Mililani's Rex Manu (red shirt) will likely be the heart of the Trojans' defensive unit, much like former linebacker Dayton Furuta was for several years. Evan Asato | SL

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Evan Asato | SL

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After experiencing its most successful football season in school history last year, Mililani is looking for a few good men to step up in 2014.

The Trojans, who claimed their second Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference title in four years and a runner-up finish in the D1 state tournament last year, have numerous holes to fill after graduating 30 players, including several standouts.

Most of the starting defense which allowed just over 14 points and 218 yards per game last year has departed, leaving much in the hands of the few returners.

"We lost a lot of key guys — not just defensively, but team leaders," fifth-year coach Rod York said. "We're looking for anybody; Anybody who can step up."

There is certainly no shortage of candidates or eagerness from York's bunch.

"I want to step up and be a more vocal leader on the offense — I've still got to get a lot better at that — and just making sure it's an everyday grind and not getting complacent with where I'm at or what I did last year," junior quarterback McKenzie Milton said. "I've got to get better — I mean, we still lost last year — so we've still got a ways to go."

Milton, along with junior running back Vavae Malepeai, figure to draw most of the attention from media and opposing defenses this season, but their success hinders on the performance of the offensive line, which returns four of five starters from a year ago.

"That's very important, because we're the front line," senior right tackle Jordan Agasiva said. "We're the one that protects McKenzie and Vae; we're actually the key to the offense."

Agasiva, who has verbally committed to the University of Hawaii, is also ready to take command as a leader this year.

"I'm one of the captains — me and (defensive tackle) Rex Manu," Agasiva said. "Coach put this upon me and Rex, so we've got to lead this team. I'm ready to take on full responsibility for this team."

York said Manu will likely be the heart of the defensive unit, much like former linebacker Dayton Furuta was for several years.

"Rex has definitely stepped into that role," York said. "Dayton was the guy, but remember he missed about three games, but we still rolled because we had other leaders and with our team, we've got to have the leaders step up and they know what to do, so we'll find them."

Manu, who has scholarship offers from nearly a dozen schools, including Oregon, Stanford, Colorado, Utah, Washington, California and Hawaii, was a First Team All-Hawaii selection at defensive tackle in 2013.

"He's not only a great character person, but a great guy to get along with and a great teammate," York said. "He's very easily coachable and the guy gets a 4.0 (GPA) and does everything right, so it definitely makes our job as coaches a lot easier and it's just been a pleasure coaching him."

Falling to Punahou in the state final was a bittersweet end to the season for the Trojans, who took the loss in stride.

"For us, it's just about getting better," York said. "Whether we won it or lost it, it doesn't matter at this point. Definitely we were disappointed, but we were not defeated on that weekend, but we're in high school football, we're in Hawaii where it's always a beautiful day when we wake up, so we always appreciate the things that we have and not envy the things that we don't have."

Don't be fooled, however, Mililani would like nothing more than to bring home its first state crown back to Central Oahu in 2014.

"We've been putting in so much work ever since that loss," Agasiva said. "The next month we started practicing already, that's how bad we want it."

The Trojans open the season on Aug. 9 in a non-league game against Saint Louis. ScoringLive will have a live broadcast of the game beginning at 6:45 p.m. on ScoringLive.com.

2014 Mililani football schedule
Aug. 9 — vs. Saint Louis
Aug. 16 — vs. McKinley (at Aloha Stadium)
Aug. 23 — vs. Kailua
Aug. 30 — at Kapolei
Sept. 12 — at Aiea
Sept. 19 — at Campbell
Sept. 27 — vs. Farrington (homecoming)
Oct. 4 — vs. Moanalua