Iolani beats Leilehua 3-0

The Iolani Raiders can only take so much drama.

Zachary Napier broke a scoreless battle early in the second half as Iolani blanked Leilehua 3-0 yesterday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinals of the Meadow Gold/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships.

HHSAA Boys Soccer At Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Seeds: 1. Mililani. 2. Punahou. 3. Kamehameha-Maui. 4. Waiakea. yesterday Game 1: Kaiser 2, Waimea 1 2: Iolani 3, Leilehua 0 3: Hawaii Prep 2, Moanalua 1 4: Kapolei 5, Kealakehe 2 today 5: Waimea vs. Leilehua, field 7, 1 p.m. 6: Kealakehe vs. Moanalua, field 8, 1 p.m. At the Main Stadium 7: Iolani vs. Waiakea, 1 p.m. 8: Kapolei vs. Kamehameha-Maui, 3 p.m. 9: Kaiser vs. Mililani, 5 p.m. 10: Hawaii Prep vs. Punahou, 7 p.m.

Morgan Langley scored two late goals to put the game away for scrappy Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up Iolani (12-2-1). The Raiders will meet fourth-seeded Waiakea today, 1 p.m., at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Leilehua (8-5-1), the fourth-place team from the Oahu Interscholastic Association, will play Waimea today at 1 p.m.

The Raiders took everything the bigger Mules had to offer, but hung tough with a meddlesome defense that gave Leilehua few clear shots at goal. "They weren't afraid to come at us," Napier said of the physical Mules.

The game was at high intensity from the start. The head official gave Iolani forward Morgan Langley a concise scolding 8 minutes into the battle. At the 25-minute mark, the official gave Leilehua midfielder Joshua Trusdale a yellow card following a collision near the sideline.

The Raiders missed opportunities despite keeping the ball in their attacking zone for most of the first 25 minutes. Halfback Lee Anderson had two decent scoring chances in the first half, stopped twice by Leilehua goalkeeper Nick Popa on 25-yard kicks from the right elbow of the box.

Anderson also had a pinpoint cross to Langley, who missed a tough header from less than 10 yards out.

Leilehua's Daniel Phelps was off the mark on an early direct kick from 25 yards out. He also missed from 15 yards out on a breakaway as the ball caromed off the crossbar.

The game was scoreless after one half. Iolani coach Chris Lee directed his team to make changes during intermission.

"Coach had us change our formation," Langley said. "They were dropping their sweeper back, so we put our forward (Mike Hirokawa) deep. It helped us a lot. It stretched the field."

Napier tapped a shot from 10 yards out, over Popa, to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the second half.

"Dylan (Langley) crossed it and there was a lot of confusion. I just saw an opening and volleyed it in," Napier said.

Once they had the lead, the Raiders thrived on spreading the field wide open.

"We were able to spread them out and possess the ball," Napier said.

Langley scored at the 73-minute mark on a 10-yard boot, and added another score 4 minutes later to seal the win.

"Zach served it in and it kinda popped off one of their heads," Langley said of his first goal. "It bounced off one of our guys (Zachary Lee) to me. I didn't notice how close I was 'til I turned around."

Kapolei 5, Kealakehe 2

The Hurricanes got goals from five different players to offset two goals from Kealakehe's Robert Pettee as the Hurricanes scored four of the game's final five goals to earn the victory.

Hawaii Prep 2, Moanalua 1

C.J. Cintas scored a goal for Ka Makani as Hawaii Prep advanced to the quarterfinals after winning in a shootout. Moanalua's Landon Watanabe scored a goal in the 64th minute that sent the game into overtime.

Kaiser 2, Waimea 1

Kaiser's Kyle Niiro and Waimea's Chad Thompson scored goals two minutes apart in the first half as the Cougars eventually won the game in a shootout.