Kealakehe High School's varsity boys soccer head coach and an assistant coach have been suspended for the remainder of the state tournament and banned from the venue, according to the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association.

Coach Urs Leuenberger and assistant Miles Nakahara were banned yesterday and today from "any and all areas" of Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Park, the site of the tournament.

They will not be allowed to coach the Waveriders in their final game — today against Kapa'a at 4 p.m. The team will be coached by assistants Alden Sawada and Dick Boranen.

Kealakehe coaches were upset about the pairings of the 12-team tournament. The Waveriders, who finished third in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, were assigned to play Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up and perennial powerhouse Punahou in the first round, prompting Nakahara to argue with tournament officials.

Kealakehe coaches believed the seeding committee did not follow HHSAA guidelines in determining the pairings. (The HHSAA maintains that it did)

In a letter to Kealakehe principal Wilfred Murakami, HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said Nakahara is suspended for "several acts of inappropriate behavior at the state tournament, and head coach Leuenberger is being suspended for his failure to control the actions of assistant coach Nakahara."

The tournament ends today, and Leuenberger and Nakahara said they will abide by the HHSAA's decision.

"There is always a remorse when something like this happens," said Nakahara, 56, who has coached soccer at various levels for 19 years. "I don't want to come here and make waves. It's no fun. ... I'm not feeling pretty good right now. I didn't come from Kona to be in the damn paper."

Nakahara, a biologist for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, added, "I'm not used to being suspended. I suspend people. It's no fun. (I) can't even watch the games."

Amemiya said, "The series of incidents lasted several hours, including before Kealakehe's 1 p.m. match Thursday and for more than two hours after the completion of their match."

"We conducted a thorough investigation and interviewed numerous people before making our decision to impose the suspension against the two coaches," he said. "I've spoken with Wil (Murakami) several times since the incidents and he fully supports our decision."

"I feel bad for our coach (Leuenberger) because he wasn't there," Nakahara said.

Leuenberger was tending to his team on the field when the arguments occurred. Police were later called to the scene.

"I apologize to the BIIF (Big Island Interscholastic Federation) and the HHSAA, and we'll work to make sure those kinds of incidences are minimized," Murakami said. "The venue and the way it was expressed was not appropriate."

Murakami would not say if further action will be taken against the coaches.

"When they get back to Kona next week, we'll talk about the situation and how it was handled," he said.

Kealakehe beat Kamehameha-Hawai'i, 5-0, Thursday in a consolation game.

Nakahara admitted the arguments with tournament officials (made up of school athletic directors) "got out of hand a little bit. But it takes two to tangle. If I was yelling, he was yelling. ... There was no physical contact. There was posturing going on; I'm not going to lie."

Nakahara said he just wanted an explanation on the pairings.

"I would be fine if they explained how they got to that point (seeding of the teams). If they messed up, just say that and I can live with that. Somebody should take responsibility," he said.

Said Amemiya: "I wished these questions were asked before the tournament started, and we would have had ample time to explain to them. Asking for an explanation in the middle of the tournament is unfair to the tournament organizers, who are busy trying to run the tournament."