By Wes Nakama

MILILANI — In a wild, hard-hitting and intense football game filled with big plays and momentum swings, Mililani finally held off visiting Campbell, 30-23, Saturday night at John Kauinana Stadium.

The Trojans ran 67 plays and gained 391 yards on offense, but were intercepted four times and survived only after receiver Luke VanAntwerp covered up an onside kick with 34 seconds remaining. The Sabers had only one timeout remaining and thus let the clock run out after Mililani took a knee on first down. Mililani improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the OIA Open Division, while Campbell fell to 5-1, 1-1.

In just one example of the game’s wild and big plays, the Trojans took a 30-16 lead with 2:44 remaining when a field goal attempt went awry due to an errant snap but turned into a touchdown when holder Bless Hanalei Cabrera-Hopkins scrambled to his right and threw a scoring pass to Emmanuel Tago who was open in the back of the end zone.

After the ensuing kickoff, Sabers quarterback Brayden Medeiros was sacked on his own 12 on first down, but then spearheaded a seven-play, 88-yard drive culminating in his 7-yard TD pass to Zayne Pasion with 36 ticks on the clock. Mitch Lifto’s extra point cut it to 30-23, but VanAntwerp — a receiver playing on Mililani’s “hands team,” snared the ensuing onside kick and covered it up to seal the victory.

“Going into this one, we definitely knew it was going to be a battle, we knew it was going to be a war,” said VanAntwerp, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior whose two receptions went for first-half touchdowns. “So we just had to make the most of every opportunity.”

The game’s first consequential big play came just over seven minutes after the opening kickoff, when the Campbell punter’s foot landed outside the back of the end zone for a safety after he jumped to catch a high snap.

The Trojans cashed in five plays and 80 seconds after the ensuing free kick, with quarterback Kekoa Koong hitting Cabrera-Hopkins on a 14-yard touchdown pass and Po’okela Tom-Makue converting the extra point to make it 9-0.

The Sabers later found the end zone after Austyn Filoteo’s interception set up a short drive capped by Brayden Medeiros’ 14-yard scoring toss to Shaison Kupuka’a, but the conversion failed after another errant snap, leaving the score at 9-6 with 6:27 remaining in the second quarter.

Mililani responded with a nine-play, 65-yard drive culminating in Koong’s 38-yard TD strike to VanAntwerp, who caught it in traffic and lunged past the goal line. Tom-Makue’s extra point made it 16-6 with 2:20 left before halftime.

“Kekoa’s been doing that all year, man,” VanAntwerp said of Koong, who withstood several hits in the pocket. “He stands in there calm, cool and collected, and delivers the ball even with the pressure in his face. So we love that about him and can’t wait to see what he does the rest of the season.”

After a Campbell field goal attempt ricocheted off the right upright on the next series, Koong immediately connected with Cabrera-Hopkins on a 60-yard pass play to set up his 20-yard scoring pass to VanAntwerp, who again caught the ball between two defenders and managed to barely land inbounds in the end zone. Tom-Makue converted the PAT to stretch the lead to 23-6 with just five ticks on the clock.

But on the ensuing kickoff, Chase Yamashita fielded the ball on his own 10, raced to the right sideline then shook a defender and streaked all the way for a 90-yard return back to the hale. Lifto’s extra point cut the lead to 23-13 at the break.

After the teams traded interceptions to open the second half, Lifto kicked a 24-yard field goal to close it to 23-16 midway through the third quarter.

But that would be the Sabers’ final points until the game’s final minute.

“It’s a tough one to swallow, but we’ll swallow it and move forward,” Campbell coach Darren Johnson said. “We had stupid penalties, and they capitalized. Discipline will carry us a long way, but we were so undisciplined. Everybody played for themselves, and not for Campbell. So we’re gonna change that, come Monday.”

Photos: Lori McKeown

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