This year, many of the elite quarterbacks have taken the tumble.

Ephraim Tuliloa of Punahou (shoulder) missed four games; Kamehameha’s Fatu Sua-Godinet (leg) missed two games; Mililani’s McKenzie Milton (shoulder) missed one game and is expected to be out four more weeks; Jordan Mariteragi of Kahuku (collarbone) missed six games.

Milton was last season’s Star-Advertiser state offensive player of the year. Tuliloa was a third-team All-State selection. It doesn’t end there. Saint Louis’ Tua Tagovailoa (second-team All-State) missed one game with a calf injury and was still hobbling through a win over Kamehameha two weeks ago.

Is it just a fluke? Or is it the nature of the faster-pace offenses? With more pace, there are more plays, more points, statistics and, possibly, more risk to injury.

Longtime Leilehua coach Nolan Tokuda says it’s mostly coincidental.

“It’s probably just a fluke, one of those years. The ILH suffered some, and Mililani, of course,” Tokuda said.

The shoulder injury to Milton, which occurred three weeks ago against Kailua, came on a basic pass play in the pocket. The proliferation of offenses that thrive with a running QB has been part of the deal.

“With the zone reads, quarterbacks are always going to take a pounding,” said Tokuda, who played QB at Aiea. “If you look at a team like Waipahu that runs the spread option, they’re used to taking the pounding. Their quarterback has stayed healthy all year.”

Maybe it’s luck. Maybe it’s scheme. When Bryant Moniz, the former Mules standout QB, returned for his senior year at Leilehua in 2006, Tokuda’s perspective had changed.

“I had to learn how to use him differently. Instead of him being a running QB, running was only out of necessity. It wasn’t part of the base offense anymore,” Tokuda said of Moniz, who now plays in the CFL for the Calgary Stampeders.

Others also have adjusted accordingly.

Kahuku responded to an injury to Mariteragi, the starter, by simplifying the offense. Instead of developing a more balanced attack, Coach Vavae Tata decided to put his “best 11 offensive guys” on the field. It’s not a stretch to say that one of Tata’s favorite words in football is smashmouth.

So far, seven games into a dominant, perfect season, his decision has proven quite wise. Kesi Ah-Hoy moved from RB to QB and rarely throws the ball. When he does, boxes are stacked and that makes the sideline pass to a tight end an easy proposition.

“Ah-Hoy is an athlete who can throw, a RB who can throw,” Tokuda said.

It works for Kahuku just fine.

At Mililani, Coach Rod York knew he had the right guy in the right place when Milton got hurt. Kaysen Higa is just a sophomore, but he is well versed in the system as one of the many Trojans who came up through York’s Mill Vill junior program.

But Higa struggled in that game against Kailua, missing his first 10 pass attempts. York then revamped his thinking. He went to a different grouping of plays that catered to Higa’s strengths rather than calling the schemes that worked for Milton.

Higa went on to complete nine of his last 13 passes that night, including four TD tosses. A new star was born.

Punahou’s Nick Kapule has seen action in six of the team’s seven games. Since Tuliloa’s injury, Kapule, a left-hander like Tuliloa, has made all three starts and thrived. He has completed 72 of 110 pass attempts for 1,105 yards with 10 touchdowns and three picks. That passer rating of 174.38 makes him one of the most effective QBs in the state, first-stringer or not.

The rock through it all has been senior running back Wayne Taulapapa. Since Tuliloa’s injury, he has rushed for 517 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Justice Young was a third-stringer at Kamehameha when the season began.

Then starter Sua-Godinet got hurt in the first preseason game at Waianae. Thomas Yam moved from backup to starter and was phenomenal: 909 passing yards and nine TDs in four games. The sophomore broke a school record for single-game passing yardage — later broken by Young — and gave coach Doug Cosbie the ultimate personnel lineup on offense with Sua-Godinet at slotback.

But Yam took a hit while scoring a touchdown against Saint Louis a month ago. Sua-Godinet returned to QB for one week. In their past two games, it’s been Young in the pocket. The southpaw threw for a school- record-breaking 374 yards along with four TDs in a win over ‘Iolani.

The High School Top 10

Voted on by coaches and media statewide. First-place votes in parentheses. Ten points for first-place votes, nine for second, etc.

Top Performers

LINEMAN OF THE WEEK

Dillon Sunday, Radford Defensive End

The senior sacked Nanakuli quarterback Nainoa Banks three times in Friday’s Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II regular-season-title-clinching 28-7 victory. The 6-foot, 240-pound Sunday finished with four tackles in the meeting of league unbeatens.

OFFENSE BACK OF THE WEEK

Vavae Malepeai, Mililani Running Back

The Oregon Ducks-bound senior rushed for 282 yards and five touchdowns on 24 carries in the Trojans’ 60-36 win at Moanalua. The 282 yards by the 6-foot, 200-pound Malepeai broke the school record previously held by Brian Daniels (279 vs. Kailua in 2000).