A 47-7 win over Narbonne (Calif.) was enough to jump Saint Louis into the top 10 of at least one national ranking.
The Crusaders moved up two spots to No. 10 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 released Sunday night and remained at No. 14 in the USA Today Super 25 that came out Monday morning.
The Gauchos entered the season ranked No. 24 by MaxPreps, but were held to 157 total yards by a Crusaders defense that racked up five sacks and intercepted three passes.
“They’re a better team than they were last year,” Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas said of Saint Louis, which beat the Gauchos 56-50 in 2017. “More physical, bigger size … they overwhelmed us.”
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STAR-ADVERTISER TOP 10
TEAM (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) W L PTS. LW
1. Saint Louis (2-0) (10) 100 1
2. Kahuku (3-0) 89 2
3. Mililani (3-0) 81 3
4. Campbell (2-0) 68 4
5. Punahou (1-1) 62 5
6. Kamehameha (1-1) 48 6
7. Lahainaluna (2-0) 41 7
8. ‘Iolani (3-0) 30 8
9. Damien (2-0) 12 NR
10. Kapolei (1-2) 9 9
DROPPED OUT: Farrington (No. 10)
ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: St. Francis 6, Farrington 2, Kauai 2
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Saint Louis’ winning streak is at 17 games, dating back to 2016, and it has outscored its two opponents this season 116-13.
The Crusaders will not play another mainland team this season. Saint Louis thought it had reached an agreement to play Bishop Gorman (Nev.) on Aug. 31 at Aloha Stadium, but Gaels head coach Kenny Sanchez said in March there never was an agreement.
“Chris (Brown) called (Saint Louis coach Cal Lee) to see if they had an open date,” Sanchez told the Star-Advertiser. “That is pretty standard. We ask a lot of schools if they have open dates. If we determined that we wanted to go, we would have gotten back to him. But that conversation did not happen. It turns out we couldn’t afford to go.”
Brown, a former All-WAC player from Hawaii, is an assistant coach with the Gaels.
Saint Louis last played Bishop Gorman in 2012, losing 52-40 at Aloha Stadium.
The Gaels are ranked No. 11 by USA Today and will host No. 3 Mater Dei (Calif.) on Friday.
Saint Louis will play its next three games against teams ranked in the top five of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10.
The Crusaders will play at No. 3 Mililani on Saturday. Saint Louis also has upcoming games against No. 2 Kahuku on Sept. 7 and No. 5 Punahou on Sept. 15. Both games are at Aloha Stadium.
Mililani will fly to California after playing Saint Louis to visit St. John Bosco and its brand new $7.2 million stadium for an Aug. 31 nonleague game.
Bosco is ranked No. 1 by Max Preps and No. 2 by USA Today.
