Former Mililani quarterback and 2014 Star-Advertiser offensive player of the year McKenzie Milton made his collegiate debut for the Knights on Saturday.
Starting against Maryland, Milton completed 21 of 36 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-24 loss in double overtime.
Milton, who threw for 7,303 yards and 81 touchdowns in his three-year career at Mililani, threw for the second-most yards by a UCF QB in his first start during the FBS era.
Milton also rushed for a 3-yard touchdown but fumbled six times, losing three of them. He was also intercepted once.
“I got about what I thought from McKenzie,” UCF coach Scott Frost said after the game. “He was calm, cool and a heck of a lot of fun to watch and made a lot of great plays. There were some first-game mistakes … Ton of great plays, but we have to clean up the mistakes.”
Added Milton: “Of course you have butterflies. It was a packed house in the Bounce House. I don’t think I was nervous, but just excited. I thought I made a couple plays, but I think there were too many turnovers. I feel like throughout any game you start to get more comfortable as the game went on. That is how I am. We need to start a lot faster coming this week.”
Milton is expected to start Saturday night’s game at Florida International at 1 p.m. Hawaii time.
Gesser honored at WSU
Former Saint Louis School and Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser was inducted into the Cougars’ Hall of Fame over the weekend.
Gesser, who went 23-0 as a starter for the Crusaders, is Washington State’s winningest quarterback with 27 victories. The 1998 Saint Louis graduate was an All-America honoree and won the Pac-10 Co-Offensive MVP as a senior at WSU and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting.
For his career, Gesser was a three-time All-Pac-10 selection and left WSU owning school records for career starts (34), total yards (9,007), completions (611) and touchdown passes (70). He is the only player in school history named a team captain three times. He led the Cougars to victories in the 2001 Sun Bowl and 2003 Rose Bowl.
Gesser played two seasons with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and spent three years in the Arena League and one year in the Canadian Football League.
He coached at Wyoming and Idaho before joining the Cougars football broadcast team as an analyst in 2014 while working in the Cougar Athletic Fund as the assistant director of development.
Gesser led Saint Louis to the 1996 Prep Bowl title and threw for 2,713 yards as a junior. He had his senior year cut short due to injury.
Trio of local players shine for Pacific
With three local products leading the way, Kamana Pimental (Saint Louis ’12) helped set the tone for Pacific’s 45-22 win over Occidental in the Boxers’ visit to Hawaii.
Pimental picked up 42 yards on three carries on Pacific’s first possession and opened the scoring with a 16-yard touchdown run in Saturday’s game at Kunuiakea Stadium. He finished with a game-high 87 yards on 16 carries to lead a Pacific ground game that picked up 285 yards.
“He’s a big catalyst for us,” Pacific coach Keith Buckley said. “If he’s running the ball well we’re going to move.”
Both Buckley and Pimental credited the play of an offensive line that includes Kennon Quiocho (Kamehameha-Hawaii ’13), Kit Taura (Moanalua ’14) and Mikey Fanning (Saint Louis ’13) in the starting five.
“(Running the ball) was the mind-set and the mind-set started with the O-line,” said Pimental, who ranks second in the Northwest Conference with 109.7 yards per game.
Camren Henry (Kauai ’15) caught three passes for 33 yards and a touchdown. Linebacker Wyatt Ma’a (‘Iolani ’15) was in on eight tackles and Ina Teofilo (Kamehameha-Hawaii ’14) finished with six stops, including a tackle for loss.
Occidental cornerback Chaz Shizumura (Punahou ’13) finished with four tackles.
