HAWAII KAI — The same teams that met for the OIA Division I boys' soccer title a year ago will face off once more Saturday night. 

No. 4 Campbell and No. 1 Mililani will meet in the rematch after each came away with a one-goal win in Thursday's semifinal round at Kaiser Stadium. 

The West second-seeded Sabers (10-1-1) posted a 1-0 decision over East No. 5 seed Kailua in the first game of the doubleheader, while the West top-seeded Trojans (12-0) escaped with a 2-1 victory over East No. 2 seed Castle in the nightcap. 

Campbell secured its spot in Saturday's final thanks to a late goal by Jonah Poepoe that was set-up by Tyler Welsch. 

In the 73rd minute, Welsch received a pass from Mana Llanos then pushed the ball up the right flank. Welsch sent a crossing pass that found its way through a number of players and to the waiting feet of Poepoe, who one-timed a right-footed rocket into the left side of the goal. 

"I didn't have the angle on the shot, so I saw (Pope) right there and I knew he had the confidence and ability to strike that ball into the back of the net, so I just set him and that's what he did," Welsch said. 

Poepoe, a junior midfielder, said he saw the scoring opportunity develop as he trailed the play. 

"It was amazing. I knew Tyler was about to beat them, I saw him dribbling down the line, I knew he was gonna beat them and I was just ready — ready for the cross," Poepoe said. "Once I seen the ball I was just ready to shoot it. It bounced off the defender and then it went in."

Sabers coach Lance Thompson credited Welsch for setting up Poepoe on the goal. 

"I mean, he's a spark plug, right? Tyler Welsch, you can tell by the way he plays (that) he's electric, he's a spark plug," Thompson said. 

Thompson subsequently tipped his cap to Poepoe for capitalizing on the opportunity Welsch created. 

"Jonah, he's one of those quiet leaders that is consistently always doing his job — right place, right time. Soccer is a game of skill, being in the right place at the right time. Jonah did his job, got to the sweet spot, Welsch was able to find him (and) he hit a cracker of a goal from 18 out. I mean, that was a great hit," Thompson expressed. 

In the lead-up to the goal — Poepoe's fourth of the season — the Sabers manufactured chance after chance but to no avail. 

Early in the second half Jeremiah Antonio-Makinano had a chance from about 22 yards out on the left flank. He ripped a right-footed shot that just missed wide right of the goal. About 12 minutes later, Welsch worked his way through a couple of Kailua defenders before he blasted a shot from about 25 yards out that was solidly struck, but saved by goalkeeper Brandon Moore. 

In the 68th minute it was Joshua Yadao who delivered a corner kick from the right flag to the front post, where it was headed by a teammate but the ball went off of the football goalpost and resulted in a goal kick. 

Poepoe said despite failing to cash in on their many opportunities in the final third the Sabers remained confident they would find the back of the net sooner or later. 

"The whole second half we were there. We just knew we were gonna get one goal in. We just had to keep pushing," Poepoe said. 

Thompson praised his team for keeping its composure, but also gave props to the Surfriders for their pesky defense. 

"Our guys stuck to the game plan, but a lot of credit needs to go to Kailua — that's a well-coached team, very disciplined, they don't do anything to beat themselves and they made it extremely difficult on us — and so we had to make a couple of adjustments at halftime, we stuck to those adjustments, that helped with the momentum changing in the game as you could see — they really only got down there one time, maybe twice — that game was down there on this half of the field kind of fits into our attacking, aggressive soccer philosophy that we have," Thompson said. 

One of the adjustments that Thompson's squad had to make was playing without senior Cody Mar, whose 12 goals on the year ranks second behind Welsch (13). Mar left the game midway through the first half with an apparent right knee injury. He was seen trying to work through the injury behind the team bench after halftime, but never returned to the contest. 

With Mar out of the game, Campbell moved center-mid Antonio-Makinano up to the left forward position.

"That was a big adjustment. We did have to move some pieces around, but our mentality in theory is ‘next man up,' " Thompson said. " ‘People are gonna go down, if your number gets called, step in and do your job. How great and consistent can you be at doing your job for the moments that you're in the game?' That's kind of the theory."

Poepoe said losing Mar, a four-year varsity player, gave him all the motivation he needed to step up. 

"It was a really big impact when Cody went out injured, but I knew I had to step up ready for the job," Poepoe said. 

