King Kekaulike took care of business early Saturday and made sure it wasn’t going to play beyond regulation again to get its first boys soccer state title.
Owen Riecke and Bailey Hofmann had first-half goals and Jai Sternthall added one in the second as No. 4 seed King Kekaulike beat No. 3 Hilo 3-1 in the final of the NIU Health Urgent Care/HHSAA Division I Boys Soccer Championships at Radford.
“Being a part of this team is so special,” said Riecke, a junior. “I never thought we were going to be able to make it to this place. I’m so proud of us. We worked so hard since the very beginning.”
Earlier in the tournament, King Kekaulike (10-1-2) went to penalty kicks to beat Kapolei, then toppled Kalani in overtime.
“That was the goal. We wanted to get it done in regulation time and ideally not go into the later stage because of the fatigue factor,” said King Kekaulike co-coach Tye Perdido. “Thankfully they were able to put away a goal early and succeed and keep putting a few more in.”
King Kekaulike, the MIL champion, went up 1-0 on Riecke’s tap-in goal at 12:52. A Na Alii free kick went off a Hilo player and goalkeeper Tysen Kaniaupio couldn’t corral the ball as it rolled to his left. Riecke charged in for the easy finish.
“I saw the ball bouncing in the box,” Riecke said. “The ball came in and it hit one of the opposing players and the goalie was scrambling so I was running to see if it would pop out and it did and I just tapped it in.”
Na Alii went up 2-0 at 38:26 on Hofmann’s arching free-kick goal from about 20 yards out on the left side.
The ball sailed over Kaniaupio and landed in the right side of the goal. A Vikings player was yellow carded for a foul and shove prior to the free kick.
The previous day, Hofmann had an assist on the game-winner in overtime over Kalani.
“Yesterday I was looking at the goal I assisted Rex Riecke,” Hofmann said. “Today, maybe I can go for goal, so I went for it.”
Hilo (13-2) had a chance in the 19th when Leha Harman’s header off a corner kick was headed away from goal by a King Kekaulike field player.
The Vikings had another opportunity in the 22nd when Sequoia Cortes-Medeiros dribbled down the right side and sent a shot just wide left.
King Kekaulike went up 3-0 at 48:51 when Sternthall blasted a left-footed shot into the left side of the goal. Riecke fired a shot that was saved by Kaniaupio, but a Vikings player kicked the ball to Sternthall, who took a few touches to his left and fired the ball into the goal.
Hilo, the BIIF champion, got within 3-1 on a 22-yard blast by Ko’ae Pe’a that went in off the crossbar. Na Alii goalkeeper Nainoa Pascual grabbed the ball after the goal and the Vikings’ Cortes-Medeiros and Harman tried to get it from him. Harman wound up throwing Pascual to the ground and was issued a yellow card. Harman was issued a red card while heading toward the bench, which put Hilo a player down.
Hilo had another chance in the 89th when a ball went off Pascual and off the crossbar.
“Just the small, simple mistakes that’s what separated us tonight,” said Hilo coach George Ichimaru.
