Ripley Quebral and Dylen Pedrina each found the back of the net to lead Kailua to a 2-0 win over Farrington on Saturday night in the championship game of the OIA Division II boys soccer playoffs at Castle.
The Surfriders (8-2-2) survived a shootout that went into extra kicks in the semifinal to advance to the final and win their second OIA championship in three years and third overall.
Goalkeeper Kaeo DePonte made four saves to give Kailua its second shutout victory of the season.
“I’ve been impressed with the boys all season,” Kailua coach Steve Dignam said. “We didn’t really have a superstar this year, but they’re all worker bees. Everybody does their job.”
Kailua wasted little time taking a 1-0 lead over the Govs (4-8-1) in the third minute on Quebral’s goal in the middle of the box.
A ball off a corner kick got batted around in the box before Quebral got an open look and hit a shot into the lower left corner for the lead.
“The coaches always tell me turn and quick trigger and that’s what I did,” Quebral said. “I didn’t look at the goal. I knew the goal was behind me and I just turned and shot.”
Farrington’s best chance at a goal came 10 minutes later when a free ball on an open goal was there to be put away, but Kailua’s Wynn Uyehara charged in and headed the ball away at the last second.
Farrington goalkeeper Richard Pili kept the Govs within a goal for much of the second half with two great saves, including a leaping punch of a ball sent in from 40 yards away on a free kick that was right on target.
Kailua, which enjoyed a 22-7 advantage in shots, finally doubled its lead in the 69th minute. A free kick by Noah Vega bounced off the right post. Pedrina cradled the rebound and had his first shot blocked before pushing the second into the back of the net for a 2-0 advantage.
Pili, who had 11 saves, was hurt on the play and was taken out of the game and did not return.
“That relieved so much pressure,” Quebral said. “We had a three-man free kick where the first guy runs past the ball and lays off and the next guy shoots.”
Kailua’s eight wins this season are a surprise to Dignam, who is in his eighth year as the boys’ head coach.
“When we started in November, if you told me we’d be 8-2-2 for our season, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Dignam said. “These kids have worked really hard and come together and we’ve beaten some teams that we normally don’t beat. In my eight years we had never beaten Moanalua and we beat them 4-1 this year. That says it all about the hard work they’ve put in.”
Waianae 3, Leilehua 0
Tate Ebel scored all three goals for the Seariders (7-6), who kept their season alive and will play a state tournament play-in game against a BIIF team this week.
The Mules (5-7) finished the season with back-to-back losses after entering the OIA playoffs as the No. 1 seed out of the West.
Leilehua beat Waianae 1-0 in the regular season.
