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Mililani's Rod York can't help but get emotional when recalling the end of the 2014 prep football season.

In his fifth year in charge, York coached the Trojans to a perfect 13-0 record and the first state championship in program history. But it's what took place on the Aloha Stadium turf after his team's thrilling 53-45 win over previously-unbeaten Punahou that gets York choked up.

"When we won we went and got the boys and ended that with a group prayer with Punahou," said York.

He made reference to the Division I final just one season prior, when the Buffanblu got the better of his Trojans by a score of 28-22.

"We picked Punahou up. We didn't over-celebrate because our guys knew how it felt. We were there, it didn't feel good, so I was happy with our guys and it kind of summarized our team," York reflected.

He went on, "That was a proud moment because you don't ever see teams praying together after a championship game — talking about both teams, not just 10 players from each sides — with Kale (Ane, Punahou coach) and myself in the middle and you know, it's hard, but I said, ‘When you think about the blessings, then no Punahou player or coach would be hanging their head.' Unfortunately, you gotta have one winner and one loser on the scoreboard, but there were two winning teams."

"You always say it's not the championship that matters, but it's about the journey and it's always about the journey, but it's good to say it from a champion's point of view," York added.

The Trojans' journey to their 2014 title coincides with the end of their 2013 season: the six-point loss to Punahou in the championship game.

"When we lost that game, I was feeling bad and after we got back to the school and I finally closed up the locker room and everyone was gone, I was on my way home and I get a text to come by one of the parents' house," York recalled.

"I turned the corner and there's a block party in Mililani," he laughed. "So that kind of helped me a lot and I think it kind of sparked out 2014 team because it just shows it's all about the journey. That was probably supposed to be the championship potluck, but it was just good to know that ‘hey, look at that. It's okay we lost, you know? It's okay.' "

York attributed his team's ability to rebound quickly from the loss — and eventually parlay that into a state crown of their own — to three players that weren't on the 2014 squad.

"The spirit of the team was still up and I think it was because of those seniors. Those 2013 seniors, to me, we should retire their jerseys," York said, specifically pointing out defensive standouts KK Padello, Dayton Furuta and Jake Afele.

"All three from different backgrounds, but with all three their work ethic set the tone for everybody else," he added.

While York was encouraged by the support the team received at the postgame potluck, he was unhappy with his team's lack of offensive production against the Buffanblu during the game.

"So I used that offseason to go learn more and I went up to the University of Oregon and I was able to sit down with (then-offensive coordinator) Scott Frost and he showed me a lot of things — a lot of it wasn't Xs and Os, a lot of it was the way they were doing things — so I felt like I got a whole lot better as a head coach in that offseason because I feel like we could have won that game and we just needed to be better," York explained.

But there was another offensive mind who York sought out before the 2014 season in former Saint Louis all-state quarterback and current Iolani quarterbacks coach Joel Lane.

"He came and he helped me break down film and coverages and before that I kind of knew, but he made it a lot clearer for me and made it pretty simple," York said.

"Mililani had never won a state championship before and I've never won as a head coach, so you don't know because you haven't done it before. I know what it's like from the outside, seeing other teams like Saint Louis and Kahuku, but I didn't know what it felt like to do it so coming into the 2014 season I knew we had a pretty good team, but I didn't know how good we were and as the head coach and the (offensive coordinator) I said that I needed to get better," he explained.

All of the sacrifice paid off in the end for York and the Trojans, but it didn't always seem that promising. In fact, York recalled an issue at the team's camp to close out the preseason.

"Long story short, the kids weren't even listening to us coaching in camp as far as curfew, we had to settle these guys down, they were going crazy running around the gym," York sighed. "The Planet of the Apes movie had just come out and they were re-enacting that."

York decided to break camp a few hours earlier than originally planned the next day and send his players home.

"I remember after that camp thinking, ‘Oh brah, this is gonna be a long one because I don't know what happened,' but it's ironic because it was probably the best team chemistry we ever had, so it's a credit to the kids; they bought into the team concept, but it didn't look that way in camp," York said.

But if there was one thing York knew for sure, it was that his team had some talented players. That was especially true on the offensive side of the ball, where the Trojans boasted six players who went on to play Division I college football in quarterback McKenzie Milton (UCF), running back Vavae Malepeai (USC), wide receivers Kalakaua Timoteo (Hawaii) and Kainoa Wilson (Washington State), along with a mammoth offensive line led by the duo of Jordan Agasiva (Utah) and Andru Tovi (Kansas).

The defense was led by Rex Manu (Oregon), who went on to earn All-Hawaii Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Milton was tabbed as Offensive POY.

"We had some pretty good kids and that was probably our best group we've had if you take the football away from them. I mean, they were great kids and a lot of those kids graduated college and were the first in their families to graduate," York said.

The Trojans were great on the field as well. They opened the season in pulsating fashion by holding off Saint Louis in a non-league game, 63-47. The Crusaders trailed 21-0 and nearly rallied behind their then-sophomore quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who came off the bench for his very first varsity game.

Tagovailoa threw for five touchdowns without an interception, but it was a Milton-led Mililani squad that ultimately prevailed. Milton, who recently announced that he has entered the NCAA's transfer portal, passed for 367 yards with four touchdowns and ran for 204 yards and three additional scores on just nine carries.

Mililani rolled through the regular season with an unblemished 7-0 mark and a second straight Oahu Interscholastic Association championship. When it came time to the state tournament, Mililani was seeded second behind defending champion Punahou.

The matchup that prep football fans had anticipated all year came to fruition after both teams eked out low-scoring wins in the semifinal round. Mililani got by Farrington, 17-14, and Punahou edged Kahuku, 13-10, to set-up a rematch six days later.

But for York and the Trojans, this had nothing to do with revenge.

"It wasn't about redemption, but just having a shot to get back into the championship game," he reaffirmed.

That's not to say that the 2013 loss didn't teach York a thing or two for a second shot at the Buffanblu.

"They stymied us that first year because it's not rocket science: they've got seven guys crashing in on the run and we've got five guys, but I went with that old saying that ‘We're going with what got us here,' and then when we tried to pass it didn't work, so I said that if we ever got back to that game, we're gonna have to switch it up," York said.

What that translated to was a lower-than-usual workload for Malepeai (who carried 13 times for 89 yards) in favor of an aerial attack behind the arm of Milton.

"I told Vae that he wasn't gonna run for a 100 (yards), he might not even get the ball, but he said, ‘Coach, just do whatever we gotta do to win,' " York recalled. "I told him that ‘when you do get that ball, you gotta make the most of each carry."

The then-junior Milton threw for 421 yards and seven touchdowns on 29-of-47 passing. He was intercepted once and also added 38 rushing yards on 13 attempts.

Milton's favorite target that night was Timoteo, who hauled in seven receptions for 117 yards and four TDs, tying the state-tournament record.

York said the game plan was to attack the Buffanblu in the secondary and limit the play-making opportunities for their talent-rich front seven defenders in their 3-4 scheme.

"The game plan was to attack the (defensive backs) and our o-line was giving Kenzie a lot of time and he and Kala was on a roll. It was basically where their corner couldn't matchup with Kala and so we kept attacking it. Even though they knew it was coming they couldn't stop it, so we kept going to it and Kala had a huge game," York said.

But Punahou got a performance for the record books of its own out of junior running back Wayne Taulapapa, who carried 36 times for 260 yards and three touchdowns. It's other offensive superstar, wide receiver Kanawai Noa had a quiet game by his standards (he is the state's all-time leader in receiving yards) with five catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.

A big reason for Noa being kept at bay was the play of Mililani senior cornerback Ty Purcell-Apana, who, by no exaggeration, had the game of his life that night.

Purcell-Apana, a receiver-turned-corner, recorded a state-tournament record 83-yard interception return for a touchdown that was part of a 26-point first quarter for the Trojans. In addition to handling coverage duties against Noa for much of the night, Purcell-Apana finished with a team-high seven tackles, but it was his forced fumble that was the biggest play of them all.

With under a minute to play and the Buffanblu driving well into the red zone, Purcell-Apana stripped the ball out of Taulapapa's hands inside of the 5-yard line and it rolled out of the end zone for a touchback to give his team the ball back and Mililani ran out the final seconds of the game in victory formation.

"Ty made probably the two biggest plays," said York, who was already well into contingency plans.

"We weren't stopping anybody. For me I was already preparing on what to do if they score so I was thinking three, four plays in the future and worst-case scenario for us and then that play happened."

But while Purcell-Apana made a couple of big-time plays in clutch situations, there were other just-as-important contributions throughout the game. For instance, when Malepeai was injured and forced to leave the game in the third quarter, backup Cheyne Constantino — who had logged 36 carries for 171 yards coming into the game — stepped in and finished out the contest with nine rushes for 41 yards.

"Constantino stepped up and he was ready to go. He came in and had some big first downs for us," York said.

He also pointed out that junior Tyler Santos played most of the game at left tackle after Agasiva suffered an early injury that did not allow him to return. Santos was listed at 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds, while Agasiva was then 6-3 and 290. Whatsmore, Santos was lined up against Punahou's 6-foot-7, 290-pound defensive end, Canton Kaumatule.

"Canton is a beast, but Tyler shut him down; Canton didn't have a good game against us that day," York said.

York said his players forged their mental toughness via sets of 10 timed 220-yard conditioning runs three times a week.

"That team was mentally tough, so what was big was when Tyler took over for Jordan, I mean, he's not even afraid. He knows what to do, he's confident and he went in and he played — to the point that I forgot Jordan was gone to be honest — but our guys just made plays and Punahou, I mean, they made plays too. They were a good team, it was just a matter of who had the ball last and it came down to us getting lucky also and the kids making plays," York said.

Mililani and Punahou combined for a staggering 1,214 yards of offense in the highest-scoring game in state tournament history. The game, which was played in front of a crowd of 19,254 at Aloha Stadium, also featured a state-tournament record 53-yard field goal by the Buffanblu's Jet Toner on the final play of the first half.

Punahou was trying for its second straight undefeated season.

Mililani became just the 19th Oahu team to finish unbeaten and untied.

"That team we never talked about losing," said York, who was selected All-Hawaii Coach of the Year that season. "And neither did we talk about winning, we just talked about being better and a lot of times I didn't have to talk. That just speaks to how good the leaders on that team were and the thing is, the chemistry was just unbelievable."