Naia Graham scores 4 goals to lift Kailua over Waipahu. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Feb 7, 2015 @ Castle

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Waipahu

0

Kailua

6

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Waipahu (3-9-3)	0	0	-	-	-	0
Kailua (9-6-0)	3	3	-	-	-	6

N. Graham (4)   C. Manatad    R. Quebral

KANEOHE — Simply put, Naia Graham was the man Saturday night.

Graham, a senior forward, scored four goals as Kailua throttled Waipahu, 6-0, in the championship match of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II Boys Soccer Tournament at Castle High School.

The Surfriders (8-4) won their third straight and seventh in their last eight matches to claim their first league title since 2010 and will be the OIA's top representative in the Division II state tournament.

"This team deserved it," Kailua coach Steve Dignam said. "Coming into this season, I knew what I had coming back and our incoming freshmen have just been phenomenal, but when we found out we were D2 we were kind of iffy about it, but one of our teachers — Tim Harrison, who used to be our basketball coach — told me when I was talking to him that the trophy is the same size, so I just said that for the boys' sake, winning the championship is what it's all about."

Graham entered the postseason with 20 goals and added five goals in the Surfriders' last two games.

"He's phenomenal, he's a goal-scoring machine," Dignam said. "Waialua did such a good job on him on Thursday night. they basically just played a box-and-one on him — like in basketball — and they shut him down until he got one, but tonight Waipahu decided to play him straight up and they paid the price."

Graham's first goal came in the eighth minute, when he made a run along the right sideline and ripped a right-footed shot from just outside the 18-yard box that Waipahu goalkeeper Storm DeAsis got a hand on, but still trickled into the right side of the net.

Late in the first half, the Surfriders found the net two more times. Ripley Quebral sent a cross from the left flank to Graham on the right, whose shot was deflected by DeAsis, but Quebral put away the rebound to make it 2-0

Two minutes later, Graham extended his team's lead with his 23rd goal of the season when his right-footed shot from about 12 yards away got past DeAsis and snuck just inside of the left post.

Kailua added three second-half goals, led off by Chase Manatad in the 67th minute before Graham added goals in the 69th and 72nd minutes.

"I was just feeling it," said Graham, who said the Surfriders wanted to keep the foot to the pedal. "That was the plan since the beginning of the game. We just planned to keep our defense compact and our offense just everything pushing up and trying to score and score."

Waipahu, which finished third in the West, fell to 3-7-3. It was seeking its second league title and first since 2011.