MILILANI — With just a week left in the first quarter of the school year, No. 3 Mililani passed another big test Saturday night. 

Led by a gritty effort from their defense, the Trojans gutted out a narrow 14-10 win over No. 2 Kahuku before a spirited crowd of about 4,000 fans at John Kauinana Stadium. 

The win means Mililani (6-0) keeps pace with top-ranked Campbell at 2-0 atop the Open Division standings of the Oahu Interscholastic Association. It also sets up a meeting of unbeaten teams when the Trojans host the Sabers (5-0) next Saturday at Kauinana Stadium. 

There was no looking past the Red Raiders, however. 

Kahuku also got a sturdy effort from its own defense, which held the Trojans to only 119 yards offensively. 

Two plays turned the tide for the home team, one in each half. Isaiah Iosefa's one-handed interception and subsequent 35-yard return to just outside the goal line set-up Lehiwa Kahana-Travis' 1-yard touchdown run to give Mililani an early lead. 

With the visitors ahead, 10-7, in a field-position battle late in the third quarter, a trick play produced the Trojans' only other score. After Kahana-Travis took the ball on an jet sweep right, he pulled up to throw the ball and found Jonah Togafau-Tavui wide open down the right sideline. Togafau-Tavui turned his body in mid-air to secure the ball then went untouched for a 58-yard touchdown and the go-ahead score. 

"That's the first time we did that (in a game)," Togafau-Tavui said. "We were working on that play Thursday. I didn't think we were ever gonna run it. When they said, ‘run it,' oh, I knew we were gonna score and it was just a great throw from Lehiwa."

Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho tipped his proverbial cap to the Trojans' play-calling on the halfback pass. 

"That was a great call. It hit for them, so that was a great call," Carvalho said. 

Mililani has been without All-Hawaii wide receiver Onosai Salanoa (season-ending injury) and reigning All-Hawaii Offensive Player of the Year, quarterback Kini McMillan, since an injury to his right (throwing) shoulder sustained in the season opener against Kailua. In the absence of McMillan — a fourth-year starter and University of Washington-commit — the Trojans have utilized Kapolei-transfer Kekoa Koong in passing situations and slotback Kahana-Travis in more run-first situations. 

Without its standout gunslinger, Mililani managed only 89 yards through the air on a combined 9-of-13 passing from Koong and Kahana-Travis Saturday night. Its run game was held in check to the tune of 21 carries for 30 yards. 

In fact, the Trojans managed to win despite picking up just four first downs all game. 

"Tonight, yards were hard to come by on both sides. I mean, they scored early because of our mistake and they scored on a trick play, so yards were hard to come by on both sides," Carvalho said. 

The Red Raiders had a golden opportunity to pull back ahead midway through the fourth quarter. 

After Mililani went quick strike with the Kahana-Travis—Tavui TD connection for a one-play scoring drive, Kahuku went ground and pound with a 14-play drive that covered 68 yards and took more than seven minutes off the clock. 

The drive penetrated all the way to the Trojans' 1-yard line, where the Red Raiders faced third-and-goal. As they had done for much of the second half, Big Red kept their elephant package in and opted to run wildcat with Malosi Fiatoa. However, Mililani defensive end Chevy Robinson shot into the backfield and dropped Fiatoa for a three-yard loss. 

Before the play, Robinson said that defensive line coach Mose Tuia communicated to him to get skinny. 

"He told me just shoot the gap, so I just went with it and I did what he told me to do and I shot the gap and made that tackle," said Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior edge rusher. 

On the very next play — fourth-and-goal from the 4 — Robinson chased down the quarterback for a sack that resulted in an 11-yard loss and a crucial turnover on downs with 5:24 left to play. 

Robinson credited linebacker Mason Faoa for disrupting the quarterback just enough to slow him down and allow Robinson to collect one of his three tackles for loss on the evening. 

"He slowed down the quarterback and that's where I got to finish the job. My boys on defense, we all just played with our heads on fire," Robinson remarked. 

Robinson recorded five solo tackles and assisted on five others. In all, the Trojans tallied 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including five sacks. In turn, Kahuku was limited to 170 net yards and just 1.9 yards per rush (37 carries for 69 yards). 

"Our coaches just put into our minds that this is the game, this is the game that people want and this is the game that we want," said Iosefa, a senior linebacker and Arizona State-commit. 

