At 5 feet, 11 inches and 230 pounds, it’s easy to find Kelly Takara on the pitch.
It’s not as easy, however, to cover the Aiea freshman properly. Takara had the match of his young career, scoring both goals in the second half as Aiea stunned Waipahu 2-1 on Saturday night in the final of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II boys soccer playoffs.
His header on a long free kick by sophomore Konner Jacang gave Aiea the lead for good at the 71-minute mark. The play was simply spectacular. For spectators who hadn’t seen Takara play soccer, it was almost mind-boggling.
“I do play football, basketball and volleyball, but soccer is my passion,” he said. “Most times, I like doing things because people doubt me.”
There is no doubt any more. Aiea captured its first OIA boys soccer championship since going back-to-back in 1992 and ’93 under Oscar Peltier.
During the regular season, Waipahu prevailed 2-1 and edged Aiea for first place in the OIA West. Coach Kaylan Malama’s team was aggressive that day, but missed on scoring opportunities. This time, Aiea had more shots on goal (14-10) and goalkeeper Jared Nakano had seven saves. Waipahu committed 17 fouls to just five by Aiea.
“It was the same thing in the first match,” Aiea third-year coach Kaylan Kalama said. “It’s going to come — all season we’ve struggled to just put the ball in the net. As far as the field possession, we had most of the field possession the entire game.”
The Marauders spent much of the first half defending goal, but in the first two minutes, they were active and successful. Kalani Kaneshiro’s corner kick found sophomore Kohl Nakamura, who gave Waipahu a 1-0 lead.
Aiea had several scoring opportunities in the box, but Waipahu keeper Mathew Bacnis (13 saves) was effective. Skye Ventura-Kahookele missed from near point-blank range, sending the ball 5 yards over the crossbar. Takara missed on two kicks, including a header that was sent over the crossbar. On a direct free kick by Takara, Ventura-Kahookele got a good look, but his 5-yard try was stopped by Bacnis.
By intermission, Waipahu had nine shots on goal and Aiea had seven.
After a hand ball violation by Waipahu, the skilled big man, Takara, came through on a 20-yard free kick that bent left and into the net at the 45-minute mark, tying the match 1-all.
Waipahu became more of an aggressor, but came up empty. At the 72-minute mark, Jacang’s free kick found Takara less than 10 yards from the goal, and the ninth-grader headed the ball inside the left bar to give Aiea the lead.
Kalama credited all 11 of his players on the field for locking down in the final minutes.
“They all need to be on the same page and we can find success. All it takes is one player not to do their job, not to be engaged and we can struggle,” he said. “We just wanted our players to be closer together, not so spread far apart. We didn’t need to score anymore. It’s a rough tactic to just pack it in and walk away with a win, but at the end of the day, it’s a part of the game.”
The coach called the pack-line style strategy, “park the bus.”
“Just park the bus, sit in and let’s hope for the best,” Kalama said.
Aiea (6-6-1) and Waipahu (7-5) will play in the upcoming D-II state tournament. Kalama expects his squad to compete, but the major goal with this young roster has been accomplished.
“We’ve talked about it already. The states for (assistant) coach Ben (Villaflor) and I really mean nothing,” Kalama said. “When this season started in late October, early November, the plan was to take the (OIA D-II) championship game. That was the focus for the last three months. We hit the target we were looking for and that’s it. Now we’re in states. I want the boys to really enjoy the journey, enjoy the experience, have fun with it. I’m sure we can be competitive there — however, the main focus is to have fun.”
