Mililani rallies past Liberty in thrilling 31-24 opener

HS Football

Aug 15

By Wes Nakama

MILILANI -- Rallying behind a dynamic new quarterback and bend-but-don't-break defense, Mililani overcame a 10-point halftime deficit Friday night to sneak past visiting Liberty (Henderson, Nev.), 31-24, in a thrilling season opener for both teams at John Kauinana Stadium.

Hunter Fujikawa, who transferred from Punahou in January, completed 20 of 34 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions to lead the Trojans offense. Senior defensive lineman Lincoln Uiagaleilei's interception with 1:21 remaining effectively sealed the victory, allowing Mililani to run out the clock.

"The environment was crazy, a lot different from Punahou, for sure," said Fujikawa, a rifle-armed, 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-hander who reportedly already has 28 NCAA Division I scholarship offers, many from Power Four conferences. "Honestly, it just felt good to be back on the field, suited up in pads, live."

Liberty, which was ranked No. 2 in Nevada by MaxPreps, struck first when running back Ezra Sanelivi broke free and galloped 56 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown on the game's third play from scrimmage. The extra point attempt failed, leaving the score at 6-0.

The Trojans responded with an 8-play, 89-yard drive capped by Fujikawa's 22-yard laser pass to receiver Bless Cabrera-Hopkins, with Matthew Bolibol tacking on the PAT to put Mililani ahead, 7-6, with 5:33 remaining in the first quarter. On the Trojans' next possession, Fujikawa found Shayzen Cabato-Machado in the back left corner of the end zone on another bullseye dart throw to finish a 4-play, 58-yard scoring march. Bolibol's PAT made it 14-6 with 1:40 left in the first.

The Patriots responded with a 7-play, 49-yard drive culminating in Selby Griego, Jr.'s 23-yard touchdown pass to Kainalu Hosaka, with Griego's two-point conversion run tying the score at 14-14 with 7:30 remaining in the half.

Later, Sanelivi broke free again for a 35-yard TD scamper, and Massenburg converted the extra point to put Liberty ahead, 21-14, with 1:57 still to go in the second quarter. Gunnar Massenburg then drilled a 42-yard field goal on the final play of the half to give the Patriots a 24-14 lead at the break.

"The goal was to start strong and finish strong, but when adversity came, we didn't respond quick enough," Fujikawa said, referring to Mililani's scoreless second quarter. "That's something we're going to work on and improve on in practice."

The tide turned after Liberty's first series of the second half, which ended with a shanked punt giving the Trojans the ball on the Patriots' 35-yard line. On first down, Fujikawa found a wide-open Cabrera-Hopkins on a post pattern for an easy score, and Bolibol's PAT closed it to 24-21 with 7:45 remaining in the third quarter.

"Definitely, that was a momentum-shifter," Liberty coach Rich Muraco said. "But I wouldn't say that led to us losing. Really what killed us was a lot of our own mistakes ... we fumbled the ball, and that gave them a short field."

That lost fumble, recovered by sophomore linebacker Adrian Dias, put Mililani at the Patriots' 22-yard line and four plays later Bolibol launched a 36-yard kick through the uprights to tie the score at 24-24 with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

Then with 5:12 remaining in the game, Liberty elected to punt on fourth-and-2 from the Trojans' 39 after unsuccessfully trying to draw Mililani offside.

"We were too far out to kick a field goal, and we had two straight times where we ran the heavy set stuff and fumbled the exchange," Muraco said. "So that kind of made me a little gun-shy ... I felt our defense was playing well enough where if we could maybe pin them inside the 10 ... I'd rather make them go 80 yards to beat us, and credit to them, they did that."

Fujikawa and the Trojans offense needed only six plays to advance to the 1-yard line, the set-up play being his 35-yard completion to Cabrera-Hopkins after a rollout to the right and pinpoint throw on the run. That immediately led to Toa Sam scoring off-tackle for the winning TD with 2:10 showing on the clock.

"Credit to our defense, to get a stop like that, and tonight the O-line stepped up big-time in pass-protect," Fujikawa said. "You always want to have the ball at the end, if possible, to come down and score."

Muraco said he was impressed with the performance of Fujikawa and Cabrera-Hopkins, and Mililani's team in general.

"He played well, made good reads, threw nice deep balls," Muraco said of Fujikawa. "And No, 6 (Cabrera-Hopkins) is a helluva player. Their receivers are really good. They're a great program, Coach (Rod) York does an amazing job. We've had really good games with them. Two good programs. It's fun."

It looked as if this game may end in a fantastic finish, after Griego returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to midfield. But defensive lineman Sunia Fangupo sacked quarterback Madden Dela Cruz for a 10-yard loss on first down, and on the next play Uigalelei reached high and picked off a pass over the middle by Dela Cruz and returned it nine yards to the Patriots' 29-yard line, effectively sealing the victory with 1:10 left.

This was the fourth meeting between the two teams since 2015, with the Trojans winning the past three.

Liberty assistant coach Kaipo Batoon is a Saint Louis graduate, and assistants Isaac Halmos and Al Tucay are from Wai'anae. Two more assistants, Jon Amano and Nua Agatonu, are also from Hawai'i.

Several players or their parents are originally from or have ties to islands, and the Patriots' fan section behind their bench was noticeably large in number and volume.

"I am so impressed with the amount of people that are sitting on our side here, it really makes me proud and happy to see all the family members of our kids, and former alumni that came up to me who were here to watch the game," Muraco said. "It's really special. Really strong connection to Hawai'i. It makes it an easy sell to the parents when they gotta fundraise and pay money to go on a trip, when we say we're going to Hawai'i."

Photos: Lori McKeown