Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
No. 2 Kalaheo to visit No. 4 Kaiser in OIA East finale Saturday




While the six teams out of the Eastern Division to qualify for the OIA Division I boys soccer tournament have already been determined, the final standings won't be clear until the end of Saturday night.

Entering the final weekend of the 10-game regular season, the D1 East standings look like this: Kalaheo (9-0, 27 points), Kaiser (8-0-1, 25 pts.), Kalani (7-1-1, 22 pts.), Kailua (6-3, 18 pts.), Moanalua (5-3-1, 16 pts.), Kahuku (5-4, 15 pts), Roosevelt (2-6-1, 7 pts.).

Outside of the last-place Rough Riders, who have been eliminated from postseason contention, the other six teams are jockeying for playoff seeding in the 12-team league tournament, which takes place in two weeks.

Fifth-place Moanalua will host fourth-place Kailua at 7 p.m. Saturday and can leapfrog the Surfriders in the final standings with a win.

Third-place Kalani will host sixth-place Kahuku earlier in the day at 3:30 p.m. The Falcons, who made their season debut in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings at No. 10 this week, can pull even with second-place Kaiser with a win over the Red Raiders; a tie would slot them in as the third seed. Kahuku can finish fifth with a win over Kalani and a Kailua win over Moanalua.

The top two teams will earn one of four coveted first-round byes, with the first-place Mustangs already assured of one of them. They can clinch the top seed with a tie or win over the second-place Cougars when they face off at 7 p.m. at Kaiser Stadium.

Kalaheo coach John Nakagawa, whose team climbed to a No. 2 ranking this week, said the goal Saturday has not changed.

"Obviously we always play to win, but we always tell the team that you can never guarantee a win, you can't guarantee the conditions, or the opponent, or the ref and so on, but you can guarantee your effort — a very strong, consistent effort — and as coaches we would consider that a successful result," said Nakagawa, who earned All-OIA East Coach of the Year honors after leading the Mustangs to the league D2 title last year.

Nakagawa's squad is the only team in the state without a loss or tie this season. The veteran coach, who also coached Kalaheo to the OIA D2 crown in 2013, said the promotion to D1 has been two years in the making.

"We spent the previous two years in D2 and so we've got a core group of juniors now who were on varsity as freshmen and then we've got some key seniors who are very important, but the ultimate goal was to make it to D1 and be competitive, that was the overarching goal for us two years ago," Nakagawa said.

The Mustangs boast two of the OIA's top scorers in junior forward Jack Lemonds (11 goals) and senior midfielder Kai Takahashi (9). Additionally, junior forward Zanskar Stohler (6) and junior midfielder Daniel Fujiwara (5) have also contributed offensively.

"Our goal scoring is very spread out among a number of players and that's all depending on our opponent, so that's been of great benefit to us," Nakagawa said.

Defensively, Kalaheo has been stout. It has not allowed a goal since Dec. 18 — a string of five consecutive shut outs — and surrendered just three goals all year.

"It's a collective defensive effort from everybody. Everybody is working hard defensively and that's been key for us," Nakagawa noted.

Two of those goals came against Kalani in the second game of the season, back on Dec. 11. The Mustangs, however, went on to rally to a 3-2 win over the Falcons. Their only other game decided by a single goal was a 1-0 win at Kahuku on Jan. 6.

"That was very tight, it was very poor environmental and field conditions, but we had to learn how to get through that and finish games. Finishing games strongly has been something we started working on three years ago — we had a very young team and needed to learn that — and I think that has paid off," Nakagawa said. "We have a core group of players that have been together for three years now, so they know each other, they know our system and that's all come together quite nicely this season."

While the Mustangs might be the new kids on the D1 block, the Cougars have long been one of the East's top contenders year-in and year-out.

Kaiser, which ascended four spots to No. 4 in this week's Power Rankings, has won its last five games since its lone blemish this season: a 1-1 tie against Kalani on Dec. 28.

The Cougars need at least a tie Saturday to clinch a first-round bye; a win would lift them into first place, one point ahead of Kalaheo.

Kaiser coach Layne Abalos said he was finally able to turn his attention to the Mustangs Thursday after Wednesday night's hard-fought win over Kailua on Sebastian Horn's goal with about 10 minutes left to play.

"We had a tough time. Kailua gave us a run for our money, but we take one game at a time and never look ahead to the next game, never take anything for granted, because one loss is a huge thing and every game matters. It's huge for seeding, it's huge for confidence, it's huge for everything and we're a team that we need confidence," Abalos said.

Junior forward Kyler Halvorsen's 12 goals rank second in the OIA. Sophomore midfielder/forward Ian Ngonethong isn't far behind with eight goals on the year.

It's the defense, however, that has largely kept the Cougars in games this season. They have allowed just one goal all year and shut out their last five opponents.

"Our defense is definitely carrying us and our back four have been playing great," Abalos said.

He noted the contributions of center-backs Richard Yang and Shane Matson as key, along with goalkeeper Kai Nishibun, but pointed to three-year starter Tytan Yamanaka as the lynchpin of the unit from his defensive-midfield position.

"Tytan is definitely our engine in the back. He's our captain, he's our leader, he's our warrior, he's our everything out there and he definitely takes away a lot of stuff in the middle," Abalos said of the lone fourth-year varsity player on his roster.

Yamanaka moved up to play wing late in the second half against Kailua Wednesday and helped to manufacture Horn's game-winning goal.

"He's pretty much doing it all. We needed a goal so we needed to get numbers forward and so we played him as an attacker, but we preach ‘team' and team defense and I think that's the key for us right now having only let in one goal — I think that's huge — I mean, if the other team can't score, that's huge, so you've gotta be able to play defense. I know it's cliche, but everybody's gotta play defense and I think it's just a team thing that makes us go," Abalos said.

Abalos feels that his team has yet to hit its stride and the best is yet to come.

"We're still kind of finding ourself. When we play our game we're tough, but I think it's a matter of us playing together and everybody playing for one another and when that happens, then we're a really tough team to beat," Abalos said.

The teams also faced off in the regular-season finale last year. Kaiser came away with a 2-1 win in that game behind two goals by Halvorsen.

"I think the thing that we can draw from that is number one, Kaiser is a very good team, very well-coached and at the same time, we showed ourselves that we could compete with them and so we believe that we can compete on the same level with Kaiser this year," Nakagawa said.

Both teams will have a slew of familiar faces when they take to the pitch Saturday night.

"They basically have the same squad, just like us — I don't think they've lost too many players — so I think they know us and we know them. I don't think it's a secret how they play and how we play and I think it's a matter of who imposes their will of keeping their game plan going," Abalos said.

In the event that Kalani beats Kahuku and Kalaheo defeats Kaiser, the Falcons and Cougars would finish tied for second place with 25 points apiece. Consequently, a coin flip would determine which team will receive the higher seed and first-round bye in the OIA tournament, which gets underway on Jan. 27.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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