Kapolei's Hunter Hoogenwerf and Mililani's Jacob Nakasone fight for the ball in a defensive contest that ultimately ended in a draw. CJ Caraang | SL

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MILILANI — If Friday's regular season game between unbeatens Kapolei and Mililani is any indication, not much separates the OIA Western Division powerhouses.

The Hurricanes and Trojans, ranked third and second, respectively, in this week's ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Boys Soccer Power Rankings, played to a scoreless tie before a crowd of about 300 fans on a calm and mostly dry night at John Kauinana Stadium.

Both teams went to 4-0-1 on the season and are tied for third place in the seven-team Division I West standings with 13 points. They trail Campbell (5-0) and No. 8 Pearl City (5-1), who are tied atop the division with 15 points apiece.

Kapolei posted 29 total goals through its first four games, while Mililani had notched 20 goals, but both defenses shined the brightest Friday night.

"Both defenses just stopped any offensive movement," Trojans coach Steve McGehee said.

The back lines for both teams were stellar. Mililani's was made up of outside-backs Seth Uson and Brandon Flores, along with center-backs Kyle Foss and Noah Fujikane.

"I think they all did a great job," said McGehee of the underclassmen.

Uson and Fujikane are sophomores, while Flores and Foss — a transfer from Island School on Kauai — are juniors.

"At the beginning of the year we didn't know if we had center-backs, so I'm happy with the way they played," McGehee added.

Foss has acclimated himself well with his new teammates, although he goes back a ways with one of them, junior Josh Ishizaka. Ishizaka played a defensive-midfield role Friday, just in front of center-backs Foss and Fujikane.

"Kyle and Josh are real good friends, they play on the club teams together, so there's been a real good bonding and (Foss is) so easy to deal with and low drag that he's fit in real well right away," McGehee said.

Kapolei's back line — and team, in general — turned in a gritty effort after its top defensive player, Cypress Navarro-Acio, was given two yellow cards in the first 15 minutes of the game. That meant the ‘Canes were relegated to playing with just 10 players for the final 65 minutes.

"I mean, we're proud of the boys, playing a man down for about 70 minutes of the game," Hurricanes co-coach Ryan Lau said. "I think we had to grind. Obviously we had to adjust and it's unfortunate that early in a game — I'm not going to question it, it's just that, you know, usually hard physical play upper body you give warning right off the bat (versus) just the yellow card right away — and then you know, you're losing one of our captains, (but) I think our boys dug deep."

Without Navarro-Acio, a second team All-Hawaii selection last year, the onus was on outside-backs Micah Fonoti and Noah Anderson and center-backs Joe Wren and Dedric Tolentino to anchor the defense.

"I think the backs did well. I think we pride ourselves on being able to battle and compete," said Lau, who also credited senior Hunter Hoogenwerf for his play after moving from his usual forward position to more of a defensive role.

"Hunter was planned to play forward throughout (the game, but) because Cypress  left we had to stick Hunter kind of right in front of the back four and I think he really fought hard, considering. I think the boys, we battled, I mean, considering the numbers, I'm proud of them," Lau said.

There were seven yellow cards issued in all, five of them to Kapolei.

"Within five minutes we kind of knew how the game was going to be called — it was going to be called tight — so I think our boys had to adjust, I think both teams had to adjust," Lau said. "I think a lot of it is just getting accustomed to whether the ref is going to allow you to play with your hands and upper body versus if he's not going to, because a lot of the fouls were just upper body fouls."

McGehee said his team also had to adjust to the officiating. After Ishizaka received a yellow card, McGehee opted to pull him off the pitch with next Friday's game at Campbell in mind.

"I think we had to be weary of it, I mean, I thought some of the cards were warranted, I thought some could have been given a little of latitude, but I mean, it's the referee's prerogative and the referee saw what he saw, I'm not gonna question it," said McGehee, who ultimately did not feel the officiating overly impacted the final result.

"I think the game was called fairly overall. I mean, they're not happy because the physical nature was taken away from them, but in the same breath, some of the tackles and all that were late and unnecessary I thought, but overall I don't think it mattered," McGehee noted. "Like I said, if they had 11 people on the field or 10, we would have probably wound up in the same place.

Mililani had 10 shots on goal to just three for Kapolei. With a man-advantage, the Trojans held most of the possession, as expected, but got most of their shots off of set pieces and not in the run of play.

"We knew we just had to get some set pieces and some transitions being (down) 11-10," Lau said. "I mean, we had a couple, but I thought we did a good job of limiting them despite them being a man-up to make them kind of play very direct, where they weren't really switching us left and right, where we could have got a little bit fatigued and exposed, so I thought our guys did a wonderful job of that."

‘Canes goalkeeper Dallas Williams-Canincia stopped all 10 shots on goal, including a heads-up save on a Jordan Fernandez header about 11 minutes into the contest. Late in the second half, the Trojans had several direct free kick opportunities on restarts — with two of their top players on the ball in senior midfielder Liam McGehee and Jvon Cunningham — but Williams-Canincia denied them each time, including a pair of diving saves in the final six minutes.

"Dallas has come a long way. He showed good focus and that was one of our points with him, just maintaining the focus because as a goalkeeper you gotta maintain focus throughout," Lau said of the first-year starter.

McGehee praised the gutsy effort by Kapolei, specific Elijah Hines in the midfield, along with the duo of Tolentino and Wren.

"I think they did a real good job. Hines did real well in the middle, I was very impressed with the way he played. I thought Dedric and Joe did a really good job in the center-backs, winning a lot of the long balls out that didn't let things fall and helped protect their keeper from any unnecessary second chances, so that was good," McGehee said.

It was the third shutout posted by the Hurricanes this season, while the Trojans have blanked their last four opponents and not allowed a goal since their season-opener against Aiea on Dec. 6.

"I had a feeling this game would have finished up (in a scoreless tie) no matter if it was 11 or 10, — it could have finished eight-on-eight and we would have had zeroes. The way the game was being played, I didn't see a lot of gilted chances for either team," McGehee said.

Both coaches expect the teams to cross paths once more in the postseason.

"I think overall we're still learning about ourselves, so I think both teams are that way, we're learning who we are, how to play and it'll be a different game the next time we play them, I'm sure," McGehee said.

Lau added, "I think it was a tough game, good test, but we'll see each other again."

The game was a rematch of last season's OIA championship, which Kapolei won by a score of 3-0. The Hurricanes took two of three meetings between the teams last year.

Navarro-Acio will be forced to sit out Kapolei's next game on Jan. 3 at Waianae.