Baseball
Schools
Schedules
Standings
Stats
Players
Softball
Boys VB
JV boys VB
Girls Water Polo
» Football
» Girls Volleyball
» JV Football
» JV/White Girls Vball
» Baseball
» Softball
» Boys Volleyball
» Girls Water Polo
» JV Boys Volleyball
» Boys Basketball
» Girls Basketball
» Boys Soccer
» Girls Soccer
» JV Boys Basketball
» JV Girls Basketball
» JV Boys Soccer
» JV Girls Soccer
All-Hawaii
Power Rankings
Distinguished Athlete
Newcomer Award
Top Performers
Stories
About SL
Contact
Privacy
Advertise
Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveOctober 7, 2023, 11:59pm
Sat, Oct 7, 2023 @ Mililani [ 6:30 pm ]
MILILANI — This Trojan march began with a sprint out of the gates.
Kini McMillan passed for a career-best 457 yards and factored into six touchdowns to lead No. 3 Mililani in a dominating 56-0 win over No. 5 Kapolei at John Kauinana Stadium Saturday night.
A homecoming crowd of about 3,000 fans saw the Trojans notch their seventh straight win to improve to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in league play. They moved into sole possession of first place atop the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Open Division Group B standings, while the Hurricanes saw their six-game win streak snapped as they fell to 6-2 and 4-1.
A highly-anticipated matchup between the top-5 teams got out of hand quickly. The home team scored touchdowns on its first five possessions to take a commanding 35-0 lead just 31 seconds into the second quarter.
Mililani's defense set the stage early with a Kapolei three-and-out on the game's opening possession. Just two plays later, McMillan completed a short pass to Onosai Salanoa along the right sideline. Salanoa utilized a wall of blockers and weaved his way through traffic for a 50-yard touchdown pass with 10:30 still on the clock.
After the ‘Canes went three-and-out again, the Trojans doubled up their lead in four plays. They started the drive with a 45-yard pitch and catch from McMillan to Salanoa and two plays later, the former picked up 19 yards on a quarterback keeper to set-up Nakoa Kahana-Travis for a 1-yard touchdown run.
Three plays after the Kahana-Travis TD run, linebacker Kamaehu Roman intercepted a Liatama Amisone pass to get Mililani's offense back on the field. Not long after that, McMillan executed a run-pass-option play fake to Kahana-Travis before he hit Kanoa Ferreira on slant pattern for a 9-yard touchdown pass. Lyric Sarae tacked on the extra point to make it a 21-0 lead with 6:11 left in the opening quarter.
The Trojans forced a turnover on downs on Kapolei's next drive and recycled it into a 56-yard TD pass from Millan to Salanoa, who beat two defensive backs on the long pass play.
Amisone was intercepted by Tysic Puni on the fourth play of Kapolei's next drive. McMillan completed a deep pass to Davyn Joseph for a 51-yard completion one play after the pick and McMillan finished off the two-play scoring drive with a 3-yard scamper into the end zone.
McMillan threw his fourth touchdown of the night on a 16-yard post to Isaiah Padello that made it a 42-0 lead with 4:13 left in the second quarter. He hooked up with Joseph once more just before halftime on a 51-yard TD pass down the left sideline.
The Trojans added to their lead with a 5-yard Kahana-Travis TD run with 6:56 left in the third quarter.
The entire second half was played under the running clock mercy rule.
McMillan, a junior quarterback, completed 18 of 26 passes but was intercepted twice. He was 15-of-17 passing for 370 yards by the intermission.
Mililani coach Rod York credited the offensive line for keeping McMillan upright; He was sacked just once all night.
"Everything starts up front and our o-line did a heck of a job run-blocking and pass-blocking and Kini, he called half the plays," York divulged.
"I'm proud of him for getting the ball out quick and moving the tempo," he added.
McMillan completed passes to seven different receivers. Joseph caught five passes for 136 yards in the first half and finished with six grabs for 202 yards. Salanoa tallied three catches for 151 yards.
Kahana-Travis carried 11 times for 98 yards for the Trojans, who finished with 550 yards of total offense. They recorded 22 first downs and came across just three third downs all game.
"I just think that Mililani is the best team in the state," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez stated. "They're the most talented team and they showed it tonight and they're on another level right now and they've got talent up and down the roster and they showed it tonight."
The Hurricanes entered the game averaging nearly 45 points and 500 yards per game offensively. They were held to just 67 net yards Saturday night, including 11 rushing yards on 18 carries and were shut out for the first time since a 35-0 loss to Kahuku on Sept. 23, 2022.
Amisone, who had thrown 25 touchdowns to just one interception prior to Saturday, was picked off three times by the Mililani defense. He completed only seven of his 23 pass attempts for 49 yards.
"They just did a great job of neutralizing our run game, they really played well and in all facets of the game we weren't really able to get on track in any way offensively and on defense, man, they can throw the ball and they got great talent everywhere — I think they're the best team in the OIA," Hernandez reiterated.
Kapolei recorded only four first downs and was 1 of 12 on third downs. It was 0 for 2 on fourth downs.
York pointed out the work of defensive coordinator Silila "Steelz" Malepeai and the rest of the defensive staff for getting the players prepared for the ‘Canes' high-powered offense.
"They do a great job and our (defensive backs) are playing really good and our d-line is pretty good and so is our back seven with our ‘backers, so I'm proud of them but this was maybe the fourth test for us — after Punahou, Sheldon and Saint Louis — and tonight was the defense's best game, to hold a prolific offense (scoreless) like that, yeah," York said.
It was the third shutout posted by the Trojans in as many weeks.
The win locked up the top seed in Group B for the Trojans in the upcoming OIA Open Division tournament. They will have a bye into the semifinals of the six-team tournament.
"I'm just proud of our kids. They came out and executed," York said. "Hats off to Kapolei and coach Hernandez — they do a great job — but tonight our guys were on and in all three phases, so I'm proud of them but we're always worried about improving and getting better."
Mililani will close out the regular season against No. 13 Waipahu next Saturday.
Kapolei, which was coming off of a bye week, will look to rebound when it hosts Waianae that same evening.
"Well, you know, you gotta keep playing," Hernandez said. "We've been on the other end of this where we've had wins, so you've gotta be able to dish it out and take it, too and so we gotta go back to the drawing board and get going."
The Hurricanes are locked into the B second seed and will face A third-seeded Moanalua in the opening round of the OIA Open Division tournament in two weeks.
Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.
Please consider making a contribution today.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kailua sent eight batters to the plate and scored five runs in a tide-turning bottom of the third inning,...
Shysten Nagasako did work on both the mound and at the plate in the Seariders' mercy-rule shortened win...
Na Alii posted a 3-1 win over Roosevelt behind Aidan Yoshida's complete game, while two pitchers combined...
Campbell defeated Roosevelt in four sets Thursday, while Moanalua topped Waipahu in the nightcap as both...
The Hurricanes found their offensive groove in the late stages, scoring 14 runs down the stretch to back...
Bob Manintin pitched six strong innings as the Warriors snapped the Red Raiders' seven-game winning streak.