Iosefa played a few games with the Trojans early last season before he transferred to Waipahu, where he helped the Marauders win a Division I state crown. He was an interested observer of last year's Open state final and saw Kahuku use some late-game heroics to deny Mililani the ultimate prize. 

"Mililani, we kind of came up short last season in the state championship, so we're just playing with a chip on our shoulders and just firing off on all cylinders and just playing with that fire and just trying to prove something with a lot of banged-up guys and us just coming out on top," said Iosefa, who racked up four solo tackles and nine assisted tackles. He was also in on two tackles behind the line of scrimmage and one sack. 

It was a highlight-reel pick by Iosefa on just the third play from scrimmage that allowed the Trojans to take an early lead. On third-and-12, quarterback Kalaheo Kanae-Oliveira — who started the season as QB3 for Kahuku — threw a pass down the right sideline that Iosefa was able to secure to his chest with just his right arm. Iosefa nearly returned the interception for a touchdown, but came up just a yard shy of a pick-six. 

"The coaches did a great job putting me in a great place, great position," Iosefa said. 

"I just executed the stuff that we saw, this whole week we just practiced and all glory to God for just putting me and blessing me in that position and my teammates doing their jobs and I just gotta do my job, so it was easy," he added. 

Two plays later after Iosefa's one-handed takeaway, Kahana-Travis busted through the left side of the line of scrimmage and into the end zone from a yard out to put Mililani ahead less than two minutes in. 

Kahuku got on the board with a 26-yard field goal by Manoa Kahalepuna at the 1:01 mark of the first quarter. The scoring drive was thrice extended by defensive penalties by the Trojans. 

Mililani's lone turnover — a Kahana-Travis interception — eventually led to the Red Raiders' go-ahead score. After Aiden Manutai halted the Trojans' possession with his pick in the red zone, his teammates on offense orchestrated a 54-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock and culminated with Blake Alo's 10-yard touchdown run off right tackle. 

Kahuku ran the football on all 12 plays on the scoring drive, which included a pair of conversions by Fiatoa on two fourth-and-1 situations. On the touchdown scamper — which came on a third-and-5 — Alo followed behind a trio of pulling blocking backs. He found an open pathway to the end zone and went untouched around the right corner. 

Kahalepuna added the extra point to give the Red Raiders a 10-7 lead with 45 seconds until halftime. 

Kahuku had two possessions in the final 2:52 to try and reclaim the lead. 

It turned the ball over on downs on its penultimate drive when Kanae-Oliveira lost his footing and slipped on his drop back on fourth-and-19. 

Mililani went three-and-out on its ensuing possession and punted back to the Red Raiders, who got the ball back at their own 16-yard line with 29 seconds left. However, they never got past midfield and the Trojans fittingly finished it off with a sack by the duo of Shawdan Pacheco and Ezekiel Kelemete on the final play. 

Despite the chances his team had in the closing minutes, Carvalho acknowledged that the goal-to-go opportunity several minutes prior was critical. 

 "We didn't execute and they did, that's the bottom line, right? We had our third-string quarterback and we should know what the scenario should be and give our guy a shot, but at the end of the day we should have finished that drive," Carvalho said.

"It's not one person's fault tonight; it was just a collective effort in which we just needed to finish at certain things and we didn't. We just couldn't get going. Our defense kept us in the game, but that's about it," Carvalho lamented.

Vavae Tata, who is both co-head coach and defensive coordinator for Mililani, said he kept his personnel in mostly base packages. 

"We just kept it safe because we knew that they were trying to get to the edges," said Tata, who served as head coach at Kahuku for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. 

"Sometimes just keep it simple, right? Less is more," Tata said. 

Tata praised his players for rising to the occasion in a high-stakes game such as Saturday's rematch of both the OIA and state championship games from a year ago. 

"Especially in these games, especially at these times of the year — getting to October, November, later in the season — you never know what to expect. Unfortunately somebody's got to come out victoriously, I'm glad it was us," Tata expressed. 

Mililani — which is all but guaranteed to leapfrog Kahuku into the top-two of the ScoringLive Power Rankings — added to its already-impressive resume that includes an early-season win over Saint Louis and two wins over mainland schools Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) and Los Alamitos (Calif.). It will face its next test a week from Saturday when it takes on high-powered Campbell, the No. 1 team in the state.

"It's quite an opportunity and every week is a different week. We're looking forward to the opportunity," Tata said. 

Kahuku fell to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in league play. It will look to get back on track when it hosts Waipahu Saturday at Carleton E. Weimer Field.