Iolani routs Punahou to send off seniors, lock up state tourney berth

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Top-ranked and defending state champion Iolani continued its undefeated march in league play with a 4-0 win over Punahou, sending off 15 seniors playing their final league game at Eddie Hamada Field at Kozuki Stadium.

Devin Lee scored his team-leading eighth goal in the 21st minute of play to break the scoring seal, and its importance in a game that was hotly contested to say the least.

"I made the run through and I kind of got lucky that it slipped through," said Lee of the play. "I was able to get a touch past the keeper and put it through."

The first half ended with just Lee's goal for the Raiders, but a red card issued to the Buffanblu's Brady Lau near the 50th minute created a man down situation for Punahou that ultimately opened the floodgates for Iolani.

Moments after the send off, Chase Yamashita headed in a goal to make it 2-0 for the home team and Lucas Ginoza added another goal with about 15 minutes left in regulation to make it all but academic.

Both teams eventually cycled players down the lineup, and the opportunity for playing time became a moment to remember for senior Morgan Afaga, who scored the first goal of his prep career in the closing minutes of play.

"I saw the through ball coming in and knew I wasn't going to reach it, so I tried to put myself in the position to like draw a foul or something and it worked out," said Afaga of the play.

When asked if there was even a consideration to handing off the ensuing penalty kick to a teammate, Afaga replied laughingly, "No, no, I really wanted to do that (penalty kick)."

"It was insane, I heard my parents screaming in the background, random people I don't even know, the baseball team over there just yelling my name, I don't even know half the kids there. BUt I take a lot of penalty kicks before practice for some reason and I go to that spot every single time, so I was pretty confident in it."

The Raiders close out the regular season on Saturday with a match against Mid-Pacific before starting and will represent the ILH with the seeded berth and first round bye regardless of the result.

Punahou needs at least a draw to lock up a berth into the state tournament in its final game against Kamehameha. A win for the Warriors will create a tie for second in the standings, which would then invoke a winner-take-all playoff game on Monday, Jan 26.