HANAPEPE — A penalty kick from Waimea’s Kreig Medeiros in the 44th minute kept the Menehune from being shut out Tuesday at Hanapepe Stadium. Kapa‘a High School got two goals from Daniel Alonzo to lead the varsity Warrior boys to
HANAPEPE — A penalty kick from Waimea’s Kreig Medeiros in the 44th minute kept the Menehune from being shut out Tuesday at Hanapepe Stadium.
Kapa‘a High School got two goals from Daniel Alonzo to lead the varsity Warrior boys to a 4-1 win over Waimea and break a four-way logjam for the lead in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation varsity boys division.
This was the second outing for both teams after earlier battling Island School varsity boys to a 0-0 stalemate.
Kapa‘a lost little time asserting itself, Alonzo finding the net in the 6th minute to open up the scorebooks in the biting winds blowing off the Kalaheo plateau and conditions made more challenging by the passing mists in the first half at Hanapepe Stadium.
The early goal stiffened both teams’ game play resulting in a hard-fought game for control and eliciting fan support from both benches.
Kapa‘a built on its early lead in the 20th minute when Trevor McCracken netted the ball followed seven minutes later when Edsel Lactaotao, one of Kapa‘a’s formidable forwards, sank the ball in the 27th minute for the 3-0 halftime lead.
Waimea’s efforts belied the scorebooks as the Menehune received three yellow cards in the intense matchup, one coming from the bench for coach defense and two being issued to Wyatt Taniguchi, the strong stopper, for unsporting behavior resulting in Taniguchi having to sit out the next game due to a pair of yellow cards amounting to a red card with its no-play status for the next Waimea game.
Alonzo capped the win in the 72nd minute when the Waimea goalkeeper challenged the charging forward on a one-to-one, and after failing to stop the ball, Alonzo went on, unchallenged, to the goalmouth for the capper.
With the win, Kapa‘a boys next host Island School varsity boys to a rematch Saturday at Vidinha Stadium starting at 10 a.m.
Waimea will host Kaua‘i High School Saturday for a complete set of four games starting at 10 a.m. when the Junior Varsity boys take the field followed by the JV girls on the field at 11:45 a.m.
The varsity boys kick off at 1:30 p.m. followed by the varsity girls matching up at 3:30 p.m.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
