Mililani outlasts Kalani to claim the OIA boys soccer championship. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Feb 7, 2015 @ Castle

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Kalani

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Mililani

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Final/2OT	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Kalani (14-2-1)	0	0	0	0	-	0
Mililani (15-1-0)	0	0	0	0	-	1

J. Fonseca

KANEOHE — For the second time in a span of three days, Marc Matas played the part of hero for the Mililani boys' soccer team.

Matas scored in the 94th minute Saturday night to give Mililani a 1-0 win over Kalani in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Tournament, which was played before a crowd of about 500 spectators at Castle High School.

The win was the Trojans (12-1) seventh in a row, which lifted them to their 16th league title in school history and assures them a seeded berth and first-round bye in the state tournament. It is Mililani's first OIA title since winning back-to-back crowns in 2012 and 2013.

"It feels great," said Matas, who also scored the lone goal in Thursday's semifinal win over Kalaheo in double overtime. "I haven't (won OIA's) before, so this feels amazing."

Matas' goal Saturday came in the fourth minute of the second overtime period and was set-up by Jamin Fonseca's assist.

"Tony Silva played me out and I just wanted to get it in," Fonseca said, referring to his Mililani teammate. "I just wanted to put the ball inside the box, so one of our guys could put a foot on it or a head on it, but it's kind of a blur."

After the post-score celebration subsided, Matas was still trying to piece together the winning score.

"(Fonseca) just drilled it in and I don't know what happened," Matas said. "I think everybody just went for it and it ended up in the back of the net."

The teams had played more than 90 scoreless minutes before Matas and the Trojans capitalized.

"We really just wanted to get it into the back of the net," Matas said. "We just wanted to end it as soon as possible."

The first half was mostly a defensive one, with neither team coming across very many scoring chances, but it was in the latter parts of the regulation where the tide started to turn in favor of Mililani.

"Definitely in the second half we started to get that sense that there were opportunities to be had and that's what we wanted to execute on and we did," Trojans' first-year coach Steve McGehee said.

Kalani coach Michael Ching said fatigue became a factor down the stretch.

"Probably with about 20 minutes left in (regulation) we got tired, I think they smelled blood in the water and they looked like the champions that they are," Ching said of the Trojans. "They came attacking and attacking. We tried to sit a little bit more in the second half, try to dump it, but I think they definitely picked it up with maybe 10, 15 minutes left in (regulation) and then into the overtime they showed why they were champions."

McGehee, who served as a longtime assistant to former coach Jeff Yamamoto before taking over for him this season, said the seed was planted after the first half.

"We made a few adjustments and were able to go ahead and create opportunities in that second half and into the extra time," McGehee said. "It's just one of those things where we've been working hard our whole season and the boys have put a lot of effort into getting physically ready."

While Kalani started to tire late in the game, Mililani had the luxury of fresh legs, thanks to a deep bench and numerous substations by McGehee.

"For us it's the norm, because we have 14 seniors and almost all of them are able to run and contribute, so we need to utilize our depth and that was a major factor. I know Kalani does the same and we need to match them step-for-step," McGehee said.

It was the second consecutive runner-up finish for the Falcons (11-1-1), who lost to Kaiser in last year's league final.

"We played our hearts out and we lost to pretty much the class of the OIA for what, the last 10 years, 15 years?, so it's nothing to hang our heads on," Ching said. "Yeah, we wanted to win, but we've got a lot to be proud of."

Matas' goal was just the fifth given up all season by Kalani, which saw its eight-match win streak snapped.