The threat of Hurricane Lane kept Saint Louis from playing Mililani in August.
Three months later, the two teams will indeed square off with the Open Division state championship on the line.
Ranked No. 1 all season, the two-time defending state champion Crusaders (10-0) clinched their fourth consecutive trip to the final after throttling Kahuku 49-22 on Friday night at Aloha Stadium.
“I’m glad it’s over. We were very fortunate to win,” Saint Louis coach Cal Lee said. “We had some big plays. Hopefully, we can get better.”
Saint Louis’ defense, with titanic stoppers Faatui Tuitele, Stanley McKenzie and Gino Quinones up front, limited the Red Raiders to 158 yards of total offense on 65 snaps. That’s 2.4 yards per play.
The Crusaders’ defense may rank among the best three ever in school history, and as Punahou coach Kale Ane believes, it is certainly a top-10 defense nationally.
“They’re big. They’re fast. They’re long,” Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho said.
Linebacker Jordan Botelho, still just a junior, returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown. So did Harvey Welch with a 52-yard pick-6. Both touchdowns came in the third quarter, capping a dominant performance by the Crusader defense.
Kamo‘i Latu picked off two passes. Botelho and Lawai Brown had six tackles each. McKenzie and Nate Herbig tallied five tackles apiece. The balance up and down the tackle column is a byproduct of a responsible defense.
The Crusaders stretched their winning streak to 25 games dating back to 2016. A win over the Trojans would tie Kahuku (2000-2002) for the third-longest streak in state history behind Lee’s Saint Louis teams in 1985-1990 and 1995-97.
Trojans get defensive to reach fourth state final
Two weeks of dedicated preparation turned Friday night’s state-tourney semifinal between offensive juggernauts Mililani and Campbell into a defensive duel.
The Trojans shut out the Sabers’ potent passing attack in a 24-2 victory, allowing only a safety that came on special teams.
When the teams met during the regular season, Mililani ran away 52-14. This time, it was a 7-2 game for most of the first half, an actual defensive battle that came down to details.
Though the Trojans didn’t blitz heavily, the base front led by Mykah Tuiolemotu harassed Campbell’s quarterbacks consistently. All 11 on the defensive unit were in perfect position, or close to it, on every snap. The result was jaw-dropping: a mere 163 yards of total offense for the Sabers, including just 73 through the air.
The pressure up front led to five interceptions by Mililani: three by first-time varsity player Vaisen Viloria and one each by Asher Pilanca, who also collected a team-high eight tackles, and linebacker Darius Muasau, a University of Hawaii commit. Linebacker Javon Olomua also had eight takedowns and Muasau and defensive lineman Ezra Save had five tackles apiece, including 1 1/2 for loss by Save.
Tuiolemotu had three tackles, one for loss, and two of his team’s six hurries on Campbell quarterbacks Krenston Kaipo and Blaine Hipa.
“We talked about it during practice, always staying together and playing as a team. That’s the main thing. We never play for ourselves,” Tuiolemotu said. “The video showed all the pieces we needed to look at as a whole. We all stuck together and did our job.”
Mililani defensive coordinator Vince Nihipali had nothing but praise for his unit after the defensive shutout. No opponent had shut out Campbell’s offense all season.
“Vaisen Viloria, he’s just a natural athlete. We pulled him up from JV. He’s got that something to him. He’s a natural,” Nihipali said. “He’s playing corner today and he played safety on JV.”
Lahainaluna and Kapaa reach Division II final
For the third straight year, the Division II state final will come down to two teams from the neighbor islands.
Two-time reigning state champion Lahainaluna will play Kapaa in a rematch of the 2016 final after blowing out OIA champion Roosevelt 48-10 on Saturday on Maui.
Even when they play “sloppy” on offense, as coach Garret Tihada described it, the Lunas showed why they are still the team to beat for anyone in Division II.
Lahainaluna has won 20 straight games going back to a nonconference loss to Kamehameha in 2017. One of those victories was a 30-10 win over Kapaa of the KIF this preseason.
“They’re big, physical, great athletes, well coached,” Tihada said about Kapaa. “They almost kind of remind us of ourselves. It was a battle the first game and I expect nothing less in this championship game.”
Kamalei Watson got things started with an 87-yard touchdown return, weaving up the middle and catching some great blocks to emphatically answer Roosevelt’s 3-0 lead gifted from one of the lost fumbles.
Nainoa Kulukulualani-Sales followed that up with a blocked punt, setting up Derek Perez’s 3-yard touchdown run.
Tre Rickard closed the deal with return touchdowns of 48 and 54 yards on consecutive Roosevelt punts in the fourth quarter. Lahainaluna became the first team in state tournament history, of any level or division, to record multiple special teams TDs in a game. And the Lunas got three of them. Rickard became the first player with two special teams TDs individually in a state tournament game.
“Anytime you can get defensive or special teams points, it’s huge,” Tihada said. “It changes the game a lot. Just like it did tonight. I cannot even put words to describe how important it was for us tonight to get those special teams points.”
Warriors fend off Bulldogs to advance
The youth movement at Kapaa — and a 20-12 semifinal win over Kaimuki on Saturday at Vidinha Stadium — wouldn’t happen without supreme senior leadership.
Trust, with a capital ‘T’, is a must in Warrior country. Sophomore Heath Rosa’s interception set up a key TD for Kapaa, opening the lead to eight points.
Then, in the final 1:11, Kapaa showed massive amounts of trust in their underclassmen as Kaimuki marched downfield. Junior Stetson Telles-Kelekoma intercepted pass, but a penalty on the home team for tackling a defenseless receiver nullified the pick and gave the Bulldogs the ball at the Warriors’ 21 with 27 seconds to go.
Kaimuki quarterback Jonah Fa‘asoa took two shots near the left pylon, where senior Elijah Lemalu was covered by sophomore Kaiola Lingaton, single coverage all the way, for two incomplete passes.
Lingaton had already stopped a key Kaimuki drive inside the 5 during the first half with a stonewall tackle near the pylon, and later partially blocked a punt.
On third down from the 21, Fa‘asoa tested the right side again, and Telles-Kelekoma speared the spiral with two hands for the biggest play of the game.
“I give Kaimuki props for battling. They’re the toughest team I’ve challenged so far,” said Telles-Kelekoma, a 5-foot-10, 200-pounder who finished with 61⁄2 tackles. “It’s a big stage.”
At the tail end of the play as Telles-Kelekoma weaved to the opposite side of the field, running time off the clock, Kaimuki’s stellar lineman, Sama Paama, took a hit in the knee from a teammate and was down for several minutes. He was taken to a local hospital.
Kapaa took over with 6.7 seconds remaining and took a knee. The Warriors reached the state final in 2015, losing to Radford 30-16, and again in ’16, falling to Lahainaluna 21-14.
Tripleheader awaits
The three title games in the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships take place Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Kapaa and Lahainaluna kick things off at 1:30 p.m. for the Division II state title, followed by Waipahu and Hilo in a battle for the D-I crown. Saint Louis and Mililani will close things out for the Open Division championship.
All three defending champions from last season are back in the final. The Lunas and Crusaders will attempt to win their third straight title, and the Vikings will go for their second in a row.
