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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 10:08 p.m., Friday, February 16, 2007

Kalani boys to play for state soccer title

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kalani boys soccer coach Myles Arakawa became the first coach to lead two different high schools to state championship games.

The Falcons defeated Leilehua, 2-0, in the semifinals of the Meadow Gold Dairies/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium Friday night.

"Myles always has well-coached teams," Leilehua coach Carl Friedl said of Arakawa, who also coached 'Iolani to state titles in 1997 and 2000.

Freshman forward Mason Nakama and junior midfielder Wataru Kumagai scored for the Falcons (12-4-1), who advanced to Saturday night's title game at 8 p.m.

Nakama received a long pass from Makana Wong into the 18-yard box and cut twice in front of a defender before calmly slotting it into the far left corner of the goal with little more than two minutes left in the half.

"I may have looked calm, but my heart was racing," Nakama said. "I was thinking I had to put the ball into the net, just like practice."

Kumagai shot into the lower right corner of the goal from beyond the 18-yard box arch after Kalani worked it around and Jared Sasaki dropped it to him in the 76th minute.

"Jared just looked and me and it came right to me," Kumagai said. "I was just aiming for the farthest side, and trying to get it off as quickly as I could."

It was an evenly played game, with Kalani taking 15 shots to Leilehua's 14. Kalani found success down the sidelines and crossing, while Leilehua used a more direct attack.

One night after going all the way to penalty kicks against Kamehameha, the Mules (13-3-0) were "physically flat," Leilehua's Carl Friedl said. "We just couldn't swarm balls like we do."

"I'm grateful for the Kamehameha game last night," Arakawa said. "If we played them last night, I don't think they would have played like this. We needed luck and we got it. To our credit, we were able to move the ball around and make them work."

Consolation Round

Kamehameha-O'ahu 2, Makua Lani Christian 0: Kekoa Osorio and Gareth Gomez scored first-half goals for the Warriors.

Osorio scored in the 27th minute and Gomez in the 38th.

Kamehameha-Maui 2, Kapolei 1: The Warriors outscored the Hurricanes 4-3 in penalty kicks.

Kelii Dias, Kainalu Severson, Kody Ganiko and Cody Felipe made their kicks for Kamehameha-Maui.

Ignacio Martinez, Curtis Kiyabu and Mychal Malachi made their for Kapolei.

In regulation, Kapolei's Kiyabu scored in the 37th minute and Mitchell Navarro scored in the 62nd for Kamehameha-Maui.