Mililani had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the OIA Open Division tournament and had its homecoming Saturday against Kapolei.
The Hurricanes aren’t going to the playoffs, but viewed their season finale as a “bowl game.”
The factors might have led to a closer game than expected.
Mililani scored all its points in the second half in a 21-0 victory to clinch a third consecutive undefeated OIA regular season.
>> CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME
On the first drive of the second half, the Trojans scored on a 33-yard pass from Brendyn Agbayani to Kanoa Gibson on a fourth-and-5.
In the fourth quarter, Malosi Sam scored on an 11-yard run and a 9-yard pass from Agbayani to Raysen Motoyama, who made a diving catch in the end zone, put the final touches on a win.
“We just had to refocus,” said Mililani coach Rod York. “The first half, every time we got a drive going, we killed ourselves with the holding penalties. I question that. I question those holding penalties. In the second half, we ran the ball and we caught the ball.”
The Trojans (7-2, 5-0) had clinched the No. 1 seed in the OIA Open playoffs prior to the game and were playing their home finale. Mililani concludes the regular season next week against Punahou, which held off Kahuku 21-13 on Saturday night.
“It’s homecoming. It’s probably my fault. We were too into the homecoming and not into the execution of the game,” York said.
Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez was very happy with his team’s performance.
“I’m so proud of them because we’re not going to the playoffs, so this is like our bowl game,” he said. “I told the boys, ‘This is it, let’s do it for the seniors and let’s play as hard as we can.’ ”
The defenses dominated the first half.
Mililani had 49 yards of total offense and Kapolei had minus-28 yards rushing.
Agbayani was 4-for-13 for 34 yards and was plagued by drops before halftime.
“It was really frustrating. We couldn’t catch the ball,” said Agbayani, a junior, who finished 10-for-28 for 145 yards. “I thought we should have done better.”
Despite being on the field a lot, Mililani kept coming up with stops.
“The defense was great,” York said. “The thing is we don’t sustain drives and leave them on the field too long.”
The only threat for the Hurricanes (4-6, 1-4) was De’Zhaun Stribling, who finished with eight catches for 126 yards. Stribling will play in the 2020 Polynesian Bowl.
“We tried to isolate Stribling, but we couldn’t get the ball to him enough,” Hernandez said.
According to 247 sports Kapolei have
Maceal Afaese DE
Lewa Emmsley OLB
Dezhaun-Ryan Stribling WR
Zhen-Keith Sotelo DE
And somehow Kapolei is 4-6 losing to Farrington, I feel like Hernandez is the issue of coaching, they need to move on with him, and find new coach, go to a different direction. They need to create Winning Culture, ever since Taulia Tagovailoa transfer to Thompson the team wasn’t the same. They got too much talent on both sides and somehow they cannot get it done. They need to go different direction. No wonder why Titus and his brother transfer to Campbell, and June Jones left. It Hernandez issue wake up!!!
I’m a proud uncle coach hernandez keep on trucking thank you and your staff for all your hard work reaching out to our student body and athletes everybody would love a championship the mainthing is teaching our students life lessons keep sending your BOYZ to seek higher education soo they can one day return to keep Hawaii Strong aloha and mahalos to you and your staff again for all your time patience and hard work 💪
@MakakiloBoyz that is true that Coach Hernandez does send a lot of kids to the next level but when does “we lose every season and don’t even make playoffs with all the talent we have” ever acceptable?!? That’s like telling our kids, you’re good but not good enough..that’s why our Hawaii kids sometimes struggle at the next level..with that kind of mentality..we need to hold coaches accountable as well as everyone else! Coach Hernandez is a great sports caster by far, maybe he should stick to that!
Seriously, what is wrong with mililani’s offense ? The OC’s play calling just drives me crazy , calls the same plays over and over . No adjustments whatsoever . Idk, it’s sad how good this mililani team is but seriously has no offense. I guess coaching up the QB is a hard task especially when u don’t have a NATURAL TALENTED McKenzie Milton or Dillon Gabriel to make you look good as a play caller. They need a real QB coach there. What happened to Mililani’s QB coaches ? Or do they not have one
Natsukau- They had a good QB coach in Josh Ursery and then he left and then it was Garrett Gabriel but he is now the Varsity Boys Basketball Coach. 2 good coaches gone!
The first comment forgot to include the other kids that got their offers then went to other schools.
Everyone has their own agenda. Some families believe success is measured by a win, others see it as your ability to reach your goals in life. Coach Hernandez and his staff send kids to college on a normal basis helping them reach their goals and play at the next level…some of these kids on winning teams, win and never get that opportunity to play at the next level.
So which is the real loser in the situation, the kid living his dream or the winner?
Shoot, and I thought Kahuku fans was harsh.
Gotta give it to Coach Hernandez. Even though they don’t do to good playing, he does go out and get his kids D1 offers. How many other coaches you know goes above and beyond for the kids? Coach York how many kids from last years team got a D1 offer? You had jalen olomua and Scottie agasiva? Where they all went? Dillion Gabriel Hawaii’s all time passing leader his only offer was to navy! Him and the dad went out to get that Georgia and UCF offer. A lot of people like to hate on coach Hernandez, but if he can’t get kids D1 offer that ain’t part of a winning program then hats off to him. Keep doing your thing coach.
Winning, in addition to sending players to the next level, should be an expectation.
Until the admin start believing in this, Coach will remain at Kapolei.
With all that talent, could it be possible??
Maybe in D1. Cmon, the Open has the top 4 teams in the state. Just saying.
Fot public schools besides Kahuku, Kapolei has the second most kids in
D-1 and college football. Good job Coach Hernandez in getting those kids to the next level.
Kapolei played the recruited Mililani team tough 0-0 at halftime.
Multiple no call penalties against Mililani – Pass interference, holding, targeting, unsportsmanlike, bad hit on a Kapolei player that was taking by ambulance. etc. Prayers for the Kapolei player that got injured.
Kapolei more passing yards then Mililani.
Punahou should will be able to pass the ball easy against them this week with all those weapons and OL. Kahuku would run all over Mililani if they played them today.
@Big Dog , First of all, Kahuku will not run over Mililani. Mililani’s D would work over that Pop Warner Offense, it may be a closer game due to the poor performance of the Mililani Offense, but kahuku will not run them over. Second, ya kapolei played the recruited mililani team, but believe it or not, Kapolei has more better athletes than Mililani and thats on the real, its just that the coaching philosophy at Kapolei is terrible. Kahuku is not even in the picture for this years State Finals, so please leave them out of the conversation. Its embarrassing to see a team like Kahuku who literaly has grown a.. men trying to run over the smaller schools with a little league offense with no strategy. Basically we are stronger than you and will to try and run you over, but thats why they get smashed agains schools like Mililani, Punahou, and Saint Louis, so please leave Kahuku out of this conversation.