Iolani rallies from early deficit to win ILH water polo title

Franklin Heggenness and the Iolani Defense held off the Punahou Buffanblu to win the 2013 ILH Championship. Katie Waki | Special to SL

Danny Leong had a hat trick as Iolani rallied from an early deficit to stun Punahou, 6-5, and win the ILH Boys Water Polo Championship at Dillingham Pool on the Iolani campus.

The two teams had split the previous 4 meetings this season.

Early on, the game looked to be all Punahou, as the Buffanblu jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, with goals by Ethan Lewis and Aukai Lileikis coming within a 60 second span of each other midway through punctuated by a length of the pool score by goalie Oliver Lewis that ended the period.

"All season we talked about refocusing and resetting. We came out a little flat (after the first quarter) but I just told them in the huddle it's our game, were down a little bit, and we just have to reset and focus." said Iolani head coach Ian Kusao.

The Raiders finally got on the board with 2:03 left in the second quarter on a score by Leong, trimming the margin to 3-1 at halftime.

"We really pushed the counter attack and our 6 on 5 was a lot better second half. Defensively we did a great job helping back and our goalie played phenomenal." Said Coach Kusao

Iolani continued to chip away in the third, rallying to tie the score on goals by Hunter Manson and Shutter Grune to knot the score up at 3-all at the end of three.

Punahou inched back into the lead with 6:42 left in the 4th quarter, as a Ward Weldon goal made the count 4-3.

Following a Punahou foul, Leong's penalty shot rocketed past the Punahou keeper and into the back left corner of the goal, tying the game up 4-4 at around the 5 minute mark, and the Iolani junior scored again for the Raiders at the 4:14 mark to put the Raiders up, 5-4.

Sutter Grune added an insurance goal for Iolani at the 1:58 mark, which proved to be an important score as Punahou scored with 30 seconds left on a goal by Kekoa Vierra and got the ball back with just over 15 ticks to play to try and get the equalizer, but the Raiders defense denied the Buffanblu in the closing seconds to preserve the win.

"Its a great feeling, we've worked since may for this moment and i told them to just embrace" it and just enjoy this time." Said Iolani Head Coach Ian Kusao, who just wrapped up his first season as the Raiders head coach.