OIA PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Waianae at Mililani

OIA D-I Quarterfinals

The matchup: Waianae (7-2) vs. Mililani (5-2)
Location/Time: Mililani, Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Head-to-head: Waianae leads 19-10
Last meeting: Mililani 45, Waianae 20 (10/23/15)

The final game of the weekend takes place Saturday as either Waianae or Mililani will be forced to play in the Division I state tournament instead of the Open Division state championship.

The Trojans have won 10 of the last 16 meetings after losing 13 in a row against the Seariders. Mililani has been a tough team to figure out this season. While a team like Kaiser played five ranked teams in nine games this season, the only two ranked opponents Mililani has faced is Farrington (W, 31-28) and Kapolei (L, 40-12).

The big shocker came three weeks ago when the Trojans lost 34-28 to an injury-riddled Kailua team that went on to lose to Castle and then get bounced in the first round of the OIA playoffs.

Waianae started the year looking like the toughest challenger to Kahuku’s OIA reign. A win over Kamehameha has been somewhat tempered by the Warriors’ struggles this year, but the Seariders also own a hugely impressive 35-14 win over Kapolei. The Seariders are the other ranked OIA team to suffer a stunning loss toward the end of the season when they were beat 14-12 by Campbell to drop to the three seed in the playoffs.

Waianae has held five consecutive opponents to 14 points or less. Senior LB Brandon Hattori and junior DE Kana’i Mauga, who had three sacks last week, make up a big part of Waianae’s pass rush that could cause fits for Mililani QB Dillon Gabriel, who has thrown 11 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

Mililani has had injury concerns of its own, but WR Andrew Valladares has stepped up in the last couple of games and is now leading the team in receptions and receiving yardage. The Trojans’ defense has allowed 35 points to Leilehua and 34 points to Kailua in back-to-back games.

Mililani’s power running game has ascended lately. Jalen Olomua and Darius Muasau were downhill boulders in the win over Leilehua two weeks ago, taking much of the pressure off Gabriel.

The key, though, will be Waianae’s ground and pound. Rico Rosario averaged nearly 13 yards per carry in the win over Kailua, and the Seariders churned out 367 rushing yards. The same Kailua team, by the way, that beat Mililani.

The Trojans have the better seed and are hosting this game as a result, but the Seariders feel pretty good about their chances, especially if they can limit their penalties, something that has been a struggle all season.