Q&A
Trojans and Sabers set to clash Friday night




Five Division I teams remain perfect in the Oahu Interscholastic Association, including three in the D1 Blue. Two of them will face off Friday in a clash of top-10 teams in Ewa Beach.

Mililani, the reigning league champion and state runner-up, brings a 5-0 overall record (4-0 league) and its high-octane offense into a showdown against a 4-0 Campbell team that is led by its stingy defense.

When the teams met at John Kauinana Stadium last year — almost exactly one year ago — Campbell held a 21-7 lead at halftime, but Mililani scored 35 unanswered points in the second half to pull away.

The Trojans are ranked second in the ScoringLive/OC16 D1 Football Power Rankings, while the Sabers are sixth.

We caught up with the coaches of both teams Tuesday to discuss their impending matchup.

ScoringLive: Describe your team's current situation in one word.
Rod York, Mililani coach: "Execution. We stress execution and doing your job and we've been doing it. That wasn't the case in our scrimmages and preseason and that's made a big difference for us."
Amosa Amosa, Campbell coach: "Good. It could be worse, but I'm proud of how our kids have put forth the work to be 4-0 at this point. Now we have to prepare for the best teams in our division, but we've tried to build confidence with our kids to be able to compete with these guys. Mililani is explosive on offense and pretty damn good on defense. They are by far the best team we'll play so far this season."

SL: How near or far is your team from playing at it's potential?
York: "We're far away. We've only played at 60 percent, meaning that when we go back and watch our film, were making a lot of errors defensively, errors offensively and on special teams, so there's a lot of corrections to be made as far as execution."
Amosa: "I think we're not there yet. The goal is every week to improve, but we have yet to put together a complete game where we're able to win the offensive phase of the game, defensive phase and the special teams phase. Until we can win all three phases of the game, that's when I believe that we might be at our peak or our potential of what we're able to do."

SL: Which player(s) or position group would you consider the heart of your team?
York: "Offensive line. We've got four guys returning and the fifth guy is playing solid at the left tackle spot and then we have depth behind that. We have a couple of guys that are backups that could start. That group has been the most consistent every game."
Amosa: "Right now I truly believe our defense has been the heart of our team at this point. We're working very hard to make sure that on the offensive side, we're able to help them out and keep them off the field by being a little more efficient with our possessions and able to control the clock to give them time to rest. Our defense has played outstanding after the four games that we've played. I'm very happy with the defense, they've been a big factor in our team wins."

SL: Now that we're past the midpoint of the season, what are your thoughts on the OIA's new divisional alignment?
York: "It's kind of skewed in a way, but it is what it is. I mean, when you look at it, they took the top three teams in the OIA last year and we're all in the same division and we're about to all play each other in the next two weeks, but it don't matter. Kahuku and Leilehua were fourth and fifth and they're on the other side of the OIA, but either way, we're all going to have to play each other eventually. The cards still have to play itself out and we'll see how everyone matches up in the playoffs."
Amosa: "I'm happy about it, but I still see lopsided scores, but I guess it gives us more competition within each division and that's kind of what I see. For us, we have Mililani and Farrington, along with Moanalua, Kailua, which is never short of a good-sized team, and then Aiea,  which is always though, so those teams I mentioned already give us a dogfight every time we see them. I'm interested to see how it ends up. I think people are saying that our division is a lot stronger, but then I look at Kahuku, Waianae and Leilehua on the other side and they're pretty tough, too. It's a dogfight every night still yet, so we're going to have to see how this format turns out."

SL: What are your thoughts on your opponent this week?
York: "Tough. We're going into a hostile environment, their fans are pretty rowdy, we're playing on not the best playing field and we're going into Campbell's homecoming, so this is going to be a tough one for us."
Amosa: "Coach York has found a great formula to encourage and motivate his team to prepare. I watch them on tape and they've got some talented players. Their offensive is very explosive and their defense is aggressive and stout. He's done a hell of a job taking over that program from (James) Millwood and (Darnell) Arceneaux and he really rose the level of play of his kids and it looks like they're responding well to him. I have the utmost respect for him, he's a great friend of mine. We're going to do the best to do the things that we feel we do well and hopefully give us a chance to at least slow them down or give us a chance to win the game. They look like a well-oiled machine from (McKenzie) Milton to Vavae Malepeai to their receivers like (Kalakaua) Timoteo and their front line does a hell of a job executing their offense, so hopefully we can limit some of the options they have, but it will be a tough task. Their defense is very disciplined, runs well to the ball and tackles well."

SL: What do you think we can expect from Friday's game?
York: "A lot of hard hitting. The ball will probably vein the air a lot of the time. I think you'll see some lead changes. I think the last two times we played, they played us close and made it tough and then we pulled away in the third or fourth quarters, but either game could have gone either way if not for a one- or two-play momentum swing. We always start off behind with them scoring on their first possession on either a turnover or a kickoff return, so we're hoping to change that."
Amosa: "Hopefully it's not going to be a shootout, but I feel like the goal for us is to try and keep that offense of theirs off the field and get some first downs on offense, possess the ball, try and stay close and give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter to win the game."

Kickoff between the Trojans and Sabers will follow 25 minutes after the conclusion of the 5:30 p.m. junior varsity game.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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