By James Sablan
james@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
LAST Tuesday proved to be an exciting day for the boys’ high school division of the PSS-NMIFA Interscholastic Soccer League SY25-26, as Kagman High School earned their second win in a high-scoring match against Mount Carmel School, while Saipan Southern High School JV forced a draw against Marianas High School JV at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.
The evening highlight was a scoring spectacle delivered by Kagman High School, which overwhelmed Mount Carmel School with an impressive 15-2 victory.
KHS established dominance early, scoring nine of their goals in the first half. As soon as the team gained control of possession, the onslaught began with Justin Garde drawing first blood in the 9th minute, followed by Javen Camacho’s first goal just two minutes later. Garde then added his second goal in the 19th minute. Maximus Taitano, Fabio Norita, and Nolan Ngewakl also contributed to the bombardment, with Garde completing a hat-trick before halftime as KHS held a commanding 9-0 lead.
The second half saw no let-up in KHS’s offensive intensity, as they added six more goals. Meanwhile, Mount Carmel School managed to find some consolation with goals from Julio Manseratt and Jayson Tagabuel in the 44th and 57th minutes, respectively, but ultimately fell 15-2.
A draw
The first match of the night had SSHS JV forcing a 2-2 draw with MHS JV.
It was a fairly even battle between the two teams. After an extended back-and-forth for possession, SSHS JV capitalized on a transition play as Hayashi Pua scored in the 17th minute. MHS JV’s Branson Santos later equalized in the 24th minute, making it 1-1.
In the second half, MHS JV briefly took the lead with David Xiao scoring in the 38th minute. However, SSHS JV responded under pressure, and Jovian Guilas scored 10 minutes later to even the score at 2-2. With little time remaining, neither team could find a game-winning goal, and the match ended in a draw.
James Sablan has been a sports reporter for Variety since 2013. He was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College and covers all local sports.
