Division II state soccer champs honored
LIHU‘E — Kapa‘a High School boys soccer team, in winning the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II boys state soccer championships, brought pride to not only Kapa‘a High School, but to the entire island, said Kaua‘i County Council Vice Chair Nadine Nakamura Wednesday.
“The Kaua‘i County Council would like to congratulate the Kapa‘a High School Boys Varsity Soccer Team players, coaches and families for its championship performance and for bringing pride to Warrior Nation and the entire island of Kaua‘i,” states a council commendation authored by Nakamura and co-sponsored by councilman Ross Kagawa, who also is a teacher at Kapa‘a High School.
The Kaua‘i County Council was joined by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. in a joint commendation of the Division II state boys soccer champions Wednesday, punctuating an otherwise full council slate of events.
“We’re going to take a break because the boys are all here,” Kagawa said. “As a teacher, we want to impress on them the importance of being on time.”
Coached by Kevin Cram, Jeff Nelson and Mark Sassone, the Warrior boys soccer team won the state title with a 2-1 win over Mid-Pacific Institute at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on O‘ahu on Feb. 9, states the mayoral proclamation, which declared Feb. 20 as Kapa‘a Warrior Boys’ Soccer Day on Kaua‘i, Carvalho said.
“The Warriors’ sheer determination and grit allowed them to dominate the game to a 2-1 victory and capture the state tournament championship, which has eluded them the past two seasons,” the council commendation states. “The Warriors capped an impressive season, finishing with a record of 11 wins, 0 losses and four ties.”
In the presentation, Nakamura presented lei to all three coaches created by the grandmother of Ty Shiramizu, a former Warrior soccer player, ensuring the coaches would have green and white on, Kapa‘a’s school colors.
Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy proved to be the toughest opponent for the Warriors, the HPA team keeping Kapa‘a from the title during previous tournaments.
“We’ve been hard on them during the season with conditioning,” Nelson said. “When we won our first game in double overtime, the boys finally starting buying in, and by the final game, we brought our pace of the game to the field.”
During the state tournament, which wrapped up Feb. 9, Nelson said the best compliment he heard was from a lady at the hotel the team was staying who said, “The team was so nice the entire time.”
Sassone said it was nice to see the boys finally take care of business.
“It’s been a great ride from beginning to end,” Sassone said. “You give us credit as coaches, but it’s the boys who are on the field and tear it up. It was a great feeling in the championship game to see them score early and hunker down for the rest of the game.”
Coach Kevin Cram said the team has 11 seniors and a lot of them knew what to expect at the state tournament.
“We pushed them harder each game and after getting past HPA, we felt confident in the boys’ ability to bring home another title,” Kevin said.
Joshua Cram, voted the Most Outstanding Player on the Division II All-Tournament team, said his most memorable moment was getting the credit for a teammate’s, Dylan Devin, goal in overtime.
Joining Joshua on the All-Tournament team, Daniel and Michael Alonzo got the nod as forwards, Joshua was named to the midfield position with Tanner Henry and T.J. West getting defensive honors.
Team members include Daniel and Michael Alonzo, Gavin Bryan, Austyne Carvalho-Toloai, Sonny Check, Joshua Cram, Reeve Dawbarn, Dylan Devin, Micah Domingcil, J.B. Goode, Henry, Edsel Lactaotao, Noah LaMadrid, Trevor McCracken, Jonathan Paleka, Keaton Schneider, Ian Souza, and West.
“With 11 seniors on the team next season we’ll have new personnel and the work starts all over,” Kevin said.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.