Punahou, Kamehameha play to a 1-1 tie

Punahou and Kamehameha players battle in midair for possession of the ball. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Punahou and Kamehameha-Kapalama played to a 1-1 tie in a Division I Interscholastic League of Honolulu matchup at Kamehameha-Kapalama's Kunuiakea Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. Kamehameha is 3-1-2 in the ILH, 4-3-2 overall and Punahou is 4-1-1 in the ILH, 6-2-1 overall.

"It sets us back a little bit with the tie and we're trying to get in front of Punahou, so we'll wait and see," said Pono Halemano, on tying Punahou.

In the 21st minute, TJ Fitzsimmons kicked a ground pass that crossed the front of the goal and sprinting from the left-side Pono Halemano knocked it in with his right foot to put the Warriors up 1-0.

The Warriors put the pressure on the Buffanblu as they got deep into Punahou territory in scoring position. The opportunities were there, but it didn't go their way.

"I saw TJ Fitzsimmons running down the line, I had space in front of me so I decided to sprint down and luckily I played the cross and I was able to touch it in. We had the intensity and all the opportunity and had that one breakdown in the back and then unfortunately it got in," said Halemano.

The last time the Buffanblu gave up a goal was on December 21st when they lost 2-0 to 'Iolani. Heading into this game, they outscored their ILH opponents 25-2.

Punahou's Alec Dinsmore drew a foul against Kamehameha that appeared to be within the goal box. However, after consultation, the referees decided that the penalty happened outside of the box.
In the 72nd minute, Punahou tied the game up at 1 after Antonio Espinoza kicked the free kick past five defenders that hit the left corner in the goal.

"I just put the ball down and I just knew what I had to do. I just executed and got lucky I guess," said Espinoza, on scoring Punahou's first goal in the second half. "States is coming up at the end of the season and we can't afford to drop points here. That goal, I don't want to predict anything yet, but I think it's one of the goals we can look at on our journey to states. Playing at Kamehameha is always a tough game and hopefully it motivates us to get better everyday."

The game was quite chippy and in 47th minute as Punahou's Kendall Nishina and Kamehameha's Joshua Rosenberg were both called for yellow cards. In the 81st minute, Punahou's Tyler Mar was given a yellow card.

Kamehameha plays at Mid-Pacific at 10 am on Jan. 11 and Punahou hosts Mid-Pacific on Jan. 15 at 4:15 pm. Both teams will play each other for the last regular season game at Punahou on Feb. 1 at 10 am.

Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].