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Stacy Kaneshiro | ScoringLiveAugust 31, 2019, 12:37am
Fri, Aug 30, 2019 @ Mililani [ 7:00 pm ]
MILILANI — No. 2 Mililani overcame a 16-point first-quarter deficit to turn back Liberty (Henderson, Nevada), 34-22, Friday night in one of two games featuring the top two teams each from Hawaii and Nevada.
For the Trojans and Patriots, this game at John Kauinana Stadium was preparation for more formidable opponents down the road. Liberty will play nationally-ranked St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) next Friday at Bishop Gorman's stadium. The Trojans still have defending state champion and nationally-ranked Saint Louis, as well as St. John Bosco on Sept. 21 at Kauinana Stadium.
Also, the Trojans and Patriots are looking at the bigger picture as both are contenders for their respective state titles.
"We schedule the toughest teams we can find for a reason," Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. "We want to face adversity. This is just another obstacle to overcome and we'll back to work and get ready for St. John Bosco next week."
Added Mililani coach Rod York: "It was about clicking and gelling and getting another game in. Normally, we get the preseason game in early, but to play tough talent, we have to take it in our bye (week) and we're willing to do that. Any place, anytime, anywhere. We'll go there or they'll come here. We'll go to Samoa if we have to."
The score was a far cry from four seasons ago when the Patriots (0-2) outlasted the Trojans (4-0), 76-53, in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas.
Running back Jasiah Alcover and receiver Kanoa Gibson paced the Trojans with each scoring two touchdowns. Alcover rushed for 100 yards on 19 carries, scoring twice from the an "elephant" formation. Alcover replaced QB Brendyn Agbayani and took the shotgun snap while flanked by 5-foot-10, 215-pound Kamalu DeBlake and 6-0, 235-pound Sonny Semeatu — both linebackers — as blocking backs. Gibson, meanwhile, hauled in eight passes for 145 yards, including TD strikes of 21 and 30 yards from Agbayani.
"We never had a doubt we would lose," Alcover said. "In the first half, it was just mental errors. It was small errors that caused them to score touchdowns against us, but our team never backed down and came out with the dub."
Huge momentum swing! Brendyn Agbayani hits Kanoa Gibson for their second TD hook up. After the Liberty returner took the ball out of bounds at its own 2 yard line, Mililani forced a turnover and McKenna Alcover ran in his second score to put the Trojans up 27-19 @AlohaClassic pic.twitter.com/acsLkZzLSh — ScoringLive (@scoringlive) August 31, 2019
Huge momentum swing! Brendyn Agbayani hits Kanoa Gibson for their second TD hook up. After the Liberty returner took the ball out of bounds at its own 2 yard line, Mililani forced a turnover and McKenna Alcover ran in his second score to put the Trojans up 27-19 @AlohaClassic pic.twitter.com/acsLkZzLSh
Agbayani started off slow, completing two of his first eight passes for 14 yards while throwing a pick-6 to Donte Bowers for a 30-yard return. Mililani's first-year starting QB finished completing 11 of 20 passes for 193 yards. The bulk of his throws went to Gibson.
"It felt great because they're like a top-ranked team and I was getting catches, touchdowns," Gibson said. "It just felt great."
The Patriots took a 19-7 lead into the half, but the Trojans came storming out in the second half, scoring on their first two series to take a 21-19 lead after a 1-yard TD run by Alcover and a 30-yard TD pass from Agbayani to Gibson on a post pattern.
Things got worse for the Patriots. On the ensuing kickoff after Gibson's TD, the Liberty returner caught the kickoff near the sideline, apparently believing he caught it out of bounds that would lead to a penalty against Mililani. But he caught it in bounds before stepping out at the Liberty 3. On second down, a pitch to the tailback was lost and Mililani recovered at the Patriots' 4.
On second-and-goal, Alcover scored from 3 yards out. The PAT was blocked, but Mililani increased its lead to 27-19.
Liberty pulled to 27-22 with 7:29 left in the game on Dillon Fedor's 36-yard field goal, only to watch Mililani answer with an 11-play 80-yard drive that ended with running back Micah Kim's 10-yard scoring run with 3:23 left.
"They were able to sustain drives and we couldn't stop them," Muraco said of the tale of two halves.
A lot of running early on quickly turned into running up points on the scoreboard. Mililani trailing @Libertyotball, 19-7, at halftime @AlohaClassic. Follow stats and score on https://t.co/pORJz1ny4S https://t.co/M8vcmRwzUE pic.twitter.com/zNz4UAKq7x — ScoringLive (@scoringlive) August 31, 2019
A lot of running early on quickly turned into running up points on the scoreboard. Mililani trailing @Libertyotball, 19-7, at halftime @AlohaClassic. Follow stats and score on https://t.co/pORJz1ny4S https://t.co/M8vcmRwzUE pic.twitter.com/zNz4UAKq7x
The Patriots got on the board first with a 10-play, 84-yard drive that saw running back Edward Gastelum snatch Kanyon Stoneking's pass for a 57-yard TD with 2:57 left in the first quarter. Liberty lined up in lone center formation with the bulk of the blockers wide left. Germie Bernard fired a pass to Maurice Hampton for the 2-point conversion to give Liberty an 8-0 lead.
On the Trojans' next series, Bowers returned an Agbayani interception 27 yards for a TD. In the same unbalanced formation, Bowers rushed in for the 2-point conversion to make it 16-0 with 2:08 in the first period.
Mililani scored on Agbayani's 21-yard TD pass to Gibson to pull to 16-7 with 2:22 in the half, but Liberty added a 39-yard field goal by Fedor with nine seconds left to send the Patriots up 19-7 at the half.
In the other matchup, No. 1 Saint Louis beat Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), 31-19. Both teams are nationally ranked.
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