Naia on fire! Senior scores 4 goals as Kailua wins D-II title

1/2

Swipe or click to see more

2015 February 7 SPT - OIA DII Boys Soccer - Kailua's Naia Graham takes a shot in the first half of the Waipahu vs Kailua OIA DII Boys Soccer championship match at Castle field. HSA photo by Bruce Asato

2/2

Swipe or click to see more

2015 February 7 SPT - OIA DII Boys Soccer - Kailua's Naia Graham celebrates his goal with Trevor Tam and Ripley Quebral in the first half of the Waipahu vs Kailua OIA DII Boys Soccer championship match at Castle field. HSA photo by Bruce Asato

Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.

Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.

Get unlimited access

From as low as $12.95 /mo.

Subscribe Now

Naia Graham and Kailua put an end to Waipahu’s impressive OIA playoff run with a 6-0 victory over the Marauders on Saturday night in the Division II boys soccer title game.

The Surfriders (8-4) struck fast and often, grabbing a 3-0 first-half lead with an aggressive and savvy passing attack. Graham, the league’s leading scorer, hit for two of his four goals in the first 40 minutes to put the Marauders in an early hole from which they never recovered.

"That No. 10 (Graham), four goals, one guy," Waipahu coach Steven Santiago said. "When he’s teeing off on the ball and scoring, it’s difficult to get back in our game. We were in our groove passing-wise, but we’re not the biggest, physical guys. Kailua was a lot bigger."

After taking a pass from Chance Kealoha-Sunio in the seventh minute, Graham hit a low rocket from the right wing that hit crouching Marauders goalkeeper Storm DeAsis, who appeared to catch it before letting it spurt out and bound into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Ripley Quebral made it 2-0 in the 37th minute from the left wing, driving home Graham’s shot from the right that went wide.

With a high-powered rush down the left side, Graham scored his second goal for the comfortable 3-0 lead, hitting the low, short side of the net, past DeAsis, in the 39th minute.

"If anyone plays like that on Naia (one-on-one defense) like they (the Marauders) did tonight, he’s unstoppable," Surfriders coach Steve Dignam said. "He causes havoc out there, and he’s been incredible for us for four years. On two of those goals, no goalkeeper would have been able to stop it."

The Kailua dominance continued in the second half. Graham had three near misses within the first 15 minutes.

The Surfriders’ Dustin Imanaka and his mates on the back line thwarted Waipahu’s attack, which was led by Jaron Tejada and Zachary Brown, time and time again.

Chase Manatad struck for Kailua’s fourth goal in the 67th minute with a hard shot high into the left corner from 25 yards out.

Graham scored his third goal from in close in the 69th minute and then jettisoned one in from the right side off the left post in the 72nd minute.

"We wanted to come out early and keep destroying, keep scoring as much as we could, be relentless to show that we’re a dominant team," Graham said. "This is awesome, really amazing. This (OIA championship) is something we can hold for the rest of our lives."

Waipahu (3-7-3) won only one game in the regular season before beating McKinley and Waianae in the playoffs to get to the championship game. The Marauders’ season isn’t over, though. They’ll be competing — along with the champion Surfriders — at the D-II state tournament in two weeks.

"I feel pretty bad," said the Marauders’ DeAsis, who made more than a handful of difficult saves. "We could have done better. We could have stepped up our defense a little more."