Peter Caldwell | SL

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Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa had just one tackle — albeit a sack — in Kapolei's 49-9 quarterfinal rout of Moanalua Friday night, but his presence should not be understated.

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound behemoth wasn't in the opposing team's offensive backfield as much as some of the Hurricanes' previous wins, but he was certainly hands-on in disrupting Na Menehune's passing game.

Tagovailoa-Amosa registered four pass break-ups — all in the first half — against an offense that operates out of the shotgun and a 6-foot-4 quarterback in Alakai Yuen.

"Myron is the best defensive lineman in the state and people should have saw that by (Friday)," Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez said. "I think he's the Defensive Player of the Year in our conference; He's unblockable. He has the speed to play on the edge, he can play on the inside as a three-technique, and he's a great pass-rusher."

Hernandez added that by his count, Tagovailoa-Amosa now has 11 sacks on the season.

Tagovailoa-Amosa's sack Friday came early in the second quarter, two plays after Josh Kansana's 40-yard touchdown run gave the Hurricanes a 14-3 lead.

After a short completion of two yards to Ryan Ramones on first down, Yuen was dropped by Tagovailoa-Amosa on second down for a 1-yard loss. Yuen's third-down pass intended for Ezra Grace, fell incomplete and Moanalua was forced to punt away.

Four plays later, Kansana found the end zone again on a 43-yard scamper to extend Kapolei's lead to 21-3.

Later in the second quarter, Tagovailoa-Amosa batted away two Yuen passes three plays apart, but Yuen found Rylan-Anthony Miguel for a 26-yard TD pass to cap a 13-play drive that covered 88 yards. That score cut the Hurricanes' lead to 28-9 with 2:22 left in the first half.

Kapolei went three-and-out on its ensuing drive and punted away, but Tagovailoa-Amosa batted away another Yuen pass on first down, and two plays later Yuen was intercepted by Leonard Lee.

On the very next play, the Hurricanes' cashed in on the takeaway with a 6-yard scoring strike from Taulia Tagovailoa to Wyatt Perez.

Kapolei took a 35-9 lead into halftime that it would not relinquish. The defense pitched a second-half shutout, while the offense added a pair of insurance scores after halftime.

"He did a great job of trying to keep it one-sided, in terms of field," Moanalua coach Savaii Eselu said. "He's a stud. You can't really contain it, you've just got to kind of roll with it. We were trying our best to kind of keep counters on that and get things going, but then they had a counterpart to help out there, so that game plan alone was real good."

Tagovailoa-Amosa credited the rest of his defense for allowing him to make plays Friday night.

"With our defense, I'm really calm because it's all about I know they have my back and they know I have theirs," Tagovailoa-Amosa said. "It's all about assignment and alignment. I felt like tonight the pressure was taken off only because our (defensive backs) and our linebackers were covering so well, as well as my fellow defensive linemen that were on the field with me."

The win catapulted the fourth-ranked Hurricanes into the semifinal round of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament and secured their spot in the Open Division state tournament next month.

"It's such an overwhelming feeling," said Tagovailoa-Amosa, who was most happy for his coach after the victory.

"Of course, most of all, let all glory be to God. This is a really rewarding win, because if there's one person who deserves it the most, it's coach Hernandez," Tagovailoa-Amosa said. "All that hard work that he's put in to not only get all these future kids to college and all that, I think he's the one coach that deserves it more than anything. All the hard work that he puts us through is all paying off right now and that's just all a credit to him for continuing to be that amazing coach that he is."

Kapolei is riding a seven-game win streak and will face sixth-ranked Farrington at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Aloha Stadium with a chance to move on to its first D1 league title game  — a feat that is not lost on Hernandez, the only coach in program history.

"When I was at Campbell it felt like we were going to be in the championship game every year because in '95 we won the Red, '96 and '97 we won the Red and we were in the OIA championship game," said Hernandez, who is in his 22nd season as a head coach. "We lost both years to Waianae, but it's been few and far between since then. It's tough to get to that stadium round."

The Hurricanes beat the Governors, 28-7, just over two weeks ago, and if they are to continue their success this postseason, it's likely that Tagovailoa-Amosa will have a hand in it.