Football
Big second quarter carries Trojans over 'Canes


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
October 6, 2018, 12:35am

  

Fri, Oct 5, 2018 @ Kapolei [ 7:30 pm ]

Mililani

49

Kapolei

7

Final 1 2 3 4 T
Mililani (10-3-0) 0 35 0 1449
Kapolei (3-7-0) 0 0 0 77
Noa Bailey 74 yd 1 TD
Dillon Gabriel 248 yd 3 TD
Ezekiel Waiolama 35 yd 1 TD
Maka Hill 72 yd 3 TD



KAPOLEI — No. 3 Mililani used a 35-point second quarter to pull away from No. 9 Kapolei, 49-7, in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Open Division football game at Hurricanes Stadium Friday night.

After a scoreless first quarter, Dillon Gabriel threw all three of his touchdown passes to Maka Hill and Kilifi Malepeai ran for a pair of scores in the second quarter to help the Trojans notch their fourth consecutive victory and complete the regular season with a 5-0 league record, 7-2 overall.

The Hurricanes fell behind 49-0 on their homecoming night before getting a late score to avoid their second shut out in three weeks. They dropped their third straight game to fall to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the OIA standings.

Mililani turned it over on downs on its first two drives before punting away on its third. It wasn't until the 10:37 mark in the second quarter that the visitors drew first blood when Malepeai powered his way in from two yards out to cap a 12-play, 70-yard drive that included an 11-yard Gabriel-to-Ryan Chang completion on third-and-7.

"We were just kind of getting into the groove, but we gotta get into the groove quicker, so we know what to work on," Gabriel said of the slow start. "We just had to take the underneath, not get too greedy and just be smart with the football."

The scoring drive began after the Trojans defense got a key takeaway on Shane Kady's strip-sack, which was recovered by Mykah Tuiolemotu with 2:03 remaining in the opening quarter.

"As usual, we feed off our defense. The defense is the big brothers," Mililani coach Rod York said.

After a Kapolei three-and-out, the Trojans took over at the Hurricanes' 43-yard line. Gabriel completed a 23-yard pass to Chang, followed by an 11-yard pitch-and-catch to Cy Kuboyama-Hayashi before hitting Hill for a 9-yard TD pass along the left sideline.

Mililani's defense forced a second and third consecutive three-and-outs, which the offense capitalized on in the form of a 4-yard Malepeai TD run between the tackles and a 38-yard TD pass over the top from Gabriel to Hill — who made an acrobatic leaping snag and roll just inside of the end line — respectively.

The Hurricanes went three-and-out for a fourth straight drive and the Trojans turned it into an 11-play, 54-yard drive that culminated with Gabriel's 3-yard TD pass to Hill on fourth-and-goal with 10 seconds left in the quarter.

On the scoring play, Hill worked out of the right side of the formation. Gabriel looked through his first and second options on the left side before coming back to his right to find Hill with a touch pass.

"I ran my route and I saw Dillon scramble and I was like, well, coach always tells me to work my way, so I did work back. I saw him and he saw me, too and eventually he hit me," said Hill, who made a sliding grab just in front of an oncoming defender on the play.

Hill, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior, finished with five receptions for a game-high 72 yards. It was his seventh consecutive game with a touchdown reception. He now has 32 catches for 502 yards on the year and leads the entire Open Division with nine TD receptions.

"There's more to come with Maka," York said. "Hopefully he keeps playing the way he's playing, but he's a matchup problem for most guys."

Gabriel threw for 248 yards without an interception on 21-of-36 passing all in the first half. He did not play after halftime.

Mililani led 35-0 at the intermission The entire second half was played under running clock due to the mercy rule.

The Trojans added a pair of touchdowns early in the fourth quarter on a 36-yard TD pass from RJ Javar to Dylan Cozloff and a 3-yard run by Dreston Barquis.

Kapolei's lone score came with 3:46 left to play on Noa Bailey's 35-yard screen pass to Ezekiel Waiolama.

Kady registered two of Mililani's three sacks; Khaine Park had the other. Mykah Tuiolemotu and Seth Ebesugawa each recovered a fumble and Ezra Save blocked a punt in the win.

The Trojans posted 318 of their 367 yards of total offense before halftime.

The Hurricanes were held to 158 total yards in the loss.

Mililani, which has clinched the top seed in the four-team OIA Open Division playoffs, will now have a three-week layoff before a league semifinal on either Oct. 26 or 27.

Kapolei will host No. 5 Campbell next Saturday before closing out the regular season at No. 4 Kahuku on Oct. 19. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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