That’s a hell of a goalie for us and I will put him again and again. I know he is feeling bad, but 99 percent of the time he will make that play; just that time he didn’t."

Kapolei got on the board first in the 25th minute when midfielder Kalei Gallarde beat Mililani keeper Tyler Wilson on a free kick from just 10 yards out. Gallarde was awarded the shot when Caleb Gouveia had a run at the goal and was brought down in the box, and he made Mililani pay. Gallarde went right all the way, zipping the ball low and strong and past Wilson before he could get there.

The physical game continued with neither team earning an edge, but Mililani senior captain Renato Torquato evened things up on the scoreboard in the 33rd minute. Torquato received the ball just past midfield, set up and drilled a shot from 45 yards out that sailed over the defense and into the top right of the goal.

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