There are a couple of uncertainties surrounding Kapa’a’s involvement in the AT&T Wireless Boys State Soccer Championships beginning February 14: the Warriors have very little, if any, experience with astroturf and really don’t know all that much about their first-round
There are a couple of uncertainties surrounding Kapa’a’s involvement in the AT&T Wireless Boys State Soccer Championships beginning February 14: the Warriors have very little, if any, experience with astroturf and really don’t know all that much about their first-round foe, Kalani.
But be assured about a couple of things. Kapa’a is confident, and it’s not going to Oahu to win the consolation championship.
“A lot of teams go to state and assume winning the consolation would be great,” Warriors head coach Wade Bosworth said. “I think that’s a weak way to approach it.
“So, after we win our first-round game, we get to face Pearl City. They are the top-ranked team in the tournament. That’s the game we really want to play.”
First things first for the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation champions. To get to Pearl City, the Warriors must find a way to beat Kalani (8-2-3), the fifth-ranked Oahu Interscholastic Association team.
“What we know about them — is not much,” Bosworth said. “They only gave up eight goals on the season and they scored 26. So we must defend well.”
When asked if he could, based on things he’d heard, compare the Falcons to either Waimea or Kaua’i high schools, Bosworth was clear.
“Actually, I think they’re going to be most like us,” the coach said.
That means Kalani will be a good defensive team that tries to control the middle. Its scoring of 26 goals is not really that impressive when stretched over the 12 games its played. Kapa’a has scored 25.
As big a factor as the opponent, however, may be the type of field Kapa’a will play on at states.
All of the games will be contested at Aloha Stadium, a 50,000-seat mammoth of a facility with astroturf.
“The turf makes the balls so fast and really takes away from the game of soccer,” said Bosworth, who played on turf a few times during his college career. “It’s also going to be the biggest field we’ve played on, 10 yards longer than Hanapepe.”
For the most part, holding the tournament on astroturf leaves the outer-island teams at at disadvantage.
“The Oahu schools have access to turf at a few places around the island,” Bosworth said. Anyway, we’ve been working on a couple of adjustments we might need to make for that, and been doing a lot of conditioning.”
As far as how the pre and regular season has prepared Kapa’a for the state tourney, Bosworth had mixed feelings.
“Hawai’i Prepatory Academy is the only team we played in preseason that’s at states. We lost to them,” Bosworth said. “As for our season over here, it would be good to get games against other teams and other types of teams, but I was glad to get six good battles [seven including the KIF title game].”
A positive about playing in the KIF, however, is the lack of a lengthy postseason tournament to determine the state qualifiers.
“It shortens the end of the season a bit, and one of the biggest things we have going for us is that we are healthy,” Bosworth said. “But for instance, Iolani, I heard, isn’t even practicing this week. They’re just trying to heal.”