The Sabers' backline of outside backs Joshua Yadao and Andrew Fortuno Jr., along with center-backs Jayden Parker and Logan Atamian were sturdy all night. They held the Surfriders without a single shot on goal and limited their prolific forward Brody Person — who has scored 20 goals on the year — to just a few touches in the attacking third. 

"Our backline was solid tonight," Poepoe said. "We knew this team, Kailua, was ready to just keep sending balls down to (Person), so we told our backline to always be ready for the long ball and they were ready."

Campbell will be playing in its second OIA championship match in as many years. It lost to Mililani — which went on to an undefeated 16-0 season capped off by a state championship — by a score of 2-0 in last year's league final. 

"Getting to this point means a lot. I just knew we had a strong team this year and that we would make it far; We just had to put in the work," Poepoe said. 

He added that the experience of playing in last year's OIA title game should help to settle the nerves come Saturday night. 

"It helps a lot because a lot of our players right now on our team have been to this point already, so we're all ready to play," Poepoe said. 

While a number of Sabers will be playing in their second league championship in as many years, it will be Thompson's first as head coach of the program. 

"It's my first season here so it's been pretty exciting. It was one of their goals that they set for themselves early on in the season to get back to the championship game and we really stuck to following that process all year long and being committed to it and it came through for us in the most important time," Thompson said. 

Kailua was playing its third game in four days. It shutout Radford 3-0 in Monday's opening round of the 12-team tournament and needed double-overtime Tuesday to take down Kalani, the top seed out of the East, by a score of 2-1. 

"We're pretty shallow as far as depth is concerned, so yeah, we were a little banged up playing three games in four days, but the boys brought it; They did all they could," Surfriders' first-year coach Grant Sumile said. "Kudos to Campbell, they were the better team tonight. They really brought the energy, so credit to them."

The Sabers had a bye Monday and was coming off of a 3-2 win over East No. 3 seed Kaiser in double-overtime Tuesday. 

Thursday's game was a rematch of an OIA semifinal from a year ago that saw Campbell edge Kailua in a penalty-kick shootout. 

While the Sabers will be trying for their first league crown, Mililani will look to make it four straight and 20 overall. 

The Trojans won their 28th consecutive game Thursday, dating back to the start of last season, but Castle made sure it did not come easy. 

Mililani held a 2-0 lead after goals by Jackson Cosner and Pookela Tom-Makue in the 38th and 50th minutes, respectively. 

However, the Knights cut the Trojans' lead in half with Rider MacMillan's goal at the 70-minute mark. They threatened to equalize several times in the closing minutes, even in the final seconds of the match. 

Ultimately, the defending champs did just enough to hold off the upset-minded Knights, who moved up after they captured the league Division II championship a year ago. 

"It's tough when you let a goal in late and the game gets close and they come with that much energy," Mililani coach Alika Cosner said. "We just tried to be a little bit tighter on defense, tried to close the gaps and not make it so easy for them to get through, but still yet they made it tough."

Castle first-year coach Michael Park made sure his players kept their heads high following the hard-fought loss. 

"They boys played really hard. We're really proud of what they've done. They played with a lot of heart. They don't give up, they don't stop until the final whistle, as you could see. I mean, it was really exciting the last few seconds but it just didn't fall our way," Park said. 

Saturday's championship game will mark the second meeting between Mililani and Campbell this season. 

The Trojans posted a 1-0 win over the Sabers when the teams played in the regular season back on Dec. 27 in Ewa Beach. 

"They're a difficult squad. We've been watching a lot of film on them over the past couple of weeks in preparation. We figured they'd be a team we may face in the later rounds, so we're prepared, but still yet — I mean, they're physical, they're an athletic team, they play direct and they're threatening — so it's going to be a tough game," Cosner cautioned. 

Campbell has reeled off five straight wins since the loss to Mililani — the lone defeat it has suffered all year. 

The Sabers and Trojans will face off in the nightcap of Saturday's championship doubleheader at Kaiser Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for approximately 7 p.m. and will follow the Division II final between Waipahu (5-6) and Kahuku (4-6-1) at 5 p.m. 

Kailua (8-5) will take on Castle (9-2-1) in the Division I third-place game Friday at 7 p.m. at Farrington's Kusunoki Field at Edward ‘Skippa' Diaz Stadium. 

Campbell, Mililani, Kailua, Castle, Kaiser and Kapolei will represent the OIA in next month's Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA D1 State Championships.