After taking on some of the best in the nation at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman in Ohio, Kamehameha’s Kanai Tapia is in line to face two of the best in Hawaii.
Tapia is into the semifinals of the 152-pound bracket of the Hawaii Officials Tournament at Leilehua, cruising through the stacked bracket as the second seed. He beat Malu Keo of Kahuku 16-0 in his first match and Campbell’s Brock Gooman 12-1 in his quarterfinal match.
But bigger monsters loom for Tapia. He will meet Pac-Five’s Stone Franczyk, who pinned both of his opponents, in today’s semifinal for the right to meet Hawaii Prep World No. 2 pound-for-pound Brandon Pagurayan of Kapolei or Punahou’s Vincent Terrell in the final.
Pagurayan, a two-time state champion as a junior, beat his first opponent by first-period pin and his second by a 25-10 technical fall. Terrell won his first match 14-7 and pinned his second guy in only 30 seconds. Pagurayan won the Officials tournament last year.
Courtesy of trackwrestling.com, here are how the other brackets stand going into Saturday’s semifinals.
Boys 106
Top seed Nicholas Cordeiro of Waianae is into the semifinals against Skyler Suzui of Pac-Five, who stopped an impressive run of first-period pins by Nick Diamond. Chaz Kuikahi-Molina of Kamehameha and No. 2 seed Brayden Spain of Waiakea are in the other semifinal.
Boys 113
Top seed Tobey Ravida continued his impressive MIT finish with two pins in two matches. He will face Bronson Morioka of ‘Iolani, who pinned his quarterfinal opponent in just 30 seconds. Keane Escaba of Moanalua and Pac-Five’s Scott Fujishima are in the other semifinal. Fujishima has two pins in the tournament already.
Boys 120
Three big matches are guaranteed in this weight class on Saturday, with top seed Branson Magsayo of Waianae winning his matches in 0:47 and 1:04 to earn a rematch with Lanai’s Alan Sanchez. Sanchez pinned each of his first three opponents. Magsayo upset Sanchez 9-7 last week. The winner of that war won’t have it easy, with ‘Iolani’s Robert Frias taking on 2017 state champion Elijah Asuncion of Moanalua in the other semifinal. Asuncion has one pin in three matches so far and hasn’t given up a point.
Boys 126
Brant Porter, a two-time Officials champion from Kamehameha, looks unbeatable with pins of 0:35 and 1:00 and gets fed Prestiege Kahookele-Himai of Nanakuli in the semifinals. Dreddin Villalpando upset second seed Kahiliwala Joy of Baldwin to reach the semis in the other side along with Pac-Five’s Ammen Tawfik, who has three pins to his credit.
Boys 132
Kysen Terukina of Kamehameha, the class of the state looking for his third Officials title, spent just shy of three minutes in two matches and will meed Kalani’s Kade Okura in the semifinals. Waiakea’s Caleb Shimaoka is a surprise semifinalist after beating Lahainaluna’s Kanoa Lanoza by disqualification. He will meet Elijah Kaawa of Saint Louis, who has a pin and a major decision so far.
Boys 138
Top seed and defending Officials champion Ansen Ursua is into the semifinals largely unchallenged after winning his two matches by a combined score of 37-11 and will face ILH rival Matthew Sugiki of Punahou. Two other ILH wrestlers, ‘Iolani’s Brady Hoshino and Jonah Chew of Kamehameha, are in the other semifinal with Hoshino looking particularly impressive with 7-1 and 16-2 victories.
Boys 145
Kapolei’s Brycen Pagurayan has officially arrived, upsetting top seed Jesse Dudoit of Lahainaluna 11-7 and then pinning Cole Pruett of Kahuku in 2:47. He will face Devin Shimabukuro of Pac-Five, who fought his way through three matches. Blaze Sumiye of Moanalua and surprising Hauoli Sinenci of Hana are in the other semifinal. Sinenci won all three of his matches by first-period pin in 0:48, 1:44 and 0:33.
Boys 160
Chaos reigned in the top half of this bracket, with Ethan Moniz of Leilehua moving through to the semifinals after Taylor Wong of Kamehameha upset top seed Hudson Park of Punahou before losing to the Mule. Hanalei Kahookaulana of Hilo awaits Moniz after collecting three pins as an unseeded wrestler. Two more unseeded wrestlers, Kahekili Pahio of Kamehameha and Kaiser’s Thomas McCreadie are in the other semifinal.
Boys 171
Manaia Wolfgramm of Kamehameha is out for blood in this division, winning his first match by pin in 0:56 and his second by a 13-3 major decision. He will face Joshua Arcayena of Pac-Five, who advanced when Jay Auvaa of Aiea forfeited, but he had two first-period pins before that. Kalena Tauvela of Farrington cruised into the other semifinal and will meet Moanalua’s Karter Nitahara, who took out second seed Asher Pilanca of Mililani and has three pins to his credit.
Boys 182
‘Iolani’s Blaze Pascua showed off his new top 10 P4P ranking with two pins and meets Alejandro Blanco of Waiakea today. Andrew Adiniwin of Moanalua will be a touch matchup if he can get past Kamehameha-Maui’s Zachary Genobia, who pinned both of his opponents in under 33 seconds.
Boys 195
Zander Manuel of Punahou is halfway to pinning his way through the tournament but gets teammate Andrew Canonico next. Pontus Thiravong of Radford also has two pins on the other side of the bracket and will meet Elijah James Ramos of Farrington, who eked by Kamehameha’s Andrew Lee-Smith 9-8 in the quarterfinals.
Boys 220
Kapolei’s Charles Hanohano defended his top seed with two pins, but he will get a test in Baldwin’s Maake Paunuve in the semifinals after the Bear collected two pins of his own. Seeding means nothing to Kaimuki’s Harry Lloyd, as he beat Punahou’s John Egami 11-1 to reach the semifinals and will meet Cole Jones of Saint Louis in the semis. Jones has pinned both of his opponents.
Boys 285
We could have a Punahou-Kahuku football rematch in the final of this division. Top seed Marcus Lombard represented the Red Raiders with two pins and will face Kalani’s Gregory Rucilez in the semifinal. Legend Matautia of Punahou, a 2017 Officials champion, looms on the other side of the bracket after pins in 1:54 and 0:32, but he will have to get past experienced Rafael Leapaga of Kapolei. Lombard is the defending Officials champion.
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