Taulia Tagovailoa was on the run, but his arm got the job done.
The sophomore passed for 379 yards and four touchdowns as No. 8 Kapolei handed No. 4 Mililani its first loss in league play on Monday night at John Kauinana Stadium.
Tagovailoa was 31-for-54 and didn’t throw a pick. He was done for the night with about six minutes left, his team ahead by 34 points. Kapolei improved to 3-1 in OIA Red play (4-1 overall).
“It’s a big win for our program to come here and beat a program like Mililani,” Hurricanes coach Darren Hernandez said. “Our front seven played well even though we’ve still got guys who are out with injuries.”
Mililani slipped to 3-1 in league play. Coach Rod York saw Tagovailoa and his receivers, including Jaymin Sarono and Wyatt Perez, connecting on tough plays against Mililani’s aggressive defense.
“Definitely, they have offensive discipline. They run great routes and have great athletes,” York said. “I’m more disappointed with the penalties. It was crazy. The refs turned it into a pass-league game.”
Penalty yardage was heavily against Mililani in the first half, but it evened out and then some by game’s end.
The visiting Hurricanes jumped to a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter as Tagovailoa established control with his passing. He found Perez, who finished with three TD catches, for a 19-yard scoring toss to start the game, and then found him again for a 35-yard catch-and-run to paydirt on a fourth-and-2 play just before the end of the opening quarter.
Mililani struggled at times against a strong front seven, but punched the ball into the end zone on Kailiohu Kila’s 5-yard run. That came moments after he darted through the middle and up the sideline for a 62-yard gain. That cut the score to 14-6 with 7:43 left in the second quarter.
But the visitors got a 28-yard field goal from Beau Meyer, and then Kalani Segovia returned an overthrown pass by Dillon Gabriel 47 yards to the end zone with 33 seconds left in the first half. That gave Kapolei a 24-6 lead.
From there, Tagovailoa continued to hit key passes on third down to stymie an otherwise tough Mililani defense. The ’Canes opened the lead to 32-6 on Tagovailoa’s third scoring strike to Perez, a 10-yard toss with 7:34 left in the third quarter.
