The Mililani boys soccer team can get down and dirty when it needs to.
The Trojans, who built their dynasty on unstoppable set plays and exquisite ball skills, dominated Campbell 5-1 in the mud at Kaiser Stadium to reach the Oahu Interscholastic Association title game for the 10th time in the past 12 years. The slippery surface had players from both teams looking like they were on skates, a far cry from Mililani’s smooth turf.
“We practiced on a different field to get used to it, but it wasn’t as bad as this,” Mililani’s Zachary Carvalho said. “It was slippery, but we knew if we play our game we would come out fine.”
After suffering an embarrassing 7-0 loss to the Trojans at Mililani during the regular season, the Sabers could have engaged in what amounts to trench warfare on Thursday. But the Sabers, who upset Kalani on Wednesday to make the semis an all-West affair, found themselves down before they could plant their feet.
Chris Galang dribbled to the front of the goal, caught Campbell keeper Jacob Mattos doing the splits on the slippery ground and beat him with a shot to his right to open the scoring. Mattos was in an awful situation, trying to stop Mililani’s powerful offense with the setting sun in his eyes and his feet uncertain.
“They moved the ball a lot better than I thought they would be able to,” Campbell coach Randy White said. “Our keeper had problems, but Mililani is a state contender.”
Ryan Carlomany followed with a goal 10 minutes later, and Tyler Braunthal punched another one in three minutes after that to make it 3-0.
The Trojans had 10 shots to Campbell’s none, and Mililani keeper Robin Potts was the only Trojan to make his way to the bench at halftime with a clean uniform.
It was effectively over after the third score, when a Mililani coach ordered Carvalho to move closer to Mililani’s bench so he could get a picture of the filthy forward with his camera phone. Carvalho had done a face-plant in the soup five minutes earlier.
Galang scored again for Mililani’s first goal of the second half in the 45th minute, and Preston Derige added another in the 67th minute. Campbell avoided a shutout with a stellar goal from Richard Orpilla on a free kick. Potts was taken out of the game immediately after the goal, Mililani’s last starter to call it a night.
Mililani (11-0-1) moves on to play rival Kapolei (11-0-1) in the championship tonight at Kaiser. The Trojans have not lost in the championship since falling to Pearl City in 2001, taking nine titles in that span. Mililani and Kapolei played to a draw on Mililani’s turf in the regular season.
“We learned from (Wednesday’s overtime win over Kahuku),” Mililani coach Jeff Yamamoto said. “I have to give Campbell credit, but (today) is going to be the finals and the competition is going to be tougher. It is not going to be anything like today was.”
Kapolei 1, Pearl City 0
Vineal Singh scored in the seventh minute and the Hurricanes held on from there to earn a berth in the OIA championship match at 7 tonight at Kaiser.
Dakota Kato threw a pass to the middle of the scrum and Singh maneuvered it around a defender with his left foot before scoring with his right.
The Hurricanes decided to ignore the slippery field and play their usual small-ball game despite being without injured sweeper Brandon Begonia. Begonia will miss tonight’s game as well.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Kapolei co-coach Ryan Lau said. “We had some guys in different positions but we told them to just play our game. Even on a slippery field like this, it is all about control.”
Singh’s goal energized the Hurricanes, who controlled the rest of the first half and threatened to make it a blowout if not for the stellar play of Pearl City keeper Jared Louis.
“He was tremendous,” Lau said. “He kept them in the game, but we knew he is one of the best goalies in the state.”
Pearl City had a shot on goal as time expired, but Kapolei keeper Aldo Ramirez barely kept it from squirting over the line.
The Hurricanes are the only team other than Mililani to win an OIA championship since 2002, taking it in 2007 and 2011.
“That’s a pretty big rivalry between us,” Singh said. “We’ll be ready for that game.”
Kaiser, Kalani qualify
Kaiser beat Moanalua 3-1 and Kalani routed Kahuku 6-0 to nail down the OIA Red Division’s final two state tournament berths.
Kaiser plays Kalani at 5:30 p.m. today at Kaiser, the winner clinching the fifth seed and the loser the sixth.
Micahah Mokulehua had two goals and Sylas Keb one for the Cougars, while Laurence Txakeeyang scored for Na Menehune.
Steve Teshima and Leo Klink had two goals each for the Falcons.