Seeded league champions keep falling at the hands — more specifically, the feet — of the Mililani Trojans.

In the Division I semifinals of The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships on Friday night, the Trojans held off a stiff comeback by Waiakea to eliminate the third-seeded BIIF champion Warriors 3-2 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park. Just a day earlier, Mililani bounced second-seeded Kapolei 1-0.

The next step, however, is the biggie — tonight’s championship match against top-seeded ILH champion and juggernaut Punahou, winner of three of the past four state titles.

“That will be the test, the final,” Mililani center midfielder Liam McGehee said. “I believe in our team.”

>> PHOTOS: Mililani vs. Waiakea

Before the Warriors (9-3-1) knew what hit them, the Trojans (13-2-1) had a 2-0 lead, and it was McGehee who proved to be the catalyst. In just the second minute, McGehee passed to Jordan Fernandez for the first goal, but it McGehee was who was eventually awarded the goal when it was ruled Fernandez didn’t touch it. Five minutes later, on a 20-yard direct kick, McGehee curved a shot around the left side of Waiakea’s wall and the ball continued on through into the low, left corner of the netting.

In the 26th minute, Mililani took command at 3-0 when Jacob Nakasone emerged with the ball during a scramble in front of the goal and crossed one to Fernandez, who easily booted it home.

“Jordan was in the right place at the right time,” McGehee said.

Warriors goalkeeper Jeremy Spain got a hand on Nakasone’s penalty kick to keep it a three-goal game before teammate John Grover took a lead pass from Kyson Yamashiro and went down the right sideline to notch Waiakea’s first goal for the 3-1 count in the 30th minute.

After the Trojans denied an early second-half Warriors flurry, they continued on with their patented possession game and it looked they would cruise from there. But the Warriors had other plans, striking again in the 73rd minute to make 3-2. This time, Riley Tamanaha sent a long pass to Kai Biegler, who went in on a breakaway and gently tapped a roller through the legs of Mililani goalkeeper Nicholas Gaston.

“We have kind of a motto: Don’t let the ball bounce because then it’s playing you versus you playing it,” Mililani coach Steve McGehee, Liam’s father, said. “If you let it bounce on you, you can be put under. That’s kind of what happened to us a little bit. But that’s all correctable. I was happy to see that the boys were happy with the win and I see that they’re not happy with the way the game played out. That means they take pride in what they do.”

Waiakea coach David Urakami loved the fight his team showed after going down 3-0.

“We woke up a little late,” he said. “Second half, it could have gone either way. We stopped a little short. But the way they played, they played like champions.

“Mililani is tough. We knew we were walking into something big. They had us on the run the whole first half. We got in too deep, too early and too easy.”

Added Biegler: “If it wasn’t for those first couple of mistakes, we could have made it a lot more interesting.”