Kalani junior goalkeeper Kaito Pruner extends to make a diving save on a Punahou penalty kick Thursday afternoon. Pruner turned back two Buffanblu PKs to help the Falcons win the PK shootout by a score of 4-1 and advance to Friday's semifinals, where they will face King Kekaulike at 7 p.m. at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Thu, Mar 3, 2022 @ Waipio

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Kalani

3

Punahou

2

Final/PK	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Kalani (12-4-1)	2	0	0	0	4	3
Punahou (9-3-1)	0	2	0	0	1	2

Y. Okumura (17', 27')   N. Daehler (64')   J. Nishimoto (65')

WAIPAHU — Down go the champs. 

Yamato Okumura scored a pair of first-half goals and goalkeeper Kaito Pruner made two saves during a penalty kick shootout to help No. 6 Kalani topple two-time defending champion and perennial powerhouse Punahou by a score of 3-2 (4-1 PK) at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex Thursday afternoon. 

The Falcons (12-2-1) will try for their first title game appearance since 2015 when they take on No. 7 King Kekaulike (8-1-2) in a 7 p.m. semifinal of the NIU Health Urgent Care/HHSAA Division I Boys Soccer State Championships at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium. 

The Buffanblu (8-2-1) were playing their first match of the tournament after drawing the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. It is their earliest exit from the state tournament since 2012, when they lost to Kalani in the quarterfinals, 3-2. 

Pruner said he felt his team was the prohibitive underdog in the matchup against the proverbial Goliath of a program in Punahou, which has won the state championship in a record 22 of the 48 years the tournament has taken place since 1974. 

"Yeah, I think we were because Punahou, they were the first seed and we lost to them during the preseason," said the 6-foot-1 junior goalie. "But we came out with the win today."

And Pruner certainly had a large hand in the victory. 

He blocked two of the Buffanblu's three penalty kicks they attempted, before Shane Kudo ignited the celebration for the Falcons with his shot into the upper left corner of the goal on Kalani's fourth attempt. 

All three Kalani shooters before Kudo — Jenson Fuse, Lucas Wright and Jase Oshiro — converted their PKs. 

"We practice PKs during practice and I think that helps," said Pruner, who credited assistant coach Kevin Tabuchi for honing his work on PK defense. 

"I have to thank him because he helped me a lot, especially with penalties," Pruner said. 

The Falcons jumped out to a two-goal lead on Okumura's goals in the 17th and 27th minutes. They held a 2-0 lead at halftime; the score held until a few minutes past the midpoint of the second half. 

Nathan Daehler got the Buffanblu on the board with his goal in the 64th minute. Only a minute later, Justin Nishimoto netted the equalizing goal. 

"Second half, I think we let ourselves go," Pruner critiqued. "We weren't as focused as the first half, but we still won so a win is a win so I'm happy."

Both Punahou goals came after it had a player sent off and had to play a man-down. 

A Buffanblu foul in the 18-yard box during overtime gave the Falcons a penalty kick to win it, however, the shot was saved by the Punahou goalie to preserve the score at 2-2 after 100 minutes of play. 

"It was unfortunate that we missed the first one," Pruner remarked. "I felt like the game should have finished much quicker, but yeah, I think thanks to practice we were able to put away our PKs."

He said that the team's senior leadership kept the players from hanging their heads after the missed PK. 

"I think our captains help keep us motivated and our coach told us to keep our heads up," Pruner said. "And we had to try really hard; it was hard not to let ourselves get deflated."

Unlike Pruner, however, Okumura did not see the Falcons as an underdog against the Interscholastic League of Honolulu-champion Buffanblu. 

"Not really," he said. "We always try hard during practice and we always try hard in games, so we all believed that we could pull it off."

As for what took place on his two early goals? 

"I don't know, I just got lucky maybe," he shrugged.

Okumura agreed with Pruner that the team let its foot off the proverbial gas pedal in the second half. 

"You know, two goals up is very hard to keep it up, so we just tried to keep it up but they scored two and we were kind of in trouble, but we were just patient and stuck with it," Okumura said. 

He praised the clutch play of Pruner, especially during the PK shootout. 

"Yeah, he did amazing," Okumura said. "I really appreciate him."

Kalani will play in the semifinal round for the second straight state tournament; it lost to eventual-champion Punahou, 2-1, in the 2020 edition of the tourney. 

The Buffanblu will face Kapolei (12-3) in a fifth-place semifinal Friday, 3 p.m. at field No. 15 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.