WAIPAHU, Hawaii — A sense of unfinished business carried the Mililani boy's soccer team back into the championship match of the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Division I tournament.
The Trojans were scoreless against Punahou through a half of play, then ramped up their play dramatically to defeat the Buffanblu 2-0 and reach Saturday night's final at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
There, they will meet Iolani, the defending champion who downed Mililani on penalty kicks in last year's final for a 2-1 overall score.
The Raiders edged Baldwin 1-0 in overtime on Kuala Manuel's 89th-minute score in Friday's second semifinal. Iolani (11-0-2) seeks its 11th all-time title, while Mililani (15-0) is going for its seventh and first since 2015.
"We feel like we didn't finish off what we were supposed to last year," Trojans coach Steven McGehee said on behalf of his 18 returnees after Skyler Vail and Kalen Toguchi parlayed an effective throw-in combo to goals in the 52nd and 71st minutes.
"They all were there, and they all saw what happened," McGehee said. "So for them, they've had that in their mind from the end of last year 'til now. They know what they need to do, what job they have to finish."
With talent brimming across its roster, Mililani couldn't beat a comparable Punahou team with straight speed up the lines, as it did against so many opponents during the OIA season.
So it turned to its devastating throw-ins straight into the box, heaved by Toguchi or Maumausolo Uiagalelei.
On Vail's go-ahead score, Uiagalelei back-flicked a Toguchi throw-in with his head. It found space near the back post, and Vail was perfectly positioned to bury it.
"I feel like it helps our team a lot when we want to get in the box fast," Vail said. "We can play long throw-ins with either Kalen or Mau. We don't always have to play fast down the line, but we can play in the box."
McGehee said his team hasn't busted out the throw-in attack until late in the season, as it wasn't necessary during many of their lopsided wins. But the talent they've faced of late necessitated it.
Punahou coach Hugo Gutierrez credited it as a critical factor in the outcome.
Punahou (10-2-2) was playing its fifth match in 11 days, including a playoff against Iolani for the ILH title that went the way of the Raiders.
The first-year Buffanblu coach, Gutierrez, elected to go with a more aggressive formation to get a go-ahead score early in the second half. The Buffanblu had a shot go off a post in the first.
"We created opportunities and couldn't score and they were able to go the other way and maximize it," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez returned to coaching from a four-year hiatus while he raised a son. The former Moanalua coach missed being on the sideline, he said.
"I enjoy every minute," the coach said. "I think the group that we have sets off the way I want to be coaching my teams for the years to come."
In the nightcap, a tense, tightly played game stayed scoreless late in regulation thanks to Iolani keeper Brayden Obrero, a sophomore who was pressed into service as the Raiders' starter at the beginning of the season when senior Tanner Shum got hurt during football season.
Obrero faced down a penalty kick in the 79th minute that could've sent the MIL champion Bears (12-1-1) on to the final.
He dove to his right and punched the Iolani shot over the crossbar.
"Honestly, my game plan was looking at the hips and going off my reaction," Obrero said. "I knew I could do it because I've been practicing with my whole team. I just have faith in myself.”
In Division II, top-seeded and two-time defending champion Kamehameha-Hawaii faces the third-seeded KIF champion Island School at 5 p.m. at WPSS.
KSH defeated Seabury Hall 3-0 and Island School topped Pac-Five 3-1 in Friday's semifinals.
The Warriors seek to become the first three-time boys champion at any classification since Mililani won four straight from 2001 to 2004. The Island School Voyagers are aiming for their first soccer title.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.