HONOLULU — Hawaii Preparatory Academy and Kamehameha-Hawaii have made one thing clear in recent years: the state’s best Division II teams call the Big Island home.
After battling through opposite sides of the bracket at the HHSAA tournament this week, the BIIF powerhouses are the final two teams standing.
At this point — the third time in four years — the sides can simply shake their heads and say, “You again?”
Kamehameha-Hawaii and Hawaii Prep will meet at Oahu’s Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex to determine which school will come away with the Division II state championship at 5 p.m. today.
No matter what happens through the regular season and the postseason, Ka Makani and the Warriors just cannot seem to avoid each other. And why would they want to?
Every time the two teams meet, there are fireworks. It’s always battle for survival with nearly everything on the line.
“It should be a good game,” said Kamehameha head coach Josh Woodard. “It always is.”
“We know each other,” added Hawaii Prep coach Steve Perry. “We worked hard to get back to the championship game again and the girls are excited. The field is in great shape and the weather is good. We will see what they can do.”
The two teams have become very familiar with each other over the last decade. Along with meeting for the second straight time in today’s state title game, the Warriors and Ka Makani have faced off in the BIIF championship eight consecutive years.
Hawaii Prep has usually come out on top in the meetings. They are going for their sixth straight state title, which includes a 2-0 record against Kamehameha, beating them last year (3-2) and in 2016 (1-0). Ka Makani is 8-2 against the Warriors in the BIIF championship, but Kamehameha has won the league title the last two seasons.
When Kamehameha and Hawaii Prep met in the BIIF D-II title game a week ago, the Warriors pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory, which in normal circumstances, would give them the edge. However, it did not help Kamehameha last season. Part of that is contributed to the fact that Hawaii Prep is good at forgetting.
“We are just trying to focus on the games that are in front of us,” Perry said. “We did a good job today of not even mentioning the championship game. We are here to take care of business. The game is 0-0 when the whistle blows and we will try to pressure early and pop one in.”
For Kamehameha, the team is focused on the future, not the past.
“We are focused on this year. Last year is done already,” Woodard said. “We have a bunch of new girls and they don’t really know what happened last year. We will see what happens.”
Hawaii Prep (15-2) advanced to this year’s championship game behind the emergence of Bella Police, who is the only player on the team to score a goal in each of Ka Makani’s three state tournament games. She had a hat trick against Waialua in the opening round of the tournament and has recorded five goals total.
“Bella has been a threat all year, coming from the flank, with great speed and great footwork,” Perry said. “She attacks the goal.”
Police has been helped by the return of Emi Higgins, who is often marked by the opposing defense.
“Emi is getting marked up pretty tight and it is really helping our other scorers such as Bella, Angela (Cipriano) and Malia (Brost),” Perry said. ” We have more than one weapon.”
Police, Higgins and Brost combined for the goals in Hawaii Prep’s 3-0 victory over Kauai in the semifinals on Friday. Higgins has four goals for the tourney.
“We controlled the middle and eliminated (Waialua’s leading scorer Kehela Ventura) from the attack,” Perry said. “Malia and Jenna Perry were solid in what was probably their best game together. The back line also did a real nice job.”
Kamehameha (13-4) advanced to the title game with a 2-0 victory over Kapaa behind goals by Nanea Wong-Yuen and Chenoa Frederick.
“Our energy was better than in the first game, but it was still a battle,” Woodard said. “Kapaa is a good team.”
Kamehameha did get a scare late in the game when freshman keeper Kaylia Galindo had to exit due to an injury. However, Woodard said she was fine after the game and didn’t really need to come out. She will back in the net for the title match.
Galindo in the net has been good for the Warriors, who have played two close games in the state tournament, both shutouts. As the No. 1 seed, the Kamehameha received a bye in the first round before playing, and beating Sacred Hearts 1-0 in the quarterfinals thanks to a goal by Wong-Yuen.
“The two teams we played didn’t really create much going forward, we just had trouble finding the back of the net,” Woodard said. “But now we are going to recover, eat and make sure the girls are enjoying themselves and in a good mood for the championship.”
The Warriors have not won a state championship since 2008. As the No. 2 seed of that year’s tournament, Kamehameha defeated Honokaa and Campbell to reach the championship game, before taking down No. 1 Roosevelt 2-0 for the title.
The D-II championship will be televised on OC16.
DIVISION I
CAMPBELL 3, KONAWAENA 0
The Wildcats (12-4-1) chase for the Division I state tournament crown ended Friday in the semifinals with a loss to Campbell.
Scoring for Campbell were Cassidie Andrews, Jourdyn Curran and Hokulei Ishikawa.