Kapa‘a falls in semis

LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors came up one win short of playing for a state title, falling victim to the Honoka‘a Dragons in the semifinals of the JN Automotive/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championship tournament, Friday on O‘ahu.

The No. 2-seeded Warriors (9-4-1) lost a 2-0 battle to the No. 3 Dragons (12-2-3) at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Kapa‘a was playing from behind very early, after Honoka‘a’s Sage Johnson found the net in just the second minute of play. Johnson now has three goals in his team’s two matches.

Later in the first half, the Dragons’ Jeremy Yagong scored in the 26th minute to create what would prove to be the final margin.

Kapa‘a obtained its spot in the Div. II state tournament by winning the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship in a highly-competitive season. It received the second seed and began with a 2-0 victory on Thursday over Makua Lani.

The loss to Honoka‘a sends Kapa‘a into the third-place match this afternoon. It will take on the Seabury Hall Spartans (7-1-6), which suffered their first loss of the season in their semifinal matchup with top-seeded Mid-Pacific Institute.

Mid-Pac (11-2-1) scored the match’s lone goal when Cody Sullivan hit the game-winner in just the second minute of play.

The Kapa‘a-Seabury match will take place at 1 p.m. today in the main stadium at the Waipio complex.

Mid-Pac faces Honoka‘a for the Div. II crown at 5 p.m. in the main stadium. That match will be broadcast live on OC16.

In the Div. I bracket, Punahou punched its ticket into the championship with a 3-1 win over Kealakehe.

Punahou trailed after an early Kane Malone goal gave Kealakehe the 1-0 advantage, but Cody Sia, Christian Patmont and Quintin Love all scored second-half goals to propel Punahou into the title match.

The other finalist will be Iolani, which got its spot by topping KS-Kapalama when Jordan Lee broke a 1-1 tie with a score in the first overtime period.

The Div. I championship match will be shown live at 7 p.m. on OC16.