Mililani escapes
with win over Castle
An undermanned Castle squad nearly had enough to knock off the Mililani Trojans last night. But Mililani managed to escape Kaneohe with a 28-14 win in the Oahu Interscholastic Association regular-season opener for both teams.
Castle, the defending OIA champion, had 30 players sit out the game and suited up 27 against the Trojans. Nineteen were suspended for their involvement in a brawl at the end of last year's state championship game against Saint Louis. The other 11 sat out for academic reasons.
Still, the Knights led 8-7 at halftime and stayed within striking distance for most of the second half before Mililani put the game away with a late touchdown.
"Tough game, we expected it. Whatever guys they had they played with a lot of heart," Mililani coach James Millwood said. "But because of the numbers, they just tired out at the end."
Mililani attempted just nine passes in the game, but three went for touchdowns. Junior quarterback Maka Kahoano threw for two scores and Jordan Perry accounted for the other on a halfback-option pass.
The Mililani defense twice stopped Castle inside the Trojans' 5 to give the offense the chance to erase the early deficit.
"I thought the key points in the game was Mililani's great defensive stands," Castle coach Nelson Maeda said. "With those two pivotal plays, that could have made a difference in the outcome of the game and changed the nature of the game. We're very proud of our team's efforts in doing just the best job that we could."
The suspended Castle players took the field before the game and stood behind the Knights' captains for the coin flip.
Castle built on the emotion by driving 74 yards on three plays to open the game. Louis Mansanas rolled to his right and found Brandon Shimomura for a 42-yard gain on the game's first play from scrimmage. Mansanas hit Allen Losbog for a 28-yard completion to the Mililani 4. After a Castle timeout, Tarann Bajet pounded into the end zone for a touchdown.
On the extra-point attempt, the ball was snapped to Shimomura, who juked his way to the end zone for the 2-point conversion.
Mililani responded with a methodical march covering 65 yards in eight plays. The Trojans threw just one pass on the drive that was capped by a 33-yard run by Carlo Raneses. Darren Smith's extra-point cut the Castle lead to 8-7 with 5:13 left in the first quarter.
Mililani took its first lead of the game at the 6:42 mark of the third quarter on Kahoano's 10-yard touchdown pass to Smith. Smith, a 6-foot-3 senior, snagged the ball just over Shimomura's outstretched arms for the score.
The Trojans added to the lead later in the period when Jordan Perry took a pitch around the right side, pulled up and fired a strike to Jon Santos for a 35-yard scoring pass to give the Trojans a 20-8 advantage.
BACK TO TOP |
At Castle H.S. field
Cas -- Tarann Bajet 4 run (Brandon Shimomura run).
Mililani (0-0, 1-0) 7 0 13 8 -- 28 Castle (0-0, 1-0) 8 0 0 6 -- 14
Mil -- Carlo Raneses 33 run (Darren Smith kick).
Mil -- Smith 10 pass from Maka Kahoano (kick failed).
Mil -- Jon Santos 35 pass from Jordan Perry (Smith kick).
Cas -- Jordan Kahoekapu 8 pass from Louis Mansanas (kick blocked).
Mil -- Peter Raneses 3 pass from Kahoano (Michael Pacada pass from Kahoano).
RUSHING -- Mililani: C. Raneses 9-68, Jordan Apduhan 16-48, Peter Raneses 7-29, Kahoano 3-(-6). Castle: Bajet 4-20, Guy Humalon 4-8, Mansanas 11-(-23).
PASSING -- Mililani: Kahoano 4-5-0-36, Jared Tavares 1-3-0-3, Perry 1-1-0-35. Castle: Mansanas 13-26-0-219.
RECEIVING -- Mililani: Andrew Tokumi 1-5, Aran Bisho 1-3, Smith 1-10, Santos 1-35, P. Raneses 2-21. Castle: Shimomura 2-76, Allen Losbog 1-28, Bajet 3-10, Jordan Kahoekapu 5-77, Humalon 2-28.
Junior varsity -- Mililani 47, Castle 15
