CJ Caraang | SL

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CJ Caraang | SL

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MILILANI - These M&Ms are like magnets.

For the second consecutive week, it will be Mililani and Moanalua battling for a state championship. This time around, it will be for the Hawaii Dental Service Division I flag football championship, 7 p.m. Saturday at John Kauinana Stadium.

Last Friday, the Trojans beat Na Menehune for the softball title, which was followed by the baseball team's title win against PAC-Five. The flag football Trojans will try for the trifecta.

"I heard a lot of people talk about that, telling us we're going to be the next" Mililani's multi-threat athlete Zennalen Nelson said. "I just hope so."

Moanalua beat Mililani, 31-13, in a crossover regular-season game on May 1. Moanalua QB Breidi-Ann Higa passed for 291 yards and four touchdowns.

"We just have to execute both sides," Mililani coach Edwin Cera said. "Hopefully, we can do that tomorrow and see what happens."

Mililani and Moanalua entered the 12-team field as unseeded teams because neither won its league's championship. 

Na Menehune reached the final by beating defending champion Campbell, 30-12, behind freshman quarterback Higa, who accounted for four of Moanalua's TDs.

Meanwhile, the Trojans advanced on their multi-dimensional threat in Nelson, who passed for one TD and rushed for the other in a 13-7 win against fourth-seeded Baldwin.

Mililani and Moanalua are so similar. Each has athletic players on both sides of the ball, as evident in each team's semifinal wins. Both teams won their games with defense.

In the opener, Moanalua's Jodie Keo snuffed an early Campbell threat when she returned an interception off of Alexiis Amanonce-Feliciano 52 yards to the Campbell 28. Two plays later, Higa hit Keo on 28-yard scoring pass; the conversion failed, but Moanalua took a 6-0 lead at the 7:21 mark in the game. The turnover came after it looked like the Sabers were going to cash in on a turnover of their own - an interception by Jaynalyn Sotelo, who returned it eight yards to the Campbell 30. The Sabers drove all the way to the Moanalua 1 before Keo's pick on third-and-goal at the 1.

Campbell tied the game 6 later in the first on Amanonce-Feliciano's QB keeper from 5 yards out. The PAT failed to keep the game tied at 6.

But Moanalua would score four unanswered TDs from the second and third quarters - on TD passes by Higa and a rare fumble return. Moanalua's Zaira Sugui punched the ball out of Amanonce-Feliciano's arm; JJ Smith caught the loose ball and returned it 28 yards for a TD.

"Honestly, Zaira came in, hit the ball out," Smith explained.

As with most fumbles, at least those that touch the ground are ruled dead, this one was still live because it was caught in the air, so Smith hesitated and only took off after hearing teammates yelling at her to run.

Campbell put up a minor protest, scoring late in the game on Sotelo's 4-yard pass to Aiesha DeWeever.

Moanalua's Styralynn Hoakalei Reyes led all with 10 flag pulls, including a game-high four sacks.

"Defense was the key today," Moanalua coach Ladd Mokiao said. "We had good film studies. We knew to key on certain players."

In the nail-biting nightcap, the Trojans broke the scoreless tie in the second quarter when Hayden-Elyzabeth Kaahanui-Cera found the ubiquitous Nelson for a 10-yard TD pass, but the conversion failed as Mililani took a 6-0 lead into the half.

The game stayed close until the fourth when Nelson scored on a 1-yard keeper. This time, Nelson hit Kaahanui-Cera for the crucial 1-point conversion to make it 13-0.

The Bears gave themselves a chance on Kailea Moniz's 19-yard TD pass to Sanairee Hasegawa with 2:02 left in the game. Naveah Ranis caught a Moniz pass for the 1-point conversion to pull Baldwin to 13-7.

Mililani was able to milk the rest of the clock with critical first downs to keep the ball away from Baldwin.

The Trojans know they have their hands full against a team that beat them handily in the regular season.

"Moanalua's such a good team," Nelson said. "They're like a club team. They have a lot of chemistry and I think we have to build more chemistry with each other, but I think it will be a great competition for us."

The first semifinal started about 90 minutes late because of a late-afternoon storm that featured lightning. Division I consolation-bracket games postponed Friday will be played Saturday afternoon, but no other consolation games will be played, including for fifth and third place.