Trojans' success can be traced to offensive line


For all the big-play athletes that the Mililani football team has at the skill positions, its success can be traced back to the offensive line.

The Trojans put on yet another impressive offensive performance in a 41-14 win over Farrington Saturday night, rushing for 306 of their 584 yards of total offense.

"It starts up front with our line," Mililani coach Rod York said. "We take what they give us and that's what they gave us so we took it and they never stopped it."

Mililani got five rushing touchdowns in all Saturday, four by Vavae Malepeai, who finished with 22 carries for 202 yards.

"That makes me feel very good because it means that my O-line is executing our game plan and all the hard work on the sled and the chute has paid off," said Trojans' center Brett Damato, who had the tough task of blocking Farrington standout defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko.

Fehoko was limited to just one tackle and did not get to Mililani quarterback McKenzie Milton. Farrington's only sack of Milton came from defensive end Seufagafaga Luafatasaga.

"He's a great player, but so are our guys," York said of Fehoko.

The rest of the offensive line is comprised of left tackle Antonio Ala, left guard Derrick Fetui-Suapaia, right guard Andru Tovi and right tackle Jordan Agasiva.

Milton, who completed 22 of 26 pass attempts for 278 yards without an interception, also rushed for 100 yards on 10 carries, including a 40-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that could only be described as "Milton-like."

York, as usual, didn't read too much into the final statistics.

"It's all right. It just means that we're moving the ball, but the main thing is that we're extending the drives and getting in that end zone and (Milton) is playing and doing exactly what we ask of him to do and he's flourishing within what we're asking him to do," York said.

Farrington coach Randall Okimoto explained the difficulties of defending Mililani's hybrid-spread attack.

"It's like the triple option evolved, because what they were doing is reading us so it's hard because if you try and go in for the run, what (Milton) does is he sees that linebacker come and he throws to the slot and then they block well on the outside," Okimoto said. "It's a really good designed offense that's really hard to stop and they run it well."

As York is always quick to point out — and as the Govs learned Saturday night — it all starts with the big boys up front.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].