The big showdown at John Kauinana Stadium boiled down to a 1920s-style scrum-heavy game.
But it took a 58-yard touchdown pass from wide-receiver-turned-quarterback Lehiwa Kahana-Travis to Jonah Togafau-Tavui with 1:20 left in the third quarter to carry No. 3 Mililani over No. 2 Kahuku, 14-10, on Saturday night.
With both teams in conservative, smashmouth mode due to injuries to their starting quarterbacks — Kini McMillan of Mililani and Troy Mariteragi of Kahuku — it was Kahuku that was lulled into a scoring play that the Trojans had never even practiced.
Mililani QB Kekoa Koong handed the ball off to Kahana-Travis on a jet sweep right, but he then launched a spiral to a wide-open Togafau-Tavui, who scored easily on the 58-yard touchdown.
“I played quarterback in Pop Warner and half a season in JV. I’m hybrid,” Kahana-Travis said. “I wasn’t expecting the jet sweep pass. We didn’t practice that (pass) this week. Coach (Rod York) asked me what hand I am, and I said, right hand. He was like, jet sweep to the right and throw it to Tana (Togafau-Tavui). I just let it go.”
The ball landed in the hands of Tofagau-Tavui in stride.
“Lehiwa’s an athlete. He’s an emergency quarterback. He can run, he can pass. He did good. They executed well,” Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho said. “They caught us.”
Kahana-Travis had a prominent role in a heavy wildcat scheme, while twin brother Nakoa also contributed out of the backfield. They combined for 32 hard-earned yards on 19 carries in a game that was a throwback to the Bronko Nagurski era of leather-helmet football.
In a scenario reminiscent of last year’s state championship game, Mililani punted twice to Kahuku in the final few minutes. This time, instead of a Kahuku runback for the winning touchdown, Kahuku was unable to return the ball or get past midfield in the final minutes.
Mililani improved to 2-0 in OIA Open Division play (6-0 overall). Kahuku dropped to 1-1 (4-3 overall). Doing it with an old-school smashmouth methodology put the weight on the Trojans’ defense and special teams.
Senior linebacker Isaiah Iosefa sparked Mililani’s defense with an early interception, nearly a pick-6. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound playmaker also had a sack and seemed to be all over the field.
His interception return of 35 yards set the Trojans up at the Kahuku 1-yard line.
“All credit to the coaches for putting me in good position. I was blessed with these gloves and it fell into my hands,” he said. “Coach Vae (Tata) does a great job of putting our mindset into defense wins games, defense wins championships. When people go down, it’s next man up. Credit to our quarterback, Kekoa, doing a really good job filling in a role that Kini was supposed to be in.”
Two plays later, Lehiwa Kahana-Travis scored on a wildcat keeper, and Mililani led 7-0 with 10:09 to go in the opening quarter.
Kahuku’s first drive deep into Mililani territory came in the final minutes of the first quarter. Inside the 20-yard line, Kahuku tried to use its jumbo formation with Malosi Fiatoa as the QB, but was stonewalled by Mililani.
Manoa Kahalepuna’s 30-yard field goal put the visitors on the scoreboard with 1:01 left in the first quarter.
The game turned into a battle of attrition. Both teams used non-quarterbacks as wildcat ballcarriers. Kahuku stuck with the elephant power set inside the red zone and scored on a 10-yard run by Blake Alo with 45 seconds left until halftime.
That capped a 14-play, 54-yard series, giving the visitors a 10-7 lead.
Mililani resumed with wildcat sets and Kahana-Travis at QB with a sprinkling of Koong there. Kahuku stuck with mostly jumbo sets in the third quarter as the game turned into a punt-a-thon.
The Trojans then pulled a rabbit out of their bag of tricks with the play they hadn’t practiced. Kahana-Travis’ aerial magic gave Mililani the lead.
Kahuku’s offense came to life with Kalaheo Kanae-Oliveira completing four passes during a drive that got to the Mililani 1-yard line.
On fourth and goal from the 4-yard line, Mililani’s Chevy Robinson sacked Kanae-Oliveira to end the threat with 5:24 remaining.
Kahuku’s next possession ended with a sack on fourth and long. Shawdan Pacheco ankle-tackled Kanae-Oliveira at the Mililani 41-yard line with less than the minutes to play.
With Kahuku giving Kanae-Oliveira his first start, he played with more confidence and found his receivers more consistently late in the game.
“We’ve been here before. We know it’s a long season. They’re going to get healthy. We’re going to get healthy,” Carvalho said. “It’s who can win in November, not August and September, but it hurts. I know our boys, our coaches, we practice to win, to do our best. Tonight, we just fell short. You’ve got to give credit to Mililani. They’re in the same predicament. They could say the same thing. They don’t have Kini, but they were able to put it together and finish.”
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Kahuku (4-3, 1-1) 3 7 0 0 — 10
Mililani (6-0, 2-0) 7 0 7 0 — 14
MIL—Lehiwa Kahana-Travis 1 run (Pookela Tom Makue kick)
KAH—Manoa Kahalepuna FG 30
KAH—Blake Alo 10 run (Kahalepuna kick)
MIL—Jonah Togafau-Tavui 58 pass from Kahana-Travis (Tom Makue kick)
RUSHING—Kah: Blake Alo 13-51, Malosi Fiatoa 12-24, Kaimana Carvalho 1-2, Kalaheo Kanae-Carvalho 9-(-2). Mil: Nakoa Kahana-Travis 10-30, L. Kahana-Travis 9-2, Kekoa Koong 2-minus 2.
PASSING—Kah: Kanae-Oliveira 10-21-1- 81, Christian Sanford-Tupuola 2-2-0-20. Mil: Koong 6-9-0-19, L. Kahana-Travis 3-4-1-70.
RECEIVING—Kah: Carvalho 4-34, Bodhi Kaanga 4-32, Aiden Manutai 3-34, Noah Ah You 1-1. Mil: Jaedon Pablo 3-13, Togafau-Tavui 2-65, L. Kahana-Travis 2-7, Kayden Anzaldo 1-9, N. Kahana-Travis 1-minus 5.
JV—Kahuku 17, Mililani 12.
