Warriors take Owls to shootout, fall short

Mid-Pac 1, Kapa‘a 0 (2OT/PK) – They got two, but were off two.

That’s how the story ended for the Warriors of Kapa‘a High School who took the No. 2 Owls of Mid-Pacific Institute to two overtimes, forcing a sudden death shootout last night at the JN Automotive/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association’s first-ever Division II State Boys Soccer Championships at the Waip‘io Peninsula Soccer Complex.

The teams were tied at 0-0 throughout the night which forced a late night shootout.

In the shootout, Ikaika Fuerte and Taylor Langstaff were able to bank their goals, but paradoxically, the team’s leading scorer, Chance Bukoski, banged his shot into the post.

On Glen Miguel’s try, Mid-Pac’s keeper was able to jump out in front and make the stop.

“We ended up on the short end of it,” said Kapa‘a head coach Kevin Cram said, acknowledging that Mid-Pac was one of the toughest competitors the team faced.

Cram also said that they had practiced penalty kicks leading up to the game just in case the game happened to come down to them.

“There was a lot of disappointment (for our guys),” Cram said.

Mid-Pac’s Jared Domingo, Brandt Kuioka, Cody Sullivan, Marc Obundo were able to score for the Owls and give them the state title.

But to make it to the championship match is an accomplishment in itself. It’s the highest a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys soccer team has finished since Waimea High School finished in third place in 2005.

This batch of Warriors join the 1998 Kapa‘a girls soccer team who also finished as the state runners-up when they lost to Punahou in the Division I competition.

Kapa‘a, though, is still the only KIF team to have won a state championship in any of the sports. In 2005, Kapa‘a’s boys volleyball team won the first Division II title at Punahou.

In the fifth-place match, Seabury Hall defeated Kaua‘i High School 4-3.