HHSAA Boys Soccer
Iolani rallies from first-half deficit to dethrone Mililani for 11th boys state soccer championship


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
February 9, 2025, 1:06am

  

Sat, Feb 8, 2025 @ Waipio

Iolani

2

Mililani

1

Final/PK 1st 2nd OT 2OT PK Tot
Iolani (12-0-1) 0 1 0 0 4 2
Mililani (15-1-0) 1 0 0 0 2 1
Devin Lee (66’)   Matthew Lamborn (22’)


WAIPAHU — Call ‘em the resilient Raiders. 

No. 2 Iolani overcame a first-half deficit to topple top-ranked and defending champion Mililani in the title game of the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Division I Boys Soccer State Championships Saturday night. 

The Raiders laid claim to their 11th state crown in program history to complete the year with a 12-0-1 record. In doing so, they denied the Trojans, who finished with a mark of 15-1, an eighth state title. 

After the teams were tied at one at the end of regulation and two 10-minute, golden-goal overtime periods, Iolani won the best-of-five penalty kick shootout by a score of 4-2. 

A crowd of about 3,000 fans at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium saw the Raiders recapture the state championship that they saw the Trojans win at their expense a year ago. 

Brayden Obrero, Brody Awaya, Devin Lee and Chase Yamashita each converted their penalty kicks for the Raiders. Obrero, a junior goalie, also came up with a pivotal save to deny Mililani's first shooter. 

"I'm just really shocked and excited that I got to experience such a wonderful team and such a beautiful game," Obrero expressed. "I'm glad that even though all odds were against us — going into this we were the underdogs (as the) second seed in the state — just overcoming that and winning the state title, I'm just really, really happy."

It was the third consecutive year that the teams faced off in the title game. Iolani won in penalty kicks in 2023; Mililani triumphed via a 1-0 decision the following year. 

Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships
Division I All-Tournament Team
Madden Aquino, Kamehameha
Brody Awaya, Iolani
Azis Camerrer, Kamehameha
Lorenzo Gonzalez, Kekaulike
Kama Kane, Iolani
Elijah Kuni, Mililani
Jayden Parker, Campbell
Kalen Toguchi, Mililani
Tyler Cole Tamashiro, Mililani
Tyler Welsch, Campbell
Brayden Obrero, Iolani (GK)
Most Outstanding Player: Devin Lee, Iolani

"Mililani, first of all, is a great program and we've faced them three times and every time we've faced them it's been very, very, very close; I didn't expect anything less tonight," Raiders coach Chris Lee said. 

Chris Lee was on a leave of absence the last time Iolani won it all, when assistants Travis Watanabe and Grant Fukuda served as co-interim coaches. Lee and his son, Devin, now a junior for the Raiders, were in Washington state while the younger Lee was attending the Seattle Sounders academy. 

"It's really special. I have a picture up in my house and that's the last time that I won and it's a picture of my family and my son is really, really young and I was thinking, like, ‘Am I gonna get the opportunity to recreate this picture again?' Fortunately we were on the right side of it today," Chris Lee said. 

It is Iolani's third state title under Lee, but the first since 2014, which makes this one all the more cherished for the father-son duo. 

"It's been, I wanna say, nine years since as a coach I've actually won, I think. So (in the) one year away they were able to do it, so this one is special to me coming back and being able to do it," Chris Lee commented. 

Devin Lee can still vividly recall the heartache of watching Mililani celebrate as it hoisted the championship trophy one year prior. This time around, he was able to experience the other side of it. 

"We knew that coming in we had a chip on our shoulder after feeling that same gut feeling from last year — that wrenching feeling, that losing feeling — and we just knew that we had to come out with lots of energy and fight for every ball and put goals in the back of the net," said Devin Lee, who was selected as the tournament's most outstanding player. 

The Raiders had to come from behind after Mililani found the back of the net just past the midpoint of the first half. 

In the 22nd minute Tyler Cole Tamashiro, who scored the lone goal one night prior in the Trojans' semifinal win over Kamehameha, possessed the ball near the right sideline. Tamashiro served a pass toward the front of the goal, where Matthew Lamborn was able to elevate about his defender and head the ball into the upper right corner of the goal, well out of the reach of Obrero. 

"Honestly, when (Tamashiro) was driving down the line, I saw (Lamborn) out of the corner of my eye, but I thought that we had a man on him but he ended up being open and it just went straight to his head and it was a goal, but then I told my teammates we were good. We still had like 17 minutes left in the first half and we still had the whole second half, so I just told them, ‘Keep our heads up. We got it, we got it,' " Obrero recounted. 

Iolani nearly equalized in the 31st minute when Reef Kutaka received a through ball and got behind a Mililani defender. Goalkeeper Kobi Miyamoto also wound up out of position and Kutaka had what appeared to be an open look on goal. However, center-back Elijah Kuni made a spectacular defensive play as he slid toward the right post and closed the door on Kutaka's shot on goal. The ball deflected off of Kuni and then off of the right post, but back to Iolani's Asa Hironaka, whose shot from point blank went over the goal. 

Just before the end of the first half, Mililani came within inches of doubling up its lead, but Jackson Cosner's shot hit the left post. 

Whereas in the first half the Trojans were able to control much of the possession through building from the back with Miyamoto, Kuni and his fellow center-back Derek Wurlitzer, the Raiders began applying high pressure after the intermission. 

The adjustment paid off in the 66th minute, when a Iolani's Kekama Kane — normally a center-back — was able to disrupt a pass in Mililani's defensive third. Kane stole possession of the ball and pushed toward goal, however, he was taken down from behind and the subsequent foul against the Trojans resulted in a penalty kick for the Raiders. 

"I was a little confused at first because Kama is our center-back and it's a little odd seeing him in the box, but I saw the guy (slide tackle) him and Kama fell down and got touched," Devin Lee recalled. 

Along with the added high pressure, Chris Lee opted to bring Kane — a slotback on the Iolani football team — into the attacking third. 

"Well, things weren't really happening at that moment. We weren't really creating chances so I took a chance and pushed Kama upfield a little bit more and you know, I mean, he's an athlete and obviously catching balls is his number one love, but today he did it with his feet for us," Chris Lee said. 

Devin Lee converted the ensuing PK, which he tucked away into the lower left corner, to equalize the match. 

"I knew that I would be able to take it because I have lots of confidence in myself and I believe that I'm the man to put it away and I just had to take my best shot. I believe in myself that I was gonna be able to score and from there, just put it in the net," he said of his eight goal of the season. 

About 11 minutes after Lee's goal — and with only three minutes or so remaining in regulation — Awaya nearly put his team ahead. Awaya put a shot on goal that was initially ruled a goal by the linesman, but after a brief conversation with the center official, it was determined the ball never fully crossed over the goal line. 

Kuni once again was credited as the defender who came up the goal-saving heroics on the play. 

"He's been doing that all season; I wouldn't expect anything less than that from him," Mililani coach Alika Cosner said of Kuni, whom, he disclosed, was whistled for the foul against Kane that awarded Iolani its PK.

"That's why I can't really knock on him for that foul. I mean, yeah, maybe he gives up one PK for us, but throughout the whole season there's probably tens of goals that he's probably saved for us," Cosner added. 

The Trojans registered three shots on goal in the first overtime period, but about four minutes into the extra stanza forward Kalen Toguchi received his second yellow card of the match, which resulted in a red card and his subsequent disqualification from the contest; that left Mililani a man down the rest of the way. 

"I thought we came out pretty strong in the first half. I thought we controlled most of the game, had some pretty good momentum (but) we lost it in the second half," Cosner said. 

"They came back and started pushing numbers up higher, we got caught off balance in the back and we gave up a PK and I think that kind of turned the momentum a bit. Starting off overtime I thought we did good. I thought we were creating a lot of chances — more than them — but getting that second yellow card and losing a player really hurt us and after that, PKs, it's anyone's game at that," Cosner lamented. 

Neither team was able to put a shot on goal in the second 10-minute overtime, which sent the match into the PK shootout. 

Mililani had the honors, but its first shooter was denied by Obrero, who made a diving stop to his left. Obrero, who made seven saves through the first 100 minutes of the match, then stepped to the penalty spot himself and made good on his PK into the top right corner. 

"It was really nerve-racking at first. After saving that I was so happy I kind of forgot that I had to take the next PK because I was first and then once I came back to reality I just stuck to the shot I practiced for weeks and then buried it," Obrero said. 

It was just the momentum his team needed. 

"That just gave us an insane relief, Brayden getting that first save," Devin Lee said. "We always joke with Brayden at practice (because) he always takes PKs by himself, thinking that he's going to score one in a game, so I'm so glad that he finally got his moment to score his PK."

Both teams converted their next two attempts to keep Iolani's lead at 3-2 after three rounds of kicks. The Trojans' fourth shooter, Kuni, missed his attempt over the top of the goal. Yamashita then put away his shot into the bottom right corner to set off the Raiders' celebration. 

Both Devin and Chris Lee acknowledged that the team struggled with PKs in practice. 

"We had some scary moments in practice but we all knew that when it came down to game time, that we would be ready for the moment. We practice this over and over again leading up to this game and we just knew that we had to stick together, believe in God and from there, we just had to put it away," Devin Lee said. 

Chris Lee added, "In practice I was a little worried, but I guess they stepped up mentally and were able to put theirs away."

While his players relished in jubilation in the seconds and minutes that followed Yamashita's clinching PK, Chris Lee sought out a visibly distraught Kuni, a club teammate of Devin Lee. The pair trained together at the Sounders academy and their families are close-knit, to say the least. 

"Elijah is like a son to me. He comes over to my house, my son goes over to their house, you know it's just a big ohana, a big family," Chris Lee said of the moment of empathy. 

"We travel together, we have fun together when we travel together with club and you know, yes, it's hard to see their reactions and I just wanted to make sure he was okay and knew that it's just the way the ball bounced today," he added. 

Mililani saw its 31-match win streak that dated to the start of last season come to an end. It was trying to become the first team to repeat as state champions since Punahou did so in 2019 and 2020. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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