Gabriel engineers No. 3 Mililani’s rout

No. 3 Mililani made short work of Moanalua’s spirited late-season run.

The unbeaten Trojans routed Na Menehune 49-14 in the OIA Division I quarterfinals on Friday night at John Kauinana Stadium, with quarterback Dillon Gabriel directing Mililani to all of its points before halftime.

Gabriel slung five touchdown passes on 16-for-24 passing for 195 yards and no interceptions. Two of the scores were caught by utility man Cy Kuboyama-Hayashi, who also closed out the game as the backup QB.

“It’s just the connection. We had an extra (bye) week to practice and our connection was there,” Kuboyama-Hayashi said.

Mililani (9-0) will face Waianae in the OIA semifinals next week.

“It’ll be a great matchup,” Mililani coach Rod York said. “Waianae’s got some players and they always got heart. They got a great coaching staff, so it’ll be tough for us.”

Moanalua entered the night on a four-game winning streak, including a 17-14 upset of Kailua in the opening round of the playoffs.

But Na Menehune’s feel-good run was a thing of the distant past by the second quarter, when the Trojans scored five touchdowns and led 49-0.

The Trojans also had two touchdowns on a first-half drive called back due to penalties (they scored on the drive anyway) and had a would-be pick-6 by Noah Oyama in the second half brought back due to pass interference. Moanalua’s Nick Au connected with Ezra Bantolina for a 36-yard shovel pass touchdown on the ensuing play, a 14-point swing that might’ve done damage in a closer game.

“Great overall performance, but we’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up,” York said. “We led the nation in penalties tonight. So, yeah, we gotta fix that, definitely can’t do that against the good teams.”

Gabriel was impressive nonetheless.

“He can sling it. We knew that, for sure,” Moanalua coach Savai’i Eselu said. “Just a matter of trying to play up to tempo. They do it so fast. A lot of miscommunications. Back to the drawing board, one more year.”

Moanalua got a 23-yard touchdown connection from Au to Ezra Grace in the final seconds as Na Menehune closed its season at 4-6 overall.