PAC-5 dominates Kaimuki to notch first-ever state tourney win

Seth Miller (left) rushed for 173 yards and three TDs and Jerome Lilio (right) recorded four of the Wolfpack's nine takeaways in the win. Michael Lasquero | SL

MAKIKI — History was made at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium Friday afternoon.

PAC-5 notched its first-ever win in the state tournament with a dominating 32-7 victory over Kaimuki in the opening round of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Division II Football State Championships.

Running back Seth Miller rushed 32 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns and the defense came away with nine takeaways as the Wolfpack (5-2) earned its fifth straight win.

PAC-5, the third-seeded team in the tournament, advances to play second-seeded Kamehameha-Maui next Saturday in a 6:00 p.m. showdown at Kanaiaupuni Stadium in Pukalani.

"In the beginning of the year, we didn't have a lot of players and we expected it to be a bad season, but a lot of our players got better throughout the season," said Miller.

"We improved, we studied and we worked on what we needed to do and we just came out here and did it."

Miller's 173 yards was good for a season-high performance. He opening the game's scoring with an 8-yard TD run midway through the first quarter and added two more scorings runs from a yard out in the second quarter to give the Wolfpack a 26-0 halftime lead.

"Our linemen are great," said Miller. "They're big boys, they're strong. I couldn't have done it without them. I thank my whole team, they block for me and they just did their jobs and I went there and did what I could."

Jerome Lilio, a 6-foot-5 hoops player from Maryknoll, led the PAC-5 defense with three interceptions and a fumble recovery.

"He's sky patrol out there," PAC-5 coach Kena Heffernan said of Lilio. "He's very good at reading quarterbacks and everything. He does a great job in coverage and he has a real big wingspan so we're definitely lucky to have guys like that."

Jeremiah White caught an 18-yard TD pass from Iosefa Letuli for Kaimuki (5-7) to avoid the shutout in the Bulldogs' season-ending loss.