Mililani roughs up ‘Iolani for D-I football title
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Mililani defensive back Asher Pilanca (13) comes up with an interception on a pass intended for /Iolani wide receiver Jonah Miyazawa (83).
Jalen Olomua rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns and Mililani sacked ‘Iolani quarterback Tai-John Mizutani seven times in a 31-20 victory in the Division I final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Football Championships tonight.
Darius Muasau added 101 rushing yards on 22 carries and Tasi Malepeai returned a fumble 31 yards for a touchdown for the Trojans (9-3), who won their second state championship in three seasons.
Mizutani threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns despite being under relentless pressure.
KJ Pascua caught both touchdown passes and led ‘Iolani with 102 receiving yards on six catches.
The Raiders (5-8) failed to win a game against an ILH team for the second straight season since moving up to Division I, but finished 5-1 against non-league teams, with the only loss coming to Mililani.
17 responses to “Mililani roughs up ‘Iolani for D-I football title”
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i guess not bad for a small school… I’m guessing Mililiani is a much bigger school. I’m just surprised that Mililani would not declare themselves for the Open league. I think Kamehameha did that…. And that’s why they aren’t playing in the Division 1.
The ILH teams were required to declare what division they were going to participate in for the state tournaments while the OIA schools used its playoff system to determine which schools would make the Open and Division 1 tournaments. I believe Mililani “dropped” into Division 1 when it lost to Waianae in the quarterfinals of OIA play.
Yes not bad for a small school. Mililani would have played in the open division but did not qualify.Its not a matter of declaring.
Oh…. Then why would ILH declare? Shouldn’t they wait and see too like OIA?
That’s how the ILH decided to do it. Maybe they’ll change if the tournaments return next year.
if you have to declare small school and say a bigger school because of enrollment, Kahuku would qualify as a small school.
Tue, but why play for the lower division when you can win the whole shebang?
the open division was created because the ILH teams were feeling left out..this year was created for iolani..next year i’m sure the 3rd place team will be in the open instead of iolani..or it might be iolani again cuz kamehameha ain’t that great either
congrats to both schools…
After sitting thru this game I’m still left wondering what was the point of this game? Btw, You don’t declare you qualify for the open division. get rid of this meaningless game and meraningless division. Means nothing. D-1 for the big schools and D-2 for the small schools.
I would not call an eleven point margin as “roughs up”.
Who thought up this meaningless DIV 1 State Championship. So, now that this make believe State Championship D1 was created, will it be with all sports where losing teams can still be state champions?
I would have been much happier if a Farrington, or Waianae, or Kapolei or Punahou played that game. These DIV 1 teams should not have even qualified to be state champions. It’s just degrading the system in understanding what a STATE CHAMPION is.
Meaningless division with very little respect for its championship title.
So you lose all your D1 games to D1 ILH teams during the year and you still get to play for a championship? This game should be called what it is…CONSOLATION GAME, Seventh Place Game!! Who thought of this one?? So now they are going to rank Iolani above Kamehameha??? And Mililani above say Farrington or Waianae cause they are now the “D1” Champion?? What mad world we live in, where everyone gets a prize. Congrats Mililani on winning your “D1” 7th place trophy.
Who thought of this one? Who else, a bunch of idiots in the HHSSA. Next year they’ll come up with weight restrictions like Pop Warner instead of enrollment so that the schools like Iolani won’t go 0-5 when playing in their ILH league. It’s all about getting the ILH teams to participate in the 3 tier divisions. The Hawaii public high schools should conduct their own State public high school championship and let the ILH conduct their own playoffs. The ILH is constantly complaining about how the HHSSA conducts the state football playoffs, cause only one ILH team is allowed to participate, so enough already, have the ILH do their own thing and the public schools move on. Would ST Louis or Kahuku be proud to be a division II champion? Definitely not! It would be like playing in a consolation bracket and the tile and trophy would be meaningless. It’s become a big joke and HHSSA needs to revert back to a better system rather than having a participation playoff.
Why are you pissing on these teams who is playing in a playoff system that wasn’t created by them. Do you think that these teams or any team for that matter appreciates the opportunity to be playing at this time of the year?
Regardless Open champ, D1 or D2 champion just be thankful that as fans we got to watch and appreciate more football games played by some pretty good local athletes.
On the other hand, there are cry babies like you who would rather belittle high school student athletes and any positive accomplishment that they just achieved, win or lose.
I’m not a supporter of either Mililani or Iolani. Matter of fact, I’m a Kamehameha supporter. Iolani is in the playoffs because they were the only D1 team in the ILH. If they are such a terrible team, according to their win loss record, and should not have been in the tourney then Moanalua and Campbell should not have been in the tourney as well for losing to a winless team.
In the end, don’t crap on student athletes for playing in a system that was created by the HHSAA, regardless if it’s flawed or not.
Maybe the problem is that we think we’re smart…. I’d suggest rather than reinventing the wheel, we should see how other states do it and follow. Maybe check out California, Texas, or Florida. I’m thinking they may not be so small minded too.
Haha, Thank You, Thank you very much..