For the Kaiser boys' soccer team, it seems that good things come in twos.

One night after rallying from a two-goal deficit to defeat two-time reigning Oahu Interscholastic Association Red champion Mililani, the Cougars captured their first league soccer crown with a 3-1 win over Kalani at John Kauinana Stadium Friday night.

Much like its previous game, Kaiser turned the tide in a one-minute stretch in the second half. With the match tied at 1, Taylor Takada and Thomas Butenbah-Leong scored in the 56th and 57th minutes, respectively, to break it open. Thursday night, Marion Ian Ham scored in the 43rd minute and Mario Manrique followed suit in the 44th to negate a 2-0 Mililani lead.

"We had to dig deep in both games, but we had faith in each other and presevered," Takada said. "We did it (Thursday) night and it gave us all the momentum and belief in ourselves, even after Kalani scored to tie it."

It was an improbable feat against the Falcons — the reigning Division I state champions — who had allowed just nine goals all year.

"I'm glad that this game was against Kalani, because they've been a really good team for the last few years and seeing them do what they did last year, it inspired me," Kaiser coach Marco Gloria said. "I'm also happy because it's two East teams playing in the championship game after so many years of the West dominating, so this means we are going in the right direction."

It was the second time that the teams met on the field this season. Kalani won the first time, 3-2, in a game that went down to penalty kicks back on Dec. 18.

"We always play little mind games with the kids and I told them that all of the games that we had lost this year were by penalty kicks," Gloria said. "We wanted our players to understand that they were right there with (Kalani) the last time we played, but in PKs, it can go either way."

Takada, for one, took that message to heart.

"There were games this season where we probably controlled the game and on the stat sheet we outplayed the opponent, but in the record books it went down as a loss and that's how we wanted to approach this game," Takada said. "We knew we could play with Kalani — they're a really good team — but we weren't going to let this one slip away again like the last one."

For Butenbah-Leong, it was his second OIA championship of his senior year. He was the star running back/kick returner on the Cougars' football team, which in addition to winning the OIA White title, captured the Division II state championship back in November.

"Our football team took care of business and brought home a championship and it feels really good to win this one," Butenbah-Leong said. "Now hopefully we can go out and bring home that state title, too."

Kaiser, which was the No. 2 seed out of the East behind Kalani, will receive the OIA's top seed and a first-round bye in the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Division I Boys Soccer State Championships, Feb. 12 to 15 at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.