Miliani quarterback Dillon Gabriel was masterful on Saturday night, shredding Kailua for 431 yards on 19 for 32 passing and five touchdowns in a 52-0 rout.
The performance put him in a tie for the second most amount of yards in a game in school history, with former Trojan star and current Central Florida signal-caller McKenzie Milton. It also put his career total over the 5,000-yard mark — 5,069 to be exact. He is already over 2,000 yards this season.
But ask the junior southpaw or coach Rod York about the gaudy numbers, and both will produce similar answers.
“Just the team playing together, that was the whole focus,” Gabriel said. “Stats doesn’t really matter unless you get the “W” and that’s the only stat that truly matters.”
“As far as the stats, we’re not worried about that,” York added. “We’re just worried about getting the “W” and playing well and making sure they execute.”
The No. 3 Trojans (8-0, 7-0 OIA Red) had the division’s top seed locked up after last Saturday’s win over Nanakuli, but preserved their perfect season heading into a bye week.
Last season’s team won a state title, but it was in the HHSAA’s second-tiered Division I bracket. A 36-33 loss to Waianae in the first round of the OIA playoffs knocked the Trojans out of Open Division contention.
This year’s Trojans have beaten every opponent by double digits, thanks in large part to their high-octane offense that’s been led by Gabriel’s season as one of the state’s top passers.
“He means a lot. He’s a guy that touches the ball every single time on offense,” York said. “He’s getting better at the reads and distributing the ball, getting the ball out of his hands.
In order to be the best, Mililani will have to beat the best. Clinching the Red’s top seed already puts the Trojans in a more favorable position than it was the last time around.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on. We got a bye week to get stronger, faster, smarter, and all that kind of good stuff,” Gabriel said. “As long as we stay focused, good things should happen.”
If we not worried about stats why is he playing the 4th quarter when the game is clearly out of hand. What happen to developing the younger players. Just something to think about because we all remember what happen when Milton got hurt.
Coach York doesn’t care about stats. Maybe to give him as much reps as possible heading into playoffs and looking at a buy next week? that’s my guess.
Yes, why is their #1 QB in there with an insurmountable lead late in the game? Why would you try to rub Kailua’s Coaching Staff & team’s nose into the dirt & belittle them? Don’t even try to say “prepare for the playoffs”.
Mililani has always been like this. Look at how the coaches present themselves. They look and walk like a bunch of thugs and gangsters. It’s easy to strut around when you recruit your players like the ILH
Kinda like how Sol-Jay was still throwing bombs to end zone late in the fourth, while up 30-0 against Waianae.
Nevermind crying like bit#*es, just get your team ready!!
@ anywaaaays. The only thug walking around here is you,picking on kids on other teams!! Just get your own recruits ready cause the Trojans is coming!!
I guess everyone has there own coaching decisions but at St. Louis you even see the third string playing when there ahead by a lot. The first string Qb only played 1 full game and that was against narbonne.
Not sure what thugs and gangsters have to do with Dillon Gabriel’s performance. But great game kid. I get excited when this O takes the field. Pleasant to watch
lol “mililani hammer.” there were no hammers in mililani except for soccer and tennis until the football team decided to recruit like the ILH. They take children straight from the backyards of their own homes like the ILH agenda. Every state championship that Miliani won should have an asterisk. Oh, I guess that means they’ll only have one astersisk. HAHAHA
RRFL!
Lol shhheeeaaa…. like kahuku didnt recruit back in siuaki livai days. Recruits only come if u have a program dat seems promising. either way stop making excuses for these programs. anyone is capable of being beat on any given day!!!
Lol anywaaaays you can take your ilh agenda and put it in your asterisk!! Do you know how much kids you took from some poor villages in Samoa, Tonga and Utah and put them in the kahuku agenda? Clean your own backyard before you worry about somebody else yard!!! Auwe!!
These proud Kahuku RR4L seriously gotta talk trash on any article praising someone that isn’t from Kahuku. You guys are one of the most successful football programs yet the biggest trash talkers and cry babies
Lol ridgerunner E5, soljay vs. waianae, 7 pass ,100 yds. in 4th quarter. Dillion vs.Kailua 17 passes 400 yards in 4th quarter. And you dare compare? Lol,funny.
It’s mililani Transfers, not Trojans. Lol!!
Coach C…compare? No, there is no comparison. One is arguably the best QB in the state , while the other is basically a RB that happens to be a descent passer. My comment was for the red raiders giving mililani grief for keeping Gabriel in during the 4Q. But I understand, reading comprehension is hard sometimes.
I think the St. Louis QB is number one in the state. But this Trojan QB is a close second. We’ll see how good this Mill-Vill QB is after the OIA playoffs. Then we’ll know if he’s another great like Milton. Good luck to the Trojan’s. But to be honest I’ll be cheering for the W in that bracket. RR4L._.
Mililani does recruit, but for every kid they recruit they lose more kids to other schools (both ILH and OIA).
I’m a red raider but I’m a fan for great football. Mililani is a football program is on the rise. York is the best coach in the state. All his past teams are very good because of him. Transfers or not mililani is always prepared and it shows in every game played. Mililani is the real deal and won’t be surprised if they took States
It probably was revenge game for Mililani. 2yrs ago Kailua’s Mejia came in free and pretty much ended Mililani’s run for a repeat when he sacked Milton and injuring his shoulder. And last year Kailua upset Mililani late in the game with a comeback victory.
Mililani Hammer October 1, 2017 4:22 pm
Lol anywaaaays you can take your ilh agenda and put it in your asterisk!! Do you know how much kids you took from some poor villages in Samoa, Tonga and Utah and put them in the kahuku agenda? Clean your own backyard before you worry about somebody else yard!!! Auwe!!
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Kahuku supporters will disguise the recruiting by saying it’s “so and so’s” relative. And who knows, they might pull a Fotu. That is come and win, then leave the following Monday. That is 100 times worse than what Punahou or Kamehameha is doing.
Thanks!
Hey this kid had to sit behind Milton so I can see them wanting to help push his stats rather than sitting him. Plus, blowout games are a good time to test trick plays etc. low risk in a blow out game.
Ed.1st. kids from samoa,tonga and the mainland transfers to schools all over the island. To me I don’t care about recruiting and it is what it is. Oh and yes it is relatives just like some are related to those that go to farrington,waianae and any school that has Samoan and Tongan blood. I would complain if they were a super star in the making but who in kahuku right now that is recruited and make that much of difference?!?!
OMG.
“they might pull a Fotu”.
Classic.
Whhy- he didn’t even sit behind Milton. He was a freshman that got pulled up because Milton got hurt. Most coaches philosophy is next man up when someone gets hurt but in this case there goes the season because next man up doesn’t even get any reps. If you wanna talk about waiting the St. Louis Qb waited for 2 years for his chance and you don’t see them padding up his stats.