Mililani's Jacob Afele wraps up Campbell's Isaac Hurd. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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A swarm of Mililani defenders converge on Campbell's Austin May. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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After an opening night romp over Moanalua in their first game of the season, Mililani coach Rod York believed his defense was "top dawg" in the state. Throughout the season, the Trojan defense played like a top-rated defense and they have been stifling and relentless. On Friday, it was another dominating performance as they stifled Campbell 41-7 in the semifinals of the Division I First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Football State Championships at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.

Mililani defense held the Sabers to 155-yards of net offense and an astounding 4-net rushing yards for the game. The Trojans also had 17 tackle-for-losses for 94-yards and three pass breakups.

"I gotta give it to our whole team, not just the defense. The defense, a lot of us have been together since sophomore year. We play as a family, as one team and we play for the guy next to us," said safety Ian Namu.

"As a defense, we like to do our jobs the coaches make it clear to us what we need to do and we make sure we execute and get the job done," added defensive lineman Rex Manu, who recorded three tackle-for-losses for 29-yards.

The Trojans earned the number two seed and a first round bye in the State Tournament. Mililani showed no signs of rust and continued to roll despite having a bye week.

"If anything it helped us out and it allowed us to get healthy for this game," said defensive lineman Blake Kondo, who had four tackle-for-losses for 12-yards.
 
Campbell quarterback Isaac Hurd came into this game with three rushing touchdowns against Kahuku in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association third place game and he passed for 375-yards and four touchdowns against Hilo in the opening round of the Division I State Tournament.

The Trojans pass rush made life miserable for Hurd and he had -40-rushing yards and 5-of-17 passing for 74-yards in the first half. Hurd finished 9-of-24 passing for 127-yards and 20 rushes for -8-yards, he had a 31-yard rushing touchdown, which was the only score of the game for the Sabers.

"The game plan was to try and shut him down. For the DBs, it was about keeping our coverage so our D-line and linebackers could get the pass rush," said Namu.

"We had to contain him, we knew he was a good runner and can get out of the pocket. We played assignment football tonight," said Kondo.

The Trojans also had six first half sacks and they finished with 11 for the game.

"The coaches made it clear we need to attack, attack, attack and make him panic and make him uncomfortable. We were strong in the pass rush, we flushed him out of the pocket and we got to him," said Manu.

Rex Manu had 5 1/2 tackles, three sacks, Kelii Padello had four tackles and three sacks and Blake Kondo added 5 1/2 tackles and two sacks. Sheldon Aki had a sack and Kaiman Padello added two sacks. Tamatoa Silva had a forced fumble and Jacob Afele had a fumble recovery.

"Our defense definitely has a lot of talent and we did our jobs and played our hearts out," said Kondo.

The Trojans have unfinished business and have worked hard to make it to this point of the season. They are looking forward to a rematch with Punahou next week Saturday for the Division I State Championship. Punahou beat them earlier in week two, 24-14 in the preseason, but since then these are two different teams.

"It means everything, we worked so hard and if we played to the best of our abilities we would make it here and we did it. Next week it's going to be a big one for us we need to bring it and keep going," said Kondo.

"The work we put in is worth something. This is the time we need to show what we're working for," said Manu.