No. 3 Mililani hitting stride at right time after win against Kapolei

No. 3 Mililani’s front seven gave no space to three Kapolei quarterbacks, and the Trojans’ Dillon Gabriel threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-7 victory on the Hurricanes’ home field Friday night.

“These guys are playing for each other,” Mililani coach Rod York said. “We’re on a high right now. We’re peaking at the right time and hopefully we can sustain it because we have two weeks off.”

The next time the Trojans (7-2, 5-0 OIA Open) take the field, it will be the weekend of Oct. 19-20 in the league’s semifinals.

The first quarter went scoreless, but the Trojans put 35 points on the board in the second quarter to get the rout going. Maka Hill caught TD passes of 9, 38 and 3 yards from Gabriel in the surge. On the other side of the ball, Shane Cady, Mykah Tuiolemotu, John Tuiletufuga and Darius Muasau made life difficult and got in the face of Hurricanes freshman starting quarterback Mason Gomez and backups Noa Bailey and Christian Rapis.

“(Assistant) coach Vince Nihipali does a great job with (creating the pressure),” York said.

Kilifi Malepeai’s bull-like rushing accounted for two Trojans touchdowns in that pivotal second quarter. Dreyston Barquis, whom Hill calls “a little person with a big heart” scored on a 3-yard run in the second half, and teammate Dylan Cozloff caught a 36-yard TD pass from backup quarterback RJ Javar.

“We fell apart in the second quarter, no doubt,” Hurricanes coach Darren Hernandez said. “We weren’t loose. When we play loose, when we play to have fun, we play better. When we are tight, we tend to not play well and make mistakes and we hang our heads and can’t get through adversity. They’re teenagers. We have to be more of a loose team that plays together and has fun.”

“It’s pretty much down to this,” Hernandez said. “I know Campbell is a very good team. We beat Waianae, Farrington beat us, and Waianae beat Farrington. It’s very big right now.”

Four out of the six OIA Open teams make the playoffs.

York was disappointed with the Trojans’ slow start in the first quarter. He’s happy they can rest up the next two weeks, but he’s guarding against his boys getting too comfortable not being in game situations.

Hill, a junior receiver, had a career night with those three TDs.

“I was ecstatic,” he said. “I was a little nervous at first. I was slipping up, but I just put my head down and kept working. Coach told us it was a trap game and to keep our mind-set straight and our attitude right and just do what we always do, work hard. Dillon’s reads were there and he was hitting them. I wish we could have shared the ball a little more.”

GAME SUMMARY

No. 3 Mililani 49, Kapolei 7
At Kapolei

>> Mililani (7-2, 5-0) 0 35 0 14 — 49
>> Kapolei (3-5, 1-2) 0 0 0 7 — 7

Mililani — Kilifi Malepeai 2 run (Liam McGehee kick)
Mililani — Maka Hill 9 pass from Gabriel (McGehee kick)
Mililani — Malepeai 4 run (McGehee kick)
Mililani — Hill 38 pass from Gabriel (McGehee kick)
Mililani — Hill 3 pass from Gabriel (McGehee kick)
Mililani — Dylan Cozloff 36 pass from RJ Javar (Kekoa Kuloloia kick)
Mililani — Dreyston Barquis 3 run (Kuloloia kick)
Kapolei — Ezekiel Waiolama 35 pass from Noa Bailey (Micah Fonoti kick)

RUSHING — Mililani: Malepeai 6-32, Javon Miller 5-17, Barquis 3-9, Raysen Motoyama 3-8, Gabriel 3-3, Javar 2-(minus-2). Kapolei: Ezekiel Waiolama 5-31, Zion-Jabez Robello 4-10, Bailey 3-5, Mason Gomez 2-2, Christian Rapis 3-(minus-14).
PASSING — Mililani: Gabriel 21-36-0-249, Javar 5-6-0-50. Kapolei: Gomez 5-10-0-31, Noa Bailey 5-7-0-61, Christian Rapis 2-7-0-12.
RECEIVING — Mililani: Hill 5-73, Ryan Chang 5-64, Malepeai 3-28, Motoyama 3-23, Cozloff 2-36, Cy Kuboyama-Hayashi 2-27, Reichel Vegas 2-20, Kai Banks 1-9, Benaiah Pritchard 1-9, Keola Lanias 1-8, Miller 1-2. Kapolei: De’zhaun Stribling 3-22, Elijah Badoyen 3-17, Sinai-Taheed Robello 2-10, Waiolama 1-35, Branden Tsuchiyama 1-10, Z. Robello 1-5, Ikari Stokes 1-5.

* JV — Mililani 38, Kapolei 31