MHS blanks SIS to defend soccer title

Marianas High School Dolphins blanked Saipan International School Geckos, 2-0, in the championship bout of the NMIFA-PSS Interscholastic Boys High School Soccer League 2023-2024 last Thursday at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.

The Dolphins defended their title with a more dominant and aggressive lineup stacked with national team pool players, which they used to their advantage against the championship-hungry Geckos.

The Geckos had chances at the goal from attempts by Casey Chambers, but missed closely in all instances. What made the difference was the Dolphins’ more demanding pushes to the Geckos’ goal, while the Geckos were held back by a tight MHS defense.

The first goal came in a quick hand off from a teammate to Tyler Omelau in the second half’s 42nd minute, who kicked the ball in the right corner of the net while defended by SIS’ William Sosa and Mark Chavez.

SIS’ chances at tying the game up decreased with each second that drained from the huge game clock across the pitch, while MHS was on the hunt to lengthen the lead more before that could happen.

It seemed like it would be just one goal on the board, but MHS’ Anthony Bergancia came through in the 58th minute and made it 2-0. SIS had no more fight in them as minutes turned into seconds and handed MHS their second title in as many years.

The MVP was Omelau for scoring the first goal of the game and setting the tone for the rest of the finals.

The Golden Boot awardee for the most goals of the season was SSHS’ Mark Patubo with eight goals.

Third place was Saipan Southern High School which defeated Mount Carmel School, 3-2, before the finals.

Along with Omelau and Bergancia, the Dolphins were made up of Terrell Hix-Kileleman, Isaiah Hossain, Mark Costales, Leland Deleon Guerrero, Paul Lizama, Zhi Xiang Lin, Wataru Kadokura, Andrew Sablan, Emerson Brillo, Cody Shimizu, Takeru Jim, and Rooney Gil.

MHS coach Don Marshall Cabrera said after the game that despite the short season, “We did our best to carry the same momentum that we had prior to the winter break over… it was a three-week break so we did our best to make sure that we didn’t play too sloppy.”

He credited the players for the championship and said that it felt great defending the title. He was also the winning coach last season.

With the finals against SIS, Cabrera said, “It was just one of those games. The ball is round—anything could happen. We had a really tough first half, but we had a really good team talk at halftime and we were able to pull it together and come up with the win.”

He thanked the parents, players, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, and the PSS Athletics Program for another season.

Omelau, for his part, said he was not expecting the MVP award. On his goal, he said, “It was good. We had good spirits going into the game. It felt good scoring the first goal—it brought our confidence up.” He said what was going on in his mind as the game unfolded was, “just shoot it.”

The sophomore then thanked his teammates and his family for their support.