[ HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Defensive end Jake Ingram and linebacker Mikhail Mabry of Mililani would like nothing better than to play football at the collegiate level.
Building for
a FutureMikhail Mabry and Jake Ingram
are the keys to Mililani’s chances
in the state football playoffs
James Millwood is doing his best Bill Parcells imitation over at Mililani.
He stresses ball control and especially team defense.
It's a style that works effectively when there's a good nucleus of players. In this case, Millwood has middle linebacker Mikhail Mabry as his centerpiece and defensive end Jake Ingram as the cornerstone.
"Mikhail is very instinctive and smart," Millwood said. "It's very hard for other teams to catch him on a misdirection. He makes a lot of big plays and the rest of the guys rally around him.
"Jake has the biggest motor on the team. He's the hardest worker in the weight room and he just keeps coming from the first snap to the last snap and he never gets tired."
The Trojans (9-2) lost Mabry to a hamstring injury early in their first loss of the season -- 20-12 to Kailua in the OIA semifinals. He also didn't play in a 14-6 loss to Farrington in the league's third-place game.
Mabry said the chances are 50-50 he'll be back for Friday's Division I state tournament quarterfinal game against Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Saint Louis (7-1).
"Anybody can be beat," Mabry said about the Crusaders, a perennial powerhouse and the defending state champions.
"We have a great chance if we do our game plan right."
Ingram gave two serious, thoughtful affirmative nods when asked if he thought the Trojans had a chance.
"We don't practice for no reason," he said. "If we thought we were going to lose, we wouldn't be out there."
Mabry -- the 6-foot-2, 225-pound mentally focused tank -- and Ingram -- the 6-3, 190-pound prowling animal -- are great friends who would like to go on to play in college.
Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona State and Stanford are among the schools interested in Mabry, and Mililani defensive line coach Maa Tanuvasa -- the former Denver Broncos standout -- has been talking to University of Hawaii coaches about Ingram's abilities.
"It's a goal for me to play in college, something I've always wanted to do, God-willing," Mabry said. "High school football is something I'm going to miss -- preparing with 10 other guys who are all really good friends to go into combat."
UH is where Ingram wants to be and he will go to a small college first if need be. Mabry's dream school is Oregon, but he would also take a different path if that's how things turn out.
Millwood said both players are good students and have adapted well to the team aspect of the defense.
"There is no individual stars on the team," Ingram said. "We always work together and complement each other. It's like a family and that's the thing I most like about the sport."
Losing Mabry at a crucial point of the season may have affected the Trojans more than Millwood is willing to admit.
"At the time, we were undefeated," he said.
"The boys kept on fighting and wouldn't quit, but losing Mikhail was a big loss. But I'm not saying the outcome (of the losses to Kailua and Farrington) would have been any different, though."
This has been a breakthrough year for Mililani, which entered the state tournament for the first time after coming close for years.
"It was a real good accomplishment," Mabry said. "In past years, we always got knocked out (in the OIA playoffs) before making it to states. It was one of our goals to finally make it and we've achieved most of our goals."
Mabry said he's feeling better every day and he'll play against Saint Louis if he can. He will suit up, according to Millwood.
Peter Raneses, who has done an admirable job in Mabry's absence, would be able to focus more at running back.
"Mikhail is our vocal leader, and when the coaches put in a game plan, he gets it down," Millwood said. "He sees the formations of the opposing offense and knows what we want. When he reads a screen, for instance, he's right on it. He rarely gets fooled."
As for Ingram, it's hard to get him to slow down for anything. He's always near the top of the pack when the Trojans do sprints, and Millwood said he's always doing what's best for the team.
"We actually thought he was working out too hard in the summer and losing too much weight," Millwood said. "He was lifting at the school in the day and at night at 24-Hour Fitness."
Maybe those workouts were necessary to get him fully prepared for the biggest game of his life -- Mililani's day of reckoning Friday at 8 p.m. at Aloha Stadium against Saint Louis.
