Kaiser had enough firepower to overcome numerous injuries and defeat Moanalua 3-0 on Thursday night.
The Cougars (11-0-1) were in control throughout at Kapolei and now move on to meet Kalani in the OIA championship game on Saturday. Kaiser tidily wrapped up Thursday’s shutout without starting defender Brian Arseneau. Two other starters — fullback Colin Wheatley and midfielder Noah Mokulehua — were hobbled and used sparingly.
“That was a tough juggle,” Kaiser coach Layne Abalos said. “Our defense is really banged up and it’s tough when midfielders have to come back and take over on defense.”
Makana Srivongsana, the high-scoring forward, narrowly missed several chances, but he didn’t miss on two penalty kicks after getting hammered in the box. His first one went low and to the left for a 1-0 lead just past the midway point in the first half. His second one, which came about eight minutes into the second half, also went low and to the left for a 3-0 edge. In between, in the final few minutes before halftime, Bay Nickerson notched the team’s other goal by banging home Joshua Lopez’s cross.
“Bay is playing really great for us,” Abalos said. “And Makana did his thing up top as one of the great scorers in the league.”
One more win and Kaiser will have its second OIA title in school history and first since 2014, but it won’t be easy.
Kaiser’s only game without a win came against the Falcons during the regular season, when the teams played to a 1-1 tie. That’s the only goal either team has given up in 12 games against OIA opponents.
“There’s no question it’s going to be a tough battle,” Abalos said.
The loss is not the end for Na Menehune (8-3-2), who are coming off a 1-0 upset of Kapolei in the league quarterfinals. They play Mililani today in the OIA third-place game and — along with other league foes Kaiser, Kalani, Mililani, Kapolei and Pearl City — have already qualified for the upcoming state tournament.
“We could have communicated on the field more, maybe, and could have passed better to the feet,” Moanalua midfielder Rylan Sakai said.
Moanalua coach Hugo Gutierrez shook off the loss and stuck with the positives of moving ahead.
“We started pretty weak on our season,” he said. “We’ve progressed a lot. Our captains started to show leadership and that created a strong difference in everybody else. We play as a team together.”
Kalani 1, Mililani 0
Brison Kim scored 12 minutes into the second half to give the Falcons a victory and a spot in Saturday’s OIA title game at Kapolei.
Both teams had other solid scoring chances that were unsuccessful. The Trojans’ offense, led by Jvon Cunningham, tried frantically for the equalizer in the final 10 minutes.
It was the first loss of the year for West No. 1 seed Mililani (10-1-1), which plays Moanalua in tonight’s third-place game at Pearl City.