Saint Louis states its case

Narbonne (Calif.) coach Manuel Douglas was impressed.

“(Saint Louis is) a better team than they were last year,” he said after the Crusaders pummeled the Gauchos 47-7 in a matchup of nationally ranked teams on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.

Saint Louis was No. 12 and Narbonne was No. 24 in the Max Preps Xcellent 25 and it wasn’t even close.

For all four quarters, Saint Louis was relentless defensively, allowing only a 10-yard fake-field goal run by Steve Jenkins in an otherwise stellar performance.

The Crusaders allowed 157 total yards and sacked Narbonne sophomore quarterback Jaylen Henderson five times, all in the first half. Henderson, who finished 10-for-23, 118 yards with three picks, was greeted in the backfield by Jordan Botelho, then Nick Herbig and Liloa Kapiko, then Herbig a second time, followed by Kila Kamakawiwo‘ole and defensive lineman Gino Quinones.

Clearly the No. 1 team in the state of Hawaii, how high should Saint Louis be ranked nationally?

Punahou just fine with Brady at QB

Embedded within Hugh Brady’s bounce-back performance on Friday were several examples of the Punahou quarterback’s resilience. Coming off a tough second half in a season-opening loss to Kahuku, Brady turned in a brilliant first half against Kapolei to help power the fifth-ranked Buffanblu to a 34-21 win over the No. 9 Hurricanes.

Brady, a junior, finished his night with 16 completions in 22 attempts for 209 yards with touchdown passes to Kanoa Kalahiki, Moku Dancil-Evans and Koa Eldredge to build a 34-0 halftime lead.

“I think we had a lot of momentum to ride from last week,” said Brady, who threw for 311 yards and two scores against Kahuku. “We watched film and learned from our mistakes and our mentality was new play, just flush the last one and I think we did well executing tonight.”

“Hugh is getting better every time he gets a chance,” added Punahou coach Kale Ane. “It was nice to be able to get Kobe some opportunities to play and he’s definitely learning but he’s going to be a force soon as well.”

‘Iolani right at home in Division I

‘Iolani senior running back Kaua Nishigaya thinks the Raiders are right where they should be in Division I.

“These past two years we’ve faced a lot of adversity and finally it’s going our way,” Nishigaya said after Friday night’s 33-12 win over Kailua at Alex Kane Stadium. “I think this is the correct division for us to play in.”

No. 8 ‘Iolani is 3-0 and added an impressive 21-point win over a solid Kailua team to a resume that includes a 41-point victory over Waipahu and a 63-0 shutout of Kalani.

Nishigaya accounted for both of ‘Iolani’s second-half touchdowns and finished with 102 rushing yards against the Surfriders. Junior quarterback Jonah Chong threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns and the Raiders survived the school’s first trip to the Windward side to play at Kailua.

The Raiders have put a big emphasis on the running game in the offseason.

“We looked back at our years when we were successful and we were not 50-50 (run/pass) but we were pretty good at running the ball,” said ‘Iolani coach Wendell Look, who has led the Raiders to eight Division II state titles. “That was kind of the thing we needed to get better at and kind of revisit in our offense.”

Campbell settles down, then settles in

Campbell’s effort and energy concerned coach Darren Johnson early in Saturday’s OIA Open Division matchup with Farrington.

The Sabers had too much of both.

Coming off a bye week, the Sabers’ eagerness to get back in the action revved into the red for much of the first quarter. After falling behind, the fourth-ranked Sabers settled in and ran away from the 10th-ranked Governors in a 34-7 win to open their OIA Open Division schedule.

“They were so hungry that we were overexerting ourselves instead of just playing the game,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we got that out of their system and we just play football the rest of the way.”

Pokii Adkins-Kupukaa contributed in all three phases in starting at safety on defense, returning kicks on special teams and contributing to the offense with a rushing attempt, a reception and an option pass. Adkins-Kupukaa took a toss from QB Kaniala Kalaola, pulled up and fired a deep ball to Titus Mokiao-Atimalala — who finished with 119 yards on four receptions — that set up Sky Lactaoen’s 15-yard touchdown run to open the fourth quarter.

Tamatoa Mokiao-Atimalala also caught four passes for 93 yards, 65 coming on a touchdown pass on Campbell’s first play of the third quarter.

No. 3 Mililani beaten up, survives Kamehameha

One by one, the Trojans of Mililani went down. With powerful running back Kilifi Malepeai already out with an injury, they entered Saturday night’s epic battle with Kamehameha at less than full strength. But shortly into the game, defensive tackle/running back Mykah Tuiolemotu suffered a leg injury. Later, it was receiver/kick returner Reichel Vegas who got hurt. Then receiver/punter Cy Kuboyama-Hayashi limped off the field. Linebacker Darius Muasau had returned from an ankle injury in time for the game. Mililani built a 24-3 lead, then hung on to dear life for a 31-24 victory over the sixth-ranked Warriors at John Kauinana Stadium.

Mililani is now 3-0 overall, but still 1-0 in OIA Open Division since interleague games don’t count in the OIA standings.They did it with their trademark explosive offense, and came through defensively despite the absence of key players like Tuiolemotu.

Mililani quarterback Dillon Gabriel came up with 304 yards and four TDs through the air. He wasn’t satisfied with his overall performance, but even as a player, Gabriel feels the electricity of the OIA-ILH alliance.

“That game was crazy fun,” he said. “Seeing the ILH and OIA going at it is just a great atmosphere.”

This week

The Trojans have no time to rest as they get set to host No. 1 Saint Louis at John Kauinana Stadium on Saturday night.

A week later, they will travel to play St. John Bosco, ranked No. 1 in the nation by Max Preps, in California.

Mililani is 1-6 all-time against Saint Louis with its only win coming 63-47 in the 2014 season opener, when Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench to make his Crusaders debut.

McKenzie Milton threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 204 yards and three scores in that game.

He’s the only quarterback in Hawaii state history to throw for at least 350 yards, run for at least 200 yards and account for seven touchdowns in the same game.