Mililani’s last man standing did it all.
While the Trojans suffered key injuries to right tackle Jordan Agasiva and running back Vavae Malepeai, quarterback McKenzie Milton never lost focus of the task at hand.
The junior signal caller broke the Mililani single-game passing record with 421 yards on 29 of 47 passing and threw seven touchdown passes in a 53-45 win over Punahou on Friday night at Aloha Stadium to give the Trojans their first Division I state football championship.
Milton finished with 459 total yards of offense in a game that featured 60 first downs and a ridiculous 1,214 total yards of offense.
Milton had six touchdown passes at the half and capped off an amazing season in which he will almost surely be named the offensive state player of the year.
In leading the Trojans to a perfect 13-0 record, Milton threw for 3,339 yards and 35 touchdowns in 12 games (one win was a forfeit). He is the seventh quarterback to top 3,000 passing yards in a season and he finishes with the fifth-highest total overall, trailing only Timmy Chang (Saint Louis), PJ Minaya (Pac-Five), Andrew Manley (Leilehua) and Jarin Morikawa (Mililani).
Receiver Kalakaua Timoteo had seven catches for 117 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the first player to find the end zone four times in either a Division I state final or Prep Bowl.
Punahou, which had its 19-game winning streak end, got 260 rushing yards from Wayne Taulapapa, falling 11 short of the school record held by Ryan Tuiasoa and 14 of the state tournament record held by Hawaii Prep’s Michael Kopra.
Punahou’s Kanawai Noa had just 18 receiving yards until the fourth quarter, when his 28-yard reception on Punahou’s final drive gave him the state’s career receiving record. Noa finished with five receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown to give him 3,510 for his career, breaking Gerald Welch‘s mark of 3,490. Noa finishes his distinguished career with 172 receptions and 36 touchdowns in 28 games.
Here are the final numbers:
Mililani 53, Punahou 45
At Aloha Stadium
Mililani (13-0) 26 20 7 0 — 53
Punahou (8-1) 7 24 14 0 — 45
Mil—Kalakaua Timoteo 13 pass from McKenzie Milton (Marc Matas kick)
Pun—Kala’i Santos 48 pass from Ephraim Tuliloa (Jet Toner kick)
Mil—Kainoa Wilson 57 pass from Milton (kick blocked)
Mil—Ty Purcell-Apana 83 interception return (Matas kick)
Mil—Timoteo 13 pass from Milton (kick failed)
Pun—Tuliloa 4 run (Toner kick)
Mil—Timoteo 27 pass from Milton (Matas kick)
Pun—Kanawai Noa 6 pass from Ephraim Tuliloa (Toner kick)
Mil—Makana Tauai 36 pass from Milton (run failed)
Pun—Wayne Taulapapa 20 run (Toner kick)
Mil—Wilson 17 pass from Milton (Matas kick)
Pun—FG Toner 53
Pun—Taulapapa 1 run (Toner kick)
MIl—Timoteo 10 pass from Milton (Matas kick)
Pun—Taulapapa 5 run (Toner kick)
Mil Pun
First downs 28 32
Rushes-yards 37-163 48-345
Passing yards 421 285
Total yards 584 630
Punts-Avg. 2-33.0 3-31.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-2
Sacks by-yards 0-0 1-4
Penalties-yards 11-75 9-68
Possession time 24:12 23:48
RUSHING—Mililani: Malepeai 13-89, Cheyne Constantino 9-41, Milton 13-38, team 2-(minus 5).
Punahou: Taulapapa 36-260, Tuliloa 10-65, Noa 2-20.
PASSING—Mililani: Milton 29-47-1-421. Punahou: Tuliloa 17-33-1-285.
RECEIVING—Mililani: Bryson Ventura 8-77, Timoteo 7-117, Wilson 4-98, Bronson Ramos 4-50, Tauai 2-41, Malepeai 2-26, Joshua Butac 2-12. Punahou: Heisman Hosoda 6-82, Noa 5-61, MIcah Ma’a 3-34, Santos 2-95, Matthew Christman 1-13.
Wow…hats off to Mililani a team that does not reload but recruits on winning the
LOL…..hats off to Mililani, the better recruiter won tonight…
It’s only right the two biggest recruiters in the state play for the title.
Inyomouf- wow u probably need something inyomouf!! Congrats to Mililani!!
Another crybaby crying about recruiting!! Call the cops!! The two best teams in state played for the championship and Mililani won. Ur school obviously didn’t make it so u bring up the recruiting story. U can keep crying while Mililani celebrates their first ever state championship. Punahou keep ur head because you’ll probably be back playing for the title again
“Keeping it real” Mililani took a serious loss when they played Kahuku some years back to the point where it hit a nerve I believe with them. The coaches and staff hustled and busted there asses and did what anybody would do and did what they had to change there program around “They have passion for the game”. Not like some other coachs I know who does diddly for there respective programs. And another way you can tell what a Coach is like is look at his players from what I can see the Mililani players loved playing for Rod and he made sure he did everything that was expected to guide his talented players to the Championship. So Caps off to Rod and his Staff it was just a matter of time before they came out Champions. Btw loved the white uniforms!!!
“Mililani took a serious loss when they played Kahuku some years back….The coaches and staff did what they had to do to change the program around.”
Oh you mean went out and got stud players from Kalihi, Aiea, Salt Lake, Pearl City, Waipahu, Ewa Beach, Kapolei, Waianae, etc.
Why not just coach up the homegrown Mililani talent and grow the program that way?
For all you guys out there still crying over who’s on mililani team,Every team on this island has players from other areas,Kapolei has players from waianae,punahou has players from kahuku and mililani,and the list gos on and on SO WHAT! They play as one team one brotherhood the record shows 13-0 As I said before can’t beatum so talk trash and makeup excuses. GOOD JOB TROJANS
“Oh you mean went out and got stud players from Kalihi, Aiea, Salt Lake, Pearl City, Waipahu, Ewa Beach, Kapolei, Waianae, etc.
Why not just coach up the homegrown Mililani talent and grow the program that way?”
Teamwork
“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” Vince Lombardi