{"id":12845,"date":"2012-09-26T00:01:30","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T10:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/?p=12845"},"modified":"2012-09-25T16:35:37","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T02:35:37","slug":"defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

Mililani head coach Rod York loves game night as much as his players, but the veteran coach has a deeper affection for the days that lead up to the game. The teacher in him is always best displayed on those days.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it all starts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,\u201d said York. \u201cI\u2019m not worried about the game if we\u2019ve practiced the way we need to practice during the week. I can always tell on Wednesday if we\u2019re ready or not. Last week was a great week, and this week has been even better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Trojans are hitting the stretch run of their OIA Red West season, and they\u2019re definitely on \u201cupset alert\u201d this week as they visit Aiea for a key matchup.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

The team is mindful, after all, that Aiea defeated the only team Mililani had lost to heading into last weekend \u2014 that being Leilehua.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Much attention has been focused on its offense to date, given Mililani\u2019s explosiveness, led by senior triggerman Jarin Morikawa.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

But the defense has been nothing less than stout so far, especially the front seven, who are yielding just over 70 rushing yards per outing.<\/p>\n

York already was convinced coming out of spring practice that he would have a first-rate secondary, and the unit of Beau Winchester, Kainoa Souza-Paaluhi, Ian Namu and Bronson Kaleinamoku-Chun has lived up to all expectations.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

The play of the front seven (linebackers Dayton Furuta, Mike Atuaia and Jacob Afele and linemen Mene Perese, Dakota Turner, Rex Manu and KK Padello) has more than solidified the unit as one of the best in the state as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Defensive coordinator) Roland Mason has been doing a great job,\u201d said York. \u201cWe\u2019re leading the league in takeaways (12).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

There are only two statistics that really matter to me. No. 1 is getting the win, and No. 2 is winning the turnover battle, which we\u2019ve done in every game that we\u2019ve won. The only game that we didn\u2019t win the turnover battle was the game we lost (to Leilehua).\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, York liked the way the Trojans responded following that loss. After a spirited week of practice, Mililani came back six days later to post a huge road win over Campbell before entering its bye week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about getting better every day, and this team has been doing that. Every game in the West is tough. This is one of the toughest leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Mililani entered last weekend\u2019s game with Kapolei still tied for the lead in the Red West with Leilehua. The Trojans are focused on receiving one of the league\u2019s top two seeds for the OIA playoffs, which would mean having a bye for the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely want to be in the top two (in the Red West),\u201d said York. \u201cWith a bye, you get to scout the next opponent you\u2019re going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mililani head coach Rod York loves game night as much as his players, but the veteran coach has a deeper..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-central","category-central-oahu-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nDefense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs - MidWeek<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs - MidWeek\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mililani head coach Rod York loves game night as much as his players, but the veteran coach has a deeper..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MidWeek\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-26T10:01:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-26T10:01:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":493,\"articleSection\":[\"Central\",\"Central Oahu Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/\",\"name\":\"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs - MidWeek\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-26T10:01:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/\",\"name\":\"MidWeek\",\"description\":\"Hawaii's Favorite Newspaper\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\\\/midweekpro\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs - MidWeek","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs - MidWeek","og_description":"Mililani head coach Rod York loves game night as much as his players, but the veteran coach has a deeper..","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/","og_site_name":"MidWeek","article_published_time":"2012-09-26T10:01:30+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs","datePublished":"2012-09-26T10:01:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/"},"wordCount":493,"articleSection":["Central","Central Oahu Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/","url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/","name":"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs - MidWeek","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-26T10:01:30+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/defense-leads-the-way-as-mililani-looks-toward-playoffs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Defense Leads The Way As Mililani Looks Toward Playoffs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/","name":"MidWeek","description":"Hawaii's Favorite Newspaper","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}