In a game that featured the most points scored in the 12-year history of the state football tournament, it was defense that sealed the victory for the Wai'anae Seariders Friday night.

Quarterback Puletua Wilson accounted for four scores and running back Jaylen Mitchell added a pair of touchdowns to lead No. 8 Wai'anae to a thrilling 48-41 win over No. 3 Mililani in a semifinal game of the First Hawaiian Bank/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I State Football Championships at Aloha Stadium.

On the game's final play with Mililani's high-powered offense facing a fourth down with goal-to-go from the Wai'anae 4-yard line and one second on the clock, defensive back Joshua Naki tackled Mililani's Ervan Jean-Pierre, who received the short pass from Trent McKinney, short of the end zone. The Seariders and their faithful erupted in celebration following the stop.

"We knew it was going to be a tight game," said Seariders' head coach Dan Matsumoto. "Mililani's offense has been great all year long and they've been picking it up, so we knew that if they had the ball, they would score at will, so our key was offense.

"We hoped that our offense would be productive and they were tonight, so a lot of credit to our offense for putting up those numbers," Matsumoto said.

The teams combined for 128 offensive plays, 931 total yards and 48 first downs. Mitchell, a sophomore who also played defensive back at times, gained 120 yards on 12 rushes. Wilson, who threw for 93 yards and a touchdown, ran in scores from 4, 1 and 41 yards.

"We knew we had it in us, but tonight, we just found a way to pull it out... We knew all along that we could do it," said Mitchell, who scored the game's first points on a 28-yard run in the first quarter.

The teams played to a 20-all tie at halftime after the Trojans scored 13 points in two minutes and 13 seconds late in the second quarter.

The opening kickoff of the second half was a sign of things to come. Wai'anae's Leighton Panui recovered the onside kick, but the Seariders' couldn't capitalize and the drive ended with a Naki punt. However, on the Trojans' first play, McKinney was intercepted by Ho'okena Kamana, which gave his team possession at the Mililani 30. Three plays later, Wilson punched in a one-yard score to make it 26-20. Kamana, along with James Wilson, tied with a game-high nine tackles.

After a 12-yard Zachary Payomo TD run gave Mililani a brief 27-26 lead, Wilson answered for the Seariders with his 41-yard TD run. A Mililani fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recycled into Mitchell's second score of the game, a 10-yard run. Shaughn Spencer's extra point gave Wai'anae a 41-27 lead.

McKinney cut it to a one-score game with a 19-yard run, which made the score 41-34 after three quarters. But, the Seariders against answered, putting together a 67-yard drive on six plays, which was capped by a 6-yard sweep right by James Wilson, Pule's brother.

The Trojans came back with a nine-play, 58-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard TD pass from McKinney to Colby Lum. That score made it 48-41 with 6:57 left to play.

The Seariders looked to run out the clock on their next possession, but Mililani's Ryan Bartasan forced a fumble, which was recovered at the 50-yard line by Shayne Tanabe with 4:01 left on the clock.

Later in the drive, on a fourth-and-5, McKinney scrambled for six yards to extend the drive. A facemask penalty against the Seariders moved the ball to the 7. Payomo gained three yards on a first-down rush before McKinney was stuffed for no gain on a quarterback draw on second down. McKinney's third-down pass fell incomplete before Naki tackled Jean-Pierre on fourth down.

"We put everything we had into it and lost, but it's OK, our boys played hard tonight and left it all on the field," said Trojans' head coach Rod York.

Mililani, who won its first O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red (Division I) title this season, saw its season come to an end at 10-2. Wai'anae, the OIA's third-place team, improved to 6-7.

See also:
> Student Voices: Mitchell, Wilson ran Wai'anae to victory